Cooperation Among Cooperatives Benefits Child Care Center

Dairyland Power Cooperative and two of its member cooperatives - Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative (Postville, Iowa) and MiEnergy Cooperative (Rushford, Minn./Cresco, Iowa) - joined forces to support a new childcare facility in Decorah, Iowa.

Sunflower Child Development Center is constructing a new, 27,000 square foot facility called the Northeast Iowa Child Development and Discovery Center at 902 Commerce Drive in Decorah. The new facility will replace the current aging center and support capacity of 245 children.

A check presentation on Dec. 13 celebrated the contributions of all three cooperatives. Dairyland donated a total of $5,000 - $2,500 from Dairyland, which was matched by CoBank, a national cooperative bank, through CoBank’s Sharing Success Program. 

MiEnergy helped access $1.86 million through the USDA's Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program. Through the same program, Allamakee-Clayton accessed $1.5 million on behalf of the center. 

The new facility will provide care to children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. The project will also include a Discovery Center - a children's museum that will be accessible to the public during the evenings and on weekends.