MINNEOTA — The city of Minneota did not receive the state DEED grant for the expansion facility for Little Explorers Child Care Center. However, owner of Little Explorers Jamie Gillund is hoping to still move forward with the project, and will look at other options to secure funding.

A DEED grant comes from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and is used for various business and land developments, and workforce services.

According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development for Fiscal Year 2025, the department received 60 total grant applications for $6.175 million in funding, and it was able to grant 25 of those awards.

“While this is disappointing, we are not giving up,” Gillund said on Little Explorers’ Facebook page on Feb. 11, along with other updates. “We believe in this project so much that we are putting up personal and business assets to show our financial institution that this center will be a success.”

Little Explorers’ only facility currently resides in Ghent, which opened in January 2022. It’s licensed for 62 children ages six weeks to 12 years, and has been at full capacity for some time. Gillund currently has a waitlist of over 90 kids.

Southwest Minnesota continues to see a shortage of child care facilities. Gillund has been working to expand her center to other towns to help address the issue and bring relief to families.

Minneota City Administrator Robert Vidoloff expressed interest in partnering with Little Explorers and first shared the idea with Lyon County commissioners in a county meeting in October. During the meeting, he detailed that Minneota’s current child care providers are close to or have already reached retirement age.

“The overall project is a $1.5 million project for a 100-child day care with 20 full-time (employees),” Vidoloff said at the meeting.

Gillund detailed in the Facebook post that the land for the facility in Minneota is purchased and the floor plan is set for the expansion center.

“We want to be transparent,” Gillund said. “The center is not confirmed yet, but we are doing everything in our power to make it happen.”

The center will also look to be licensed for 100 kids, if it goes through.

Local community members have been showing support for the expansion, and Little Explorers has been able to lock down other finances to help keep the project moving.

“Thank you to the Minneota EDA (Economic Development Administration) for the grant they have promised to contribute if this project moves forward, and to Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) for providing funds to cover our architectural plans,” Gillund said.

While Little Explorers will connect and work with the Lyon County Board next about further steps, Gillund showed appreciation to the community for continuing to voice their support about the need for more child care options.

“The child care crisis in our area is devastating, and we won’t stop fighting for a solution,” Gillund said. “We truly couldn’t do this without our amazing community.”