Success Stories

“The grant made it possible to be able to do all [renovations] in one swoop instead of just little chunks.” - Karin Lindau, Director First Lutheran Church, Kids at First Child Care Center Kids at First Child Care Center in Rice Lake was excited to recently receive their second micro-grant as a YoungStar participating program. Karin Lindau, the Director, worked closely with the program’s Technical Consultant, Lisa Cottrell, on planning how to best use the micro-...

“I look at YoungStar not as a task but as a way for me to continually strive towards excellence. You are able to set your own goal and establish a pathway to that ultimate goal." - Angela Lampkin, Head Start and Early Head Start Director Next Door, Milwaukee Falling in Love with Child Care Angela Lampkin got her start in early education in 1990 when she began working at a Milwaukee child care program geared towards teen moms. It was her first experience in child c...

“I think micro-grants has been a great program...We’ve just been really, really pleased with how everything has made our center that one step up.” - Dina Bettin, Director Marion Day Care, Inc. Marion Day Care Director Dina Bettin started participating in YoungStar from the very beginning of the program, with a foundation for quality already in place thanks to work done with Child Care Resource & Referral, Inc., her local CCR&R. “We have found [Youn...

Getting on Board Tanya Jolma ran her child care, Country Kids Daycare, for 10 years before becoming licensed in 2014. A year and a half later she attended “For the Love of Children,” an event hosted by her local YoungStar office, Northwest Connection Family Resources. After learning more about YoungStar participation at the event, Tanya decided to look into receiving YoungStar technical consultation. YoungStar Technical Consultant, Amanda Linden, visited one-on-one wit...

Fulfilling a Need It is fitting that Erika Gutierrez’s family child care program is named for her, given that it grew to fulfill a need she saw in her own family. Erika has twins, one who has autism, and found that she did not feel comfortable leaving her children in child care, knowing the specialized care that she wanted both of her children to receive. When she realized a friend of hers was also searching for child care, Erika decided to start her own child care progr...