Dorothy’s Discovery Daycare more than doubles footprint in Ypsilanti

Dorothy Morris was a nursing student and a mother before switching her major to education and dedicating her career to caring for children. "I have three daughters, and they ended up being at the daycare at I used to work at, and I wanted to be around them," Morris says. Coming form a nursing background, I believe you need to provide the educations and academics, but also need think about the individual needs of each child, so I try to make a family-like environment." That philosophy has taken her childcare facility, Dorothy's Discovery Daycare, from a home business licensed for 12 a decade ago to the commercial business she operates today, which is licensed for 75 children, employs a staff of up to 14 and has recently more than doubled in size with a 3,800 square foot addition.  "We 're able to provide care for the whole family," says Morris. "It's nice for a moms and dads who don't have to run all over town to pick up their kids different places." Work on the expansion began in June and was completed just in time to open for the new school year. The addition, which was built on to the original, 2,5000 square foot facility on Merritt Rd. in Ypsilanti has grown Dorothy's Discovery Daycare to include six classrooms, including separate rooms for infants, toddlers, two preschool classrooms and two school-age classrooms. An second playground for infants and toddlers was also added to the facility, which accepts children up to 13 years old.  Also spurring the daycare's growth has been a contract with the nearby East Arbor Charter Academy, for which Dorothy's Discovery Daycare provides before- and after-school care. The relationship allowed Morris to take on more children and increase her staff by four employees. Morris hopes to continue to grow her connections to the community and other school districts in the future.  Source: Dorothy Morris, Dorothy's Discovery Daycare Writer: Natalie Burg