A new resource is aiming to help the working Detroit parents who need it most.
Detroit Parent Collective gives the city its first-ever combined co-working space and co-op preschool. Unlike traditional daycare, this space also has plenty for moms and dads, from internet access to classes in yoga and nutrition.
Founder Krista McClure, a local mom, hopes to foster a community at her business in Madison Heights
“It’s supposed to remind you of home, with a very organic feel to it,” she says – and it does, from the natural wood to the no-shoes policy.
While parents work, kids enjoy a part-play, part-classroom area led by a Ph.D.-level master teacher and skilled volunteer parents. The Montessori-like curriculum emphasizes sensory-based, self-directed learning.
DPC also works with outside arts and literacy and music/movement programs.
“It’s a collective, a co-op,” McClure says. “We lean on organizations or entities that already exist, while also supporting other minority-owned businesses that don’t have a brick-and-mortar.”
McClure is especially focused on young mothers (she was a teen mom herself), multi-generational households and entrepreneurs who don’t necessarily require full-time child care. “There are certain demographics that I want to reach.”
Best of all, membership fees are aimed at being reasonable, McClure says. She urges anyone interested to pop in once for free, though, to hang out for a bit and get to know her and her team.
This post was originally published in 2017 and is updated regularly.
