A Recognized Community Need …
The Plymouth Senior Center has Outgrown its Current Facility
The Plymouth Senior Center has Outgrown its Current Facility
The Plymouth Senior Center currently provides recreational, educational, social, health/wellness programs, day trips, food and fellowship for over 1,600 seniors from the Plymouth/Sheboygan County area per month.
The number of active participants has increased by 70 percent during the past nine years.
Due to an aging “baby boomer” generation, population projections show that by the year 2020, there will be more people age 65 and older than there will be age 17 and under.
For the Plymouth/Sheboygan area alone, the prediction is for a growth of 106 percent in our senior population.
The Senior Center projects a need to double their current physical square footage in order to accommodate a growth in services and a substantial increase in the senior population.
Plymouth has Limited Child Care Opportunities for Working Families
There is only one facility-based, nationally accredited child care center in Plymouth (Here We Grow Child Care) that is licensed for infants and children ages six (6) weeks to 12 years.
There have been several small, in-home family day care providers that have ceased to operate sixty-eight percent (68%) of Wisconsin children under age six have working parents, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the need for child care to grow at a faster than average rate.
Here We Grow Child Care operates a licensed 99-child day care facility in an antiquated building that no longer adequately serves the children for quality programming, and there is no room for growth or expansion at this location to accommodate a waiting list of 28 infants and children.
If this day care center were to close, the Plymouth community would be in danger of losing 99 day care “slots” for children.
This would produce a huge negative impact on local families as well as business and industry, which rely on the availability of child care for the working parents they employ.
In fact, Here We Grow Child Care serves 89 different employers by providing parents with high quality child care.
Society has Increasingly Become Segregated by Age, Negatively Impacting the Benefits Associated with Intergenerational Experiences
Over the course of the last century, America has become highly-segregated by age.
Children attend age-segregated schools, adults work in environments without children or adults over 65, older adults live in age-segregated housing, and both children and older persons are cared for by age-segregated services.
When the opportunity for relationships between young and old is limited, the young do not understand their elders or the aging process.
Realizing the benefits of intergenerational programming, Here We Grow Child Care and Plymouth Senior Center are currently operating – between their respective facilities – programs that foster intergenerational contact.
Many Parents and Caregivers in Sheboygan County Rely on Local Community Resources for the Training, Education, and Support They Need to Thrive as a Family Unit.
Historically, the family, with its extended network, was responsible for the various nurturing, educational, and economic functions required to maintain and support its members.
In today’s society, many more families live away from their relatives and must rely on their local community for a supportive environment in which to raise their children.
In 1992, the Every Family Coordinating Council (EFCC) was formed with the vision that all children and families would be supported within their communities. From this vision, the Family Resource Centers of Sheboygan County became a reality.
The Family Resource Centers provide resource libraries on family issues, parenting programs, parent/child activities, support groups, and child care. In 2001-2002 alone, 3,620 people visited the Centers, and more than 50 different parenting programs and activities were held for families living in Sheboygan County.
The main site for Family Resource Centers of Sheboygan County is located in Plymouth due to its centrality within Sheboygan County, and may relocate to the Plymouth Intergenerational Center.
The Plymouth site for Family Resource Centers of Sheboygan County has inadequate space and is interested in relocating to the Plymouth Intergenerational Center.
Parents, children, and seniors who utilize the services of Here We Grow Child Care and the Plymouth Senior Center would benefit tremendously from having access to comprehensive, family-oriented programs, services, and resources within one central location.