Shelbyville coalition breaks ground on new early learning center
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Shelby County leaders are looking to improve access to high-quality child care with the groundbreaking of a new early learning center.
Representatives with Early Learning Shelby County, Major Health Partners and the city of Shelbyville broke ground Wednesday on the Julia Nicholas Runnebohm Early Learning Center, which is expected to serve nearly 100 children upon completion in fall 2024. It represents Shelby County’s first pre-kindergarten education program, county leaders say.
They’re hopeful the center, named for supporters Julia and Nicholas Runnebohm, will address gaps in child care availability across the county. Shelby County currently only has enough seats in licensed child care centers to serve 40% of children up to five years old.
The 26,000-square-foot facility will be built in Shelbyville’s Intelliplex Park and is supported by $3 million in state Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI, grant funding. The center will be operated by Shelby County’s largest provider of employer-sponsored child care, Bright Horizons, and will serve children ages six weeks to six years old.
“We’re excited to be a part of their children’s first stage of learning here at the center,” Jami Behrens, division vice president of operations at Bright Horizons, said in a news release. “All of our programs are geared to ensure children have the language, math, science and social skills they need for elementary school, and we’re also able to help parents incorporate learning experiences in their children’s home life as well.”
The center comes with the support of Accelerate Rural Indiana, a coalition of several southeast central Indiana communities that banded together to secure economic support from Indiana’s READI program. Accelerate Rural Indiana was awarded $20 million total in READI funds.
The region covers Shelby, Rush and Decatur counties.
“The need for quality childcare was a consistent priority across our region during the READI planning process,” READI steering committee chair Bryan Robbins said in the news release. “ARI is proud to support the early learning center and we’re confident its positive impact will be felt across the region.”
