Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples receives $1.5M to build early learning center

The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples announced $1.5 million in state funding to begin construction of a $3 million new early learning center.

The new learning center will be located on the North Collier Regional Park campus as part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ $116.5 billion 2024 state budget.

The new early learning center will provide a much-needed option for parents, as rising daycare costs can damage finances.

Daycares can range from $900 to $1,900 per month, qualifying parents for some assistance in the Southwest Florida area.

The 6,000-square-foot center will serve 90 PreK3 and PreK4 students in a dedicated space in the organization’s administrative offices and some repurposed classroom spaces.

Early renderings provided by Golisano show that the learning center will expand upon an area owned by the children’s museum and can accommodate 90 children.

The early learning center is expected to open before the start of the 2026 school year and will provide opportunities across the economic spectrum.

Partial and full scholarships are available based on a family’s income relative to the area’s median income.

The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples would still need to raise another $1.5 million for the project; however, construction is expected to begin during the 2025 summer.

WINK News spoke with Melanie Stefanowicz, the CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of SWFL, who ponders the question that worries all families: “Does one of us need to quit a job to stay home so that we can take care of our children ourselves?”

Stefanowicz answered, “We need them to go to work so that we can develop our economy.”

The Early Learning Coalition of SWFL subsidizes daycare costs for families who qualify for assistance.

In 2023, they served 6,000 children in daycare in the Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades Counties.

While this learning center will provide an option for many Southwest Florida families, nearly 35,000 families qualify for assistance.

Click here to see if you qualify for help from the Early Learning Coalition of SWFL.