Mayor Jared “Bubba” Cagle is proud to see new life breathed into the former Parrish High School in his town. The school was closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year and has been vacant for much of the time since then. But Cagle recently helped with the ribbon cutting for Tots N Toddlers Learning Center, a new preschool at the former high school site, which will soon serve almost 100 children in Walker County.
“This building means a lot to me, and it means a lot to a lot of people in this town,” Cagle said. “So to be able to have it still used for learning…I feel like that’s important.”
Tots N Toddlers is one of two learning centers currently opening in our area as a result of grants awarded by United Way of Central Alabama (UWCA). Grants have been awarded to childcare businesses through a program conceived in partnership with Women’s Foundation of Alabama, Childcare Resources and other childcare experts.
In addition to Tots N Toddlers, Little Royalties Child Development Center is also set to open in Hueytown this September. And Little Peaches, a center which opened in Clanton in 2023, also received funding for expansion from UWCA.
The small-business support is designed to provide business training and mentoring to new and prospective childcare business owners, which complements facility improvement grants offered through ELAI that help centers increase their capacity and serve more children in Central Alabama.
Though Kim Rice and Amy McCullar, the owners of Tots N Toddlers, have worked in early education for years, they said that collaborating with childcare providers through the program has taught them a lot. As an example, McCullar pointed to the need to ensure teachers feel appreciated. “You’ve got to keep your teachers happy. Teaching is not just teaching anymore,” she said. “It’s paperwork, it’s dealing with stressed parents. There’s a lot that goes into the job.”
At the ribbon cutting, Rice was overjoyed, thanking everyone who helped make their center a reality. “I certainly couldn’t have done it on my own,” she said. “My family, my friends and the great community have been a blessing to me. I want to thank Mayor Bubba Cagle, the Women’s Foundation and United Way and, most of all, Amy McCullar for pushing me through and being by my side no matter what.”
In addition to addressing the need for childcare accessibility, Crystal May, owner of Little Royalties, had deeply personal reasons for establishing her center. A longtime employee of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, May knows the toll that many children suffer without high-quality early learning. She said that opening this center was an opportunity to directly help them.
“I wanted to do something to prevent children from being in the system,” May told The Birmingham Times. “I don’t want to just be a babysitter because anybody can babysit. I want to develop kids.”
-Crystal May, owner of Little Royalties
Michelle Jones, owner of Little Peaches in Clanton, also had personal reasons for opening a childcare center. After a difficult childhood, Jones went on to build a career serving children as a pediatric nurse. Just before her father’s death in 2022, Jones rekindled a relationship with him. After his passing, she wanted to do something meaningful with the inheritance she received.
“I decided to open a daycare so that I could provide a place where children can come, and they can feel loved and know what love is like and feel safe and secure; and the parents would know that their children were in a place that felt like home.”
-Michelle Jones, owner of Little Peaches
Eight other Central Alabama early learning centers also participated in the program, including:
- Amy’s Amazing Children in Dora.
- Annie Lee’s Daycare in Bessemer.
- The Learning Garden in Bessemer.
- Children’s Place Programs in Bessemer.
- Jolly Bunnys Daycare in Hueytown.
- Keta’s One Step to Learning Preschool in Lipscomb.
- Learn, Grow, and More, LLC in Pinson.
- Tamika’s Playhouse Daycare in Bessemer.
The program provided business owners weeks of training and one-on-one coaching, as well as extensive networking, to help further grow their centers and help meet the need for high-quality childcare throughout the region.
A second round of childcare entrepreneurs, specifically home-based providers, has already been selected for the next round of the program, which is set to take place this fall.
That second round includes:
- Angel Daycare.
- Brighter Day Child Development Center.
- C.A. Home Child Care.
- Creative Imagination Academy.
- First Steps Early Childcare.
- JollyTime Academy.
- The Little Lambs of God Childcare.
- Little Legends Luv & Care Daycare.
- Sunshine Kids Development Center.
- Thomas Daycare.
ELAI has also helped create 66 new childcare spots in the past year through its Childcare Expansion Grants, with an anticipated increase of more than 600 new spots when the current grantee facility improvements are complete.
A new round of applications for Expansion Grants will open on October 1st. For more information, click here.
For more on United Way’s work in Early Childhood Development and Education, click here.
United Way of Central Alabama supports early childhood development and education, because
all children deserve the tools for success
We work to address disparity and improve outcomes for children by increasing the capacity of childcare centers, working directly with business owners and professionals to improve the quality of childcare, teaching parenting classes, providing stable housing for families experiencing homelessness and much more.
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