A local nonprofit that had helped Southwest Florida families with subsidized day care for more than three decades has refocused its efforts.
Child Care of Southwest Florida lost its state contract in June, but has expanded its day care centers, child care worker training and grant programs.
"We decided to revisit our mission and make sure it was still in line with what we wanted to do," said CEO Rhea Mike. "We decided to go back to the basics."
The basics included opening three new day care centers, bringing the total to 13 centers that serve 900 children in Lee, Hendry, Glades, Charlotte and Collier counties.
Two new centers in Collier County will provide care for teen parents at Immokalee and Golden Gate high schools. A third center, Play to Learn Children's Center, opened in August at a south Fort Myers location that had been a different day care.
Next fall, the organization also will run the daycare at the Edison College campus in Collier County, said board Chairman Bill Robinson.
All this comes after a rocky time for the nonprofit.
In April, the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida, which oversees state-contracted child care subsidies for 8,000 children in Lee, Charlotte, Collier and Hendry counties, decided to cancel its contract with Child Care of Southwest Florida after the nonprofit overspent its funding by $549,000.
The $40 million contract went to Orlando-based Community Coordinated Care for Children.
Although Child Care of Southwest Florida no longer handles subsidies, it is looking to raise money to help families at its day care centers, many of which are located in lower-income areas.
"We're trying to raise scholarship funds to support our locations," Robinson said. "What we don't want to have to do is find out we can't sustain our locations and tell the public we're going to have to close."
The nonprofit also has increased its training offerings for child care workers and manages the federal Child Care Food Program, which allows centers to be reimbursed for food given to children from low-income families. The food program includes DeSoto and Sarasota counties.