MARQUETTE–A new childcare center is open in Marquette.

The Lake Superior Community Partnership assisted Little Clubs Learning Center LLC with a ribbon-cutting to celebrate its new childcare group home located at 325 Brookton Road in Marquette.

The owner, Lysa Stockwell, is the first graduate of the Childcare SPARK program to open an in-home, group daycare.

Stockwell said she became concerned about finding and paying for daycare in Marquette when her daughter became pregnant.

Lysa and her husband retired and moved to Marquette to assist their daughter with childcare. “The SPARK class gave me the opportunity to spend time with very knowledgeable people who helped me with every step of obtaining a Michigan daycare license,” Lysa Stockwell said. “It also provided the opportunity for me to make some connections in the community with people who were applying for a daycare license at the same time I was.”

Little Cubs Learning Center LLC has its State of Michigan license which allows the group home to provide daycare for 12 children in Stockwell’s home.

Contact Lysa Stockwell at littlecubs906@gmail.com to learn more about the Little Cubs Learning Center LLC.

The Childcare SPARK initiative is an innovative, first-of-its-kind program combining expertise from business development, childcare operations, and childhood development organizations into a business accelerator model to help interested entrepreneurs understand, launch, operate, and grow home-based childcare businesses.

Our goal is to successfully establish new childcare businesses throughout Marquette County to help families find the care they need to remain or re-enter the workforce.

Childcare SPARK is just one of several initiatives in our area to address the childcare shortage. Childcare SPARK is made possible through initial support from the State of Michigan Equity Fund and an ARPA allocation from the Marquette County Commission.