Students Plan Affordable Child Care Center at ECU

Thanks to an idea sparked by an entrepreneurship class, two ECU students are creating a drop-off child care center called PlayCare, providing affordable therapy services for Greenville-area children through ECU’s Office of Public Service and Community Relations.

Kathryn Denaro and Brian Mitchell

Junior Brian Mitchell of Chapel Hill, a business major who is concentrating in entrepreneurship and small business management, teamed up with senior Kathryn Denaro, a university studies major with a concentration in child and family advocacy, to develop a business plan for PlayCare, secure advisors, and turn the idea into reality.

The concept started as a babysitting service, Mitchell says, but soon evolved into a dual purpose therapy and drop-off child care center for young learners ages two to five.

“PlayCare will connect income fragile families with the resources they need while contributing to economic growth to the region,” Mitchell said. “Our goal is to provide affordable therapy services for families with a household income that falls between $35,000 to $75,000 annually – families that don’t qualify for Medicaid but cannot pay for extra expenses out of pocket.”

Mitchell said they added a drop-off aspect that allows a child to attend a therapy session and then learn in a positive environment until his or her parents get off work. The whole concept helps to prevent the wage loss that happens when parents miss work to take their child to therapy.

In February, Mitchell and Denaro presented their plan at the 2015 UNC Social Entrepreneurship Conference, which challenges UNC-system students to identify some of North Carolina’s most pressing social problems and then take a business-oriented approach to solving them.

“The first 2,000 days of a child’s life are the most important developmentally,” Mitchell explained.
“Many children do not receive proper support between the ages of birth and five, and research consistently shows the cognitive, socio-emotional, and language benefits of high-quality early childhood care and education programs for young learners.

Mitchell and Denaro are supported by two faculty advisors from ECU, Dr. Kate Lamere and Robert Pinner. Lamere is an assistant professor in the School of Art and Design, while Pinner works with the Small Business Technology and Development Center regional branch at ECU and has advised the team on business strategy and implementation.

Mitchell said, “The idea did not come in one brainstorming session; it took a lot of meetings with deans and advisors, plus long nights at Joyner Library to solidify the plan.”

PlayCare is currently securing investors and applying for grants to help defray start-up costs. The program plans to employ recent graduates with degrees in early childhood development and related fields.

For more information, visit http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/pscr/innovate/PlayCare.cfm

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