The center, which has received praise from state officials for its work and support from some of the top movers and shakers in southeastern Wisconsin, is celebrating its 10th anniversary, going back to its conception. It officially opened in 2000.
For Holly Davis, executive director, this is business as usual: talking matter-of-factly about helping a mother of three get her GED, or staff making frequent trips to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa so a child could get needed care.
"We just do what we have to do to make sure families are being taken care of," Davis said.
If a baby needs a crib, they'll get the family a crib along with education about how to prevent infant deaths.
If a parent needs help paying for medical scrubs to get a job, the center will help purchase the work clothes.
Something as simple as celebrating a child's birthday brought one parent to tears, Davis said.
"We celebrate everyone's birthday, it's just something we do here," Davis said.
Giving a child a birthday cake and presents, which many families take for granted, meant the world to one family.
"She had never been able to give her daughter a birthday party," Davis said.
Roberta Gassman, secretary of the state Department of Workforce Development, who has toured the center with Gov. Jim Doyle, praised the facility as a "shining example of what high-quality child care can be."
"If every child care setting was like NGN, we would be a very lucky state," Gassman said.
Next Generation Now is also set apart by the strong support from the late Sam Johnson of S.C. Johnson & Son; his wife, Gene; and daughter Helen Johnson-Leipold, chairman and CEO of Johnson Outdoors Inc., and chairman of Johnson Financial Group.
The Johnson family already offered state-of-the-art child care for employees of their companies. But they wanted to make sure the same quality care would be available to all children in the community, said Johnson-Leipold, who is founder and chairman of Next Generation Now.
"Dad, mom and I, along with a group of people from Racine County, had a dream, a dream that all Racine children would have a chance to succeed in school and in life," Johnson-Leipold said at Wingspread during a recent fund-raiser and anniversary event.
The center's focus is on the critical stages of child development, from birth to age 5, which will set the stage for the child to achieve success in life, Johnson-Leipold said.
"We say we want 'no child left behind' in school, but many children are already left behind before even entering school," Johnson-Leipold said.
Johnson-Leipold is pleased the center now cares for 130 children and has worked with 700 families in the past year.
About 85% of the children and families served at Next Generation Now fall below the poverty line, while the remaining 15% choose the center for its quality child care.
And quality child care is not cheap.
At Next Generation Now, it costs about $11,867 a year per infant, $9,700 for children ages 2 to 3, and $8,800 for ages 4 to 5, Davis said.
While many of the families whose children are at the center qualify for some state or federal support, that often falls short, Davis said. A job layoff often results in a loss of child care funds, which threatens to create a gap in child care services, she said.
The center tries to smooth those gaps with a fund fueled by private donations, Davis said.
Johnson-Leipold said it has been difficult to stay fiscally afloat and to prevent service gaps. It's why the support of the community has been so important, she said.
The cost to society of not supporting high-quality child care for the critical developmental years, she points out, is even greater.
"Our goal is to help these children be successes in kindergarten, because research shows that success in kindergarten will lead to success in life," she said.
Reyna Navarro of Racine has been bringing her two daughters, Diana, 4, and Jessica, 5, to the center for a year and a half.
Navarro, who speaks Spanish, said through an interpreter that she chose Next Generation Now because of its activities and emphasis on safety.
"They tell me every day of the activities they do there, and that makes me feel comfortable," she said.