UCAP, Cooperative Work Together to Build Head Start Facility

As Henry Ford once said…..“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success.”

That is exactly what happened when two seemingly different focused entities discovered where their missions intersected: improving the quality of life for those in the community.

United Community Action Partnership (UCAP) had been searching in the community of Willmar for several years to find a location that would house all of their Head Start classrooms under one roof. It just so happened that the Kandiyohi Power Cooperative had a large, vacant building for sale that was sitting empty.

UCAP did not have the funding to purchase and renovate the facility but by taking the time to get to know each other and recognizing that tremendous impact Head Start has in the community and the community minded spirit of the Cooperative great things started to happen.

Together an agreement was worked out and approved by both Boards of Directors. Kandiyohi Power Cooperative would retain ownership of the building, cover the cost to renovate the facility, and UCAP would lease the facility, and eventually purchase the facility.

The renovation process was very smooth as we would have weekly meetings with all contractors and the cooperative.

Employees of the cooperative had a contest to name the facility, it was a day full of joy and excitement when together we had a ribbing cutting celebration and opened what is now called Bright Light Head Start.