Since Great Depression, Ann Arbor preschool has offered low-cost child care and supportive services

For over 90 years, Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County, 3770 Packard St. in Ann Arbor, has not only provided high-quality, affordable, and accessible child care, but also served as a community resource for enrolled families. The child care center is focused on providing high-quality, affordable education for children from 6 weeks to 5 years old, as well as assisting families with basic needs, including food and winter clothing drives and help in emergency situations.

“We were founded during the Depression so children had a place to go, and so mothers could work during a time when families needed to have both parents in the workforce to make ends meet,” says Executive Director Sandy Williams.

Foundations Preschool got its start as Perry Nursery School with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934. It was originally housed at Perry Elementary in Ypsilanti but was not a part of the public schools. The child care center still has an affordability-focused sliding-scale model, meeting families where they are financially so all children have access to high-quality care.

“What we do is combine all scholarships that families can get from the [U.S.] Department of Health and Human Services, the military, et cetera, so the rate becomes affordable or free for them,” Williams says.

According to Carrianne Ausmus, Foundations Preschool development manager, Foundations Preschool families pay approximately 20% of the average cost of child care in Washtenaw County, with around 88% of families receiving sliding-scale tuition assistance scholarships.

Originally, Foundations Preschool was one of four WPA nursery schools in Washtenaw County. When WPA funding ended, a group came together to create the Friends of Perry Nursery School. It raised funds to continue the school’s operation while the three other WPA nursery schools closed.

“We became that place for the Rosie the Riveters at the Willow Run plant to send their children,” Williams says.

While the mission of accessible high-quality care hasn’t changed, Foundations Preschool has transformed along with the needs of the community, moving from a nursery school model housed in Perry Elementary School to its own standalone nonprofit early childhood center. In 2014, the school changed its name from Perry Nursery School to Foundations Preschool.

“We hadn’t been in the Perry building since the ‘60s, and ‘nursery school’ was a very old name that people didn’t understand. People were calling us and asking us what kind of trees we sold,” Williams says.

While the school initially focused on the preschool years, today Foundations Preschool also provides affordable infant and toddler care. Williams stresses that it’s important to understand that many of the families served by Foundations tend to be those who are most underserved in other areas, such as housing and food security.

“We provide not only accessible, affordable care, but it’s also the best care families can find in the area,” Williams says. “Only two places in the county have met both national accreditation and Michigan’s Great Start to Quality standards.”

Parents’ experiences have been positive. 

“I heard about Foundations from a friend who highly recommended the school,” says a parent of a 4-year-old student, who requested to remain anonymous to preserve their privacy. “From the moment I took the tour, I knew I loved it. My child is so engaged in the lessons, and I appreciate how the structure allows them to have fun while learning.”

A parent of a 3-year-old student who also requested anonymity says, “I heard about Foundations online, and I love how much fun my child has here. The relationships they are able to build, especially with the small child-to-staff ratios, have been incredible.”

As family needs have increased, Foundations Preschool has become a community resource hub, providing access to food and other basic needs.

“We provide family services; we’re not just a child-care center,” Williams says. “We call it our Connected Care program. We provide what we can for families because we believe that a child cannot be fully better off if their family is not better off when they leave our center.”

To meet current heightened needs, Foundations Preschool has a weekly food program through which staff give out 60 bags of groceries per month. It also has a food box program through which families can take home meals. A staff social worker is also available to help connect families to other governmental resources and help them navigate those programs if they need support.

“We also have a fund for our families if they’re ever having an emergency, like, say, their car breaks down,” Ausmus says. “We can provide them with some money temporarily, because we know that even one small thing can start a cascade that can lead a family to becoming unhoused.”

This emergency fund is about making sure families can keep coming to the center, because the more early childhood education a child receives, the better prepared they are for the future.

“The goal with the emergency fund program is to prevent families from being in a catastrophic situation by providing even just a little bit of money,” Williams says. “It’s harder to get out of emergencies than just to prevent them in the first place.”

Keeping people well has also been a concern for Foundations, which is why the center has hosted a free vaccine clinic for families looking for COVID and flu immunizations. Foundations also hosted a workshop about how to navigate unemployment.

“We always have our ear to the ground,” Williams says. “The number one need is affordable child care. That has not changed. What’s been hard for us is keeping that price low with expenses continuing to go up.”

For Foundations, increasing food prices are a concern, along with increasing internal expenses, like staff pay.

“We can’t increase our tuition at the same rate of other centers because our mission is to keep tuition down for families,” Williams says. “That’s where we have to go out to our donors and say, ‘We’re strapped,’ because of all these other things happening nationally and even internationally.”

Staff must be creative with fundraising to continue to meet families’ needs.

“It’s a tough time for fundraisers because a lot of the federal grants that a lot of nonprofits were getting were cut, and so that makes the private grants 10 times more competitive,” Ausmus says.

Despite these challenges, Foundations staff remain committed to the mission they’ve upheld for nearly a century.

“Our families are able to get great, high-quality education for their children that would not be attainable otherwise,” Williams says.