The Brighter Tomorrows Campaign Kicks Off
For the last 21 years, Yolo Crisis Nursery has been a haven for at-risk children in our community: a caring home, a helping hand, and a comprehensive resource for families during times of crisis.
As an organization, we are committed to helping every child and family that comes to our door, and the need is growing. Last year we served 67% more families than the prior year. The increasing demand for the Nursery’s services, combined with the constraints of the size of our current rental home, has made the need for a larger, better equipped Nursery more urgent.
To meet the growing needs of our community, now and in the future, the Yolo Crisis Nursery has launched the Brighter Tomorrows Campaign to build a new, permanent home. The $9.5 million initiative is a partnership with our local businesses, city and county government, foundations, friends and supporters to raise the funds necessary for construction, equipment, and expanded programs and services.
We are extremely grateful to Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for their transformational lead gift of $2.5 million and honored by their support of the Nursery’s mission and our shared goals. We are thankful to have the generous support of leadership donors who have helped us lay the foundation: Blue Bus LP, Yolo County, The City of Davis, Sutter Health, Our Little Light Foundation, First 5 Yolo, The Johanna Anderson Trueblood Foundation, The George and Lena Valente Foundation, The Kelly Foundation, and Davis resident Mohini Jain, as well as the other early campaign contributors who have helped us launch this ambitious fundraising effort.
The new, 9,000+ square-foot facility, located on a one-acre parcel of land in South Davis, replaces the Nursery’s current location, a 1,400-square-foot rental home that the organization has occupied since it was founded in 2001. Groundbreaking for the new Nursery is currently slated for spring 2023 and construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2024.
The new Yolo Crisis Nursery will provide these important benefits:
The Space to Help More Families — More than triple the number of beds for housing children overnight
* An Environment for Learning — Designated spaces for preschool classes, training sessions, and meetings
* Confidentiality — Private offices for parent counseling and other wraparound services
* Increased Services — Space for medical assessments, targeted therapy, parenting training, and expanded services
* Room to Play — Outside playground space, with designated separate age-appropriate areas
* Critical Upgrades — Improved facilities and equipment, from an efficient, modern kitchen to critical security systems
* Operational Necessities — Administrative spaces, storage, and entry areas to provide more effective services
* Financial Security — The benefit of owning a home vs. continuing to rent
And we are just getting started. Over the next 18 months we seek to raise all the funds needed to build the Nursery, ensuring that there are additional resources for equipment, furniture, building maintenance, and expanded programs and services.
Early support for the Brighter Tomorrows Campaign has been remarkable and the generosity and compassion of our community have been inspiring. With our public campaign launch now underway, I am absolutely confident that we are on the path to truly building brighter tomorrows — for children, for families, for our community.
For more information about the Yolo Crisis Nursery and its Brighter Tomorrows Campaign, visit https://yolocrisisnursery.org/ if you are interested in making a gift to the campaign, please email bheard@yolocrisisnursery.org. Thank you for your support and commitment to the children of Yolo County.
— This article originally appeared in the Davis Enterprise on May 22, 2022 and was written by Jane Eadie, campaign chair for the Yolo Crisis Nursery Brighter Tomorrows Campaign.