The buzz started back in the spring of 2022. when the Moab Community Childcare nonprofit, MCC, caught the eye of Rob Walker. At the time, Walker, who had moved to Moab in 2019, was serving on the county’s Economic Development Advisory Board and searching for a “project that would make a tangible difference in people’s lives.”

Moabite Audrey Graham, who was the impetus behind MCC, had shifted her energy to the Moab Area Land Trust and didn’t have the time she felt was needed to develop the fledgling nonprofit. Walker spotted a golden opportunity: The linkage of the two, the Land Trust offering affordable housing for locals, and the other expanding affordable childcare opportunities, turned out to be a winning dual boost for Moab workers.

Talking to Graham about the potential of the childcare center, “I got excited,” Walker says. “I just ran with it.”

It was during the heart of the Covid pandemic. In the thick of those crisis years, childcare had surfaced as an ongoing problem for locals. “There’s absolutely a childcare crisis here,” a Moab Times-Independent headline stated in May of 2022.
The solution, in Walker’s eyes, was brilliantly simple and simply brilliant, as well as uniquely tailored for Walker, who has a strong background in investment and finance. “Childcare is economic development,” he famously said at the time. By linking child care to regional economic well-being, Walker was able to work with the County’s Economic Development director August Granath and others to obtain a $100,000 grant that would immediately begin to serve the twin goals of stabilizing existing centers and encouraging new ones.

That initial grant was soon followed by a Covid-related government grant of $200,000. By August of 2022, the doors of the Lutheran Church had opened to 20 infants, all under two years. Infant care is especially challenging, and at the time, Walker says, “there was nowhere else they could go.”

By the end of 2022 MCC had hired Nikki Wilson as Director of Childcare Operations; her experience in elementary education buffered the organization greatly. Walker credits Wilson with the daily work needed to keep MCC viable and growing, including hiring and training staff.

The latest excitement for MCC is the addition of a new pre-school center in the Community Church of Moab (see photo), which is earmarked for children who are past infant age but not yet old enough for school. “Families wanted continuity and to stay with us,” Walker says of the new center, which opened in April of this year.

As we go to press, now two years in, MCC has blossomed into a central hub and support center for staffing and growing the several childcare centers of Moab and is receiving high marks for providing quality care. “We’re not about cutting corners,” Walker says, noting childcare is expensive and often requires financial support like that which got the ball rolling two years ago.

To learn more about what MCC offers - or to participate as a staffer or donor – call Director Nikki Wilson at 435-355-0623 or email – info@moabchildcare.org.

MCC also has a website – moabchildcare.org - and a Facebook page. The organization employs 17 people and is clearly a team effort, with several dedicated Board members in addition to Walker.

And don’t forget to say you read about it in Moab Happenings