NORTH WEBSTER — Milestones Early Education Center, North Webster, announced the appointment of three new members of its board of trustees and work beginning with LaunchPad, a child care coalition. Joining the board of trustees are Jordan Lackey, Nichole Rouached and Tiffany Peterson.

“Our newest board members embody the spirit of community and bring talent, expertise and energy to the table. We are very fortunate to have them by our side while Milestones Early Education Center not only continues to grow as a facility but attempts to strengthen opportunities for high quality early learning in our community,” said Heather Coy, president of the Milestones Early Education Center.

The center also has a full slate of new officers, and board members. Current members include President Heather Coy, Re/Max Lakes; Vice President Nichole Rouached, OrthoWorx, Secretary Alicia Dawson, Tecomet; Treasurer Tiffany Peterson,Lake City Bank; and members Kimberly Beaman, Re/Max Lakes; and Jordan Lackey, Wawasee Community Schools. Milestone’s mission is to provide quality, affordable child care in a clean, safe and warm environment. Also, Milestones seeks to provide quality staff and age appropriate educational activities for children so that parents can feel comfortable knowing their children have reliable care.

Milestones has been working with LaunchPad, the recently formed child care coalition based out of the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce, to better support staff, educators, families and the board of directors.

“The support from many local non-profits and companies that are working diligently to promote and strengthen early learning programs in our county is incredible,” said Rouached, who sits on the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s Early Learning Committee. The committee is planning the Indiana Early Learning Summit for Economic Development to be held in Fort Wayne on Thursday, Nov. 7.

She continued, “Quality child care and early learning programs are critical, not just for our students, but businesses too. A study out of Indiana University found that Indiana employers take a $1.8 billion direct loss due to inadequate child care. Our board of directors is looking to build and strengthen our engagement with local businesses through our annual fund campaign and offer tuition partnerships, ensuring both students and local employers benefit from our center.”

Milestones encourages employers and community members interested in learning more about how to support the center to contact the Director Crystal Smith or the Administrator, Melissa Small.

Milestones Early Education Center provides a high-quality early learning program from children ages one through five at their current location, 111 S. Harrison St., for approximately 45 students. Additionally, Milestones manages the Latchkey camp and afterschool program out of the North Webster Elementary School, providing learning extensions and educations opportunities for school aged children, kindergarten through fifth grade.