Kelsey Varty chairs the new Early Care & Development Foundation of Becker County, a role she truly embraces. But if you imagine she brings nonprofit work experience and has familiarity with child care through her own children, well, you would be wrong.
Wrong on both counts. Yet enthusiasm and relishing the role go a long way.
“I have zero experience working in this scope of community efforts,” Kelsey admits. “I’ve never been a part of an organization, and really, I have no business being chair,” she humbly says, “but I’m learning new things and it’s been really, really great.”
So how did Kelsey get there?
It begins with a real passion for her community. Even without children of her own, she knows that having access to child care is part of the economic engine that drives businesses. “The work we’re doing with this foundation is going to be helpful in supporting business right here in our communities,” she says.
“Through this foundation, if we can successfully grow and retain child care providers, it will also support working families. By creating more choice in child care, we’ll eliminate a lot of stress and anxiety for these families,” she adds.
West Central Initiative (WCI) has worked to advance child care issues for more than three decades. WCI’s Director of Early Childhood Nancy Jost says, “Early childhood professionals are partners with families in raising the next generation of parents, workers, and citizens—our society depends on us, our children depend on us, and our future depends on us. We must do better.”
They believe the same in Becker County, a sentiment that spurred action. The Early Care & Development Foundation (ECDF) was formed in 2022 by a group of community leaders who wanted to create long-term child care solutions in the region.
As a Financial Advisor at Carrier & Varty – Ameriprise Financial in Detroit Lakes, Kelsey has seen how the workforce can struggle with finding affordable, quality child care. “A long-time coworker had her child care provider change operating hours. Which is fair, right? The provider is a small business owner and has a say in that,” Kelsey said. “But it didn’t align with our business hours or that of other area businesses. So my coworker had to make a choice: find another provider, or change employment. With the shortage of child care, she chose the latter.”
WCI’s Community Philanthropy Officer Samantha VanWechel-Meyer helped get the project off and running. “This project is a great example of how we can respond to community needs,” she said. “Bring your idea to us, gather your crowd, and together we can explore ways to make that dream a reality. WCI brings flexibility and experience to the table,” Samantha said.
Kelsey can’t say enough about Samantha and how that partnership is working. “The support WCI has given to us has taken the guesswork out of knowing if we’re doing the big, important stuff correctly,” Kelsey said. “We’re able to focus on our mission and spread our message because we have a safe and secure place that’s keeping track of donations, monitoring the funds, and sending out important tax documents.”
“Small communities and their leaders don’t always have the right tools at their fingertips,” Kelsey said. “West Central Initiative provides the systems and resources we need.”
Samantha describes the ECDF of Becker County as a public-private relationship. “Often our funds receive private donations for public projects. The mission of this fund is to support early childhood and child care providers, so this fund brings government, business, and the general public together to work on solutions.”
Kelsey relishes her role as chair. “To go from knowing nothing to learning so much from our WCI partnership is incredible. For any community group with a cause, I feel your first call should be West Central Initiative—they’ll take care of you.”
“I would absolutely recommend WCI’s services to others,” she adds.
(Note: Donations and support for the Early Care and Development Foundation of Becker County can be found at old.wcif.org/fund/ecdfbc/. Contact Samantha VanWechel-Meyer to start discussions on ideas in your community.)
