Sherry Searles, LaunchPad director, left; Emily Demski, childcare assistant director; JoAnne Rewolinksi, childcare director; Pastor Jason Alley; Pastor Mike Hontz; Pastor Kevin Ewton; Rob Parker, Kosciusko Chamber president & CEO. Photo provided by LaunchPad.

Press Release

WARSAW — LaunchPad, the Kosciusko County Child Care & Early Learning Coalition, in partnership with Early Learning Indiana, has awarded a grant of $100,000 to the Pleasant View Bible Church to support opening their new childcare in August 2022.

These funds were awarded to LaunchPad from Early Learning Indiana through a grant called, “Closing the Gap.” ELI made the capacity-building grants available to communities that want to increase access to high-quality early learning programs.

The new Pleasant View Early Learning program will serve children ages 0-5 and have a capacity of 84 children.

Sherry Searles, director of LaunchPad said, “This funding allowed the church to purchase a fire alarm system which enables them to care for more children. They were going to be restricted to caring for less than 50 children because of state regulations, but with the additional funding, they will be allowed to add more seats.”

LaunchPad is working to remove any barriers that prohibit growth of the local child care capacity in a safe and sustainable manner.

In addition to a fire alarm system, Pleasant View Early Learning will use the funding to purchase a research-based curriculum and provide training for their new staff.

The childcare program will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If parents have more questions or wish to enroll their children, they can contact the director at (574) 269-1562.