Gabe Pieper, Tristan Fales, Patrick Clemans, Dr. Cody Kruize and Nicole Pagel present their child care project during the Marshall Leadership Academy graduation.

The headline I wrote for the May 8 edition of the Independent: Klobuchar listens to child care needs.

The U.S. senator paid a visit to Marshall on May 7 and held a roundtable discussion with local leaders and business people to discuss child care needs.

“Housing and day care are our largest challenges,” Marshall Economic Development Authority Director Lauren Deutz told Klobuchar.

Several businesspeople said the lack of child care has affected employment.

This wasn’t the first time I put a headline on top of a Klobuchar holding a roundtable discussion on child care in Marshall. The Independent covered a Klobuchar roundtable back in May of 2018. Same subject, slightly different headline. This time the word “hears” was used.

So basically, eight years later, the child care dilemma has gone nowhere. Here are the problems. No real solutions shared.

This is not directing criticism toward Klobuchar. She should be commended for listening to her constituents. But let’s face it, there are no easy solutions to solve the child care crisis. Klobuchar works in Washington, D.C. Don’t hold your breath for solutions coming from Congress.

But I was thinking about that headline I wrote earlier in the day while attending the Marshall Leadership Academy graduation program in the evening at the Marshall Golf Course.

If you’re not familiar with this academy, it’s hosted by the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce.

“This program is designed to build community leaders,” the chamber’s website states. “MLA provides participants with a unique opportunity to turn knowledge into action through classroom experiences, hands-on activities, and community awareness.”

“Over the period of nine months, participants will experience nine days of classes. Each participant will be assigned to a project group, which will assess community needs, determine a project, and facilitate the project working with other community members and/or groups. Group work will culminate with a group project presentation at graduation,” the website states.

Chamber President Brad Gruhot told me that he sees the academy as a way for people to get to know Marshall better. And he also sees the program as way to foster higher employment retention.

About 25 people are enrolled each year, according to Gruhot. Kickoff day is Sept. 10 for 2026-27. It ends with graduation day on May 6, 2027.

The agenda includes Manufacturing Day, Economic Development Day, Public Policy Day, Community Safety Day, Agriculture Day, Health Care Day and Education Day. The participants meet weekly for a whole year and work on group projects.

So that evening after writing the Klobuchar headline, I listened to the graduates present their projects. The 25 graduates were separated into five groups to tackle different projects.

The group of Hannah Abel, Danielle Brandt, Kelsey Laleman, Mackenzie Clemens and Emily Maciel (not in attendance) presented a report on Community Connections.

Angela Serreyn, Brandon Antoine, CJ Saad, Ethan Hart presented a report on the project on mock interview and resume review. They partnered with Marshall Public Schools to deliver mock interviews and resume reviews for students at the Marshall Area Learning Center and Marshall High School Career/Summer Job Fair.

Another group called their project “Chamber 101 Introduction to SMSU’s Business Class.”

One of the groups tackled — you guessed it — child care. Their program was called We Care 4 Daycare. Gabe Pieper, Tristan Fales, Patrick Clemans, Dr. Cody Kruize and Nicole Pagel all talked about their program.

I found their program interesting because of the Klobuchar story.

Their objective was to “promote, to support the local day cares by helping them offset some some of their costs and collecting donations and daily items.”

“We know day cares are a very important thing and we just don’t have enough of them,” said one of the group presenters. “Another thing, was just really strengthen the local child care access. Sounds maybe a little bit silly, but the more we support them, they’re hopefully going to stick around as they’re very important. And to engage the community in supporting such an important role that we need every day. Why do we have day cares? We already touched on the financial side, but to kind of give you a better idea of why it’s so important.”

Another group presenter said their analysis put costs associated per child as low as $9,900 and as high as $11,000. The presenter said that includes everything from wages, benefits, insurance and licensing.

“Day care supplies are just a smaller part of it. The financial burden on cay care is much more than the day-to-day supplies,” the presenter said.

The group identified 40 day cares in the Marshall area and they tried to interview each one. They then compiled a list of the most needed items, such as cleaning supplies, bottles, baby wipes, paper plates, bibs, etc.

They then set up an advertising campaign to solicit supplies and donations. They worked with the Marshall Area YMCA, Holy Redeemer and Hy-Vee to establish drop-off locations.

The last speaker reported that $2,200 was raised for the day cares wanting the help.

“I have been in Marshall 22 years, and the biggest thing that I can say is the way many of these things happen is because people (networked),” the presenter said.

I couldn’t agree more. While this group project won’t solve the child care crisis, they succeeded in bringing the community together to make at least a small difference. They are not waiting for Washing D.C., or St. Paul to come up with solutions.

All 25 participants graduated because their group projects made a difference in their community. Isn’t that what leadership is all about.