Articles of Incorporation were filed July 13, 2020 for Prairie Pines Childcare Center, a newly formed nonprofit which will provide childcare services in Fosston.

The City of Fosston helped to establish a local childcare taskforce in 2018 because of the community’s critical need for additional childcare capacity.  According to City Administrator Cassie Heide, “our community is blessed with many fantastic, in-home childcare providers, but the demand far exceeds the number of children they can take in.”

Early on, the taskforce considered a couple of sites which had the potential to be used for a childcare center, but when both were sold to private businesses, the taskforce hit a dead end.

The taskforce also found the high cost of purchasing and remodeling a building to be a significant challenge. As they worked through various financial models, they realized the importance of keeping the cost of the building low.

Local businesswoman, Leah Faudskar, became aware of the need and reached out to Cassie Heide, City Administrator. Faudskar offered to donate the building formerly occupied by Prairie Pet Clinic to a nonprofit childcare.

The local childcare taskforce met to discuss this new opportunity and the decision was made to form a nonprofit.

No timeline for the center has been established yet, but it is believed that it will be operational in 2022.