“I fell in love with teaching children,” shares Sally Boyd, director of Personality Childcare Learning Center in North Minneapolis. Boyd has served more than 600 children in the 20 years she’s been serving families in her family child care program. She plans to open a new child care center to meet the exponential need for child care for families in her community.
Meeting the need for child care in Minneapolis
In 2004, Sally and her husband purchased a residential home as a rental property in North Minneapolis, the community she had lived in and raised a family for 51 years. When the renter left after six months, they pondered what to do next with the home. She shared that she woke up one morning out of a dream that she had dreamed she had opened a child care center.
“I knew that is what I was supposed to do. I wanted to serve my community, and there is such a huge need for child care,” shared Sally. She had a passion for working with single mothers in the community who were struggling with finding care for their children.
In her first eight months of her family child care program called Personality Childcare Learning Center, she served two children. Licensed for 14 children, Sally’s program was full by the second year.
“I fell in love with teaching,” she shares. “The children are just sponges and they walk in, so ready to learn.”
Starting and building her business wasn’t without struggles. “Not having enough resources initially was a challenge. And finding support for parents who didn’t have resources was also hard.” Every now and then, when a family was visibly struggling financially or it became evident that a child needed shoes or clothing, Sally and her husband would find a way to support the need.
By her fifth year, she had connected with other providers in the community and funds were gradually improving to support families’ costs for child care. She became a Parent Aware-rated program which is a Minnesota quality rating indicating a provider voluntarily goes above and beyond basic health and safety licensing requirements. The rating also helps parents know what to expect from a high-quality child care program.
Helping children grow socially and emotionally
When she talks about her program, Sally highlights that her biggest focus with the children is helping them grow socially and emotionally. “If I can teach them at a young age what kind of adults they can be, that’s what I want to do.”
She believes in play-based learning and her curriculum draws from everyday life activities. She also weaves in daily instances to celebrate each child and grow their sense of belonging. Sally is also purposeful with detailed daily, weekly, monthly and annual plans and activities.
“Each week is different. For example, one week we focus on learning two- and three-letter words. This week we have been practicing and creating rhyming words.”
“We just completed a whole month on discovering occupations,” Sally shared. “The children created boards on leadership and the career of their interest.”
As part of career exploration activities, she described how she arranged a room to host a preschoolers’ version of a career fair. The three-year-olds dressed up as doctors, pilots, firefighters, and a judge, and they hosted tables on their careers. Thirty parents and guests attended, asking questions and listening to what the children learned.
Sally reiterates that the need for child care is still so great. During the pandemic, she closed her doors for two weeks and then reopened when the state provided supports particularly to serve families of essential workers. So many family child care providers closed their doors creating a soaring need for child care.
Expanding to meet the overwhelming need for child care
As a pillar in the community she knows the challenges that Minneapolis faces and the need to stabilize both child care placement and family resources. After nearly four years of planning, she is working on opening a child care center at a new location in North Minneapolis.
“I will be able to serve approximately 120 children [at the new center], and the goal is to serve 70 children in the first year,” shares Sally. “We will be closing on our acquisitions soon and hoping to start building late fall [of 2024].”
Family, friends, mentors, and fellow family child care program and child care center directors have provided tremendous support along the way. She also finds coaching support from a Think Small advocate who helps her sustain her Parent-Aware rating and grow her business.
She recalls her initial thoughts of only operating her family child care business for three years.
“I can’t believe I am here today, expanding my mission to impact the lives of thousands of children with a new child care center,” she adds. “I am so grateful to be in the lives of children and show how much I care.”
(Photos courtesy of Sally Boyd and Personality Childcare Learning Center)
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