Support Happy Little Paradise launch!

Happy Little Paradise Childcare Cooperative

"A place that feels like home."

Happy Little Paradise is a start up cooperative childcare project focused on every-child centered, culturally-linguistically supportive, affordable child care in the Lewiston-Auburn community in the state of Maine. At Happy Little Paradise, we celebrate culture, love, and commitment with each other and the community as some of our core values. Our message to the community is that no matter what you might have been through, you still can control your life and be able to find happiness in life. This is our message and we want the children to see and understand that in our practice.

We ask you to support us in reaching our fundraising goal of $100,000 to pay for the necessary renovations of our 115 Pine Street location, a space we plan to lease-to-own for a permanent childcare space in Lewiston. 

We have a bill of $150,000 in renovations, $50k already covered by a generous grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, leaving us with an $100,000 funding gap to get started. this includes the following expenses: 
- Property renovations to be licensed: $80,000 (Including fire safety sprinkler system: $60,000, an assessment from an architect: $8,000 
Emergency Crib Ramp: $5,000 
- Bring a second bathroom up to code: $7,000 
- Furniture and playground equipment $35,000
- Office and classroom supplies: $20,000
- Start-up supplies: $3,000
- Pre-opening wages: $10,000
- Insurance: $2,000

We envision a childcare business where:
- Quality matters
- Parents can be involved, feel assured and respected, and share in the care process
- Childcare Business Owners can do what they love, working directly with the children as providers
- Employees have great jobs with room for growth and learning, and a share in the ownership and decision making
- Group Training is built in the the way we work and develop our team as a peer learning cohort of business owners, care providers and small center directors

As a Member co-op, we aim to both educate and explore how cooperative business can support a community driven effort to alter the childcare paradigm in our area to that of quality AND affordability instead of the need to choose between the two. Culturally and Linguistically supportive, affordable care are all needed, and we seek ways to bring this together.

Here is a wonderful video put together by Happy Little Paradise's Assira Ferriera of some of the members taking their CPR training under COVID-safe guidelines this past winter: 



Meet the team: Here is how we have been doing much of our business planning and childcare service provider training during COVID-19 over Zoom: