After the "pickles with ice cream" phase has passed,
a space like ours is what moms crave most.
INTRODUCING FAMILY VILLAGE...
... the all-in-one childcare, coworking and community space that’s transforming the lives of parents with young kids! We believe that the best way to care for kids (and our culture at large) is to care for the parents who are raising them.
Family Village fills in key gaps for young families, by bringing together under one roof the essential personal, professional and parental services that are traditionally kept separate.
We give parents a space to work out, get work done, take a nap, talk with other adults and get their spark back, all while their kids are safely out of sight and sound, getting the love and socialization they need too.
Since opening our doors in 2018, we have become a home-away-from-home for more than 200 families, 5 employees and at least 8 small businesses born in our space. As of this month, we are officially at max capacity and are poised to launch two new spaces in early 2023!
we're pretty stoked on this space (and we're not alone).
SHE SAID WHAT ABOUT US?!
Like diapers, the times are always a'changin.
And so are the challenges families face.
We are driven by the knowledge that parents are more isolated, overwhelmed and under-supported than ever before. Parenting has always been hard, but the lack of intact communities and the worst social services in the developed world has reached a crisis point –and that was true even before the pandemic!
PARENTS TODAY WANT A BETTER LIFE.
NOT JUST FOR OUR KIDS, BUT FOR OURSELVES.
And the options available to us just aren't cutting it. We don't want to choose between work and family. We can’t afford to spend more on preschool than we do on college. And we won’t accept that our sanity and social life is the price we pay for having kids. WE NEED OUR VILLAGES AGAIN.
FAMILY VILLAGE IS NOT A UNIQUE IDEA...
BUT WE ARE A UNIQuE ITERATION OF IT.
Many powerful women before and alongside us have created similar spaces, but sadly, most have folded and usually within one year. In those that ARE still thriving, childcare is a rigidly-scheduled, use-it-or-lose it add-on, a half day of which costs as much as a monthly gym membership. It's the Motherhood Penalty all over again.
So why are WE still here? (Truthfully, we’d be lying if we said we knew) but...
HERE IS WHAT WE ARE DOING DIFFERENTLY FROM
OTHER LIKE-MINDED PROBLEM-SOLVERS:
[ 1st – We prioritize being RESOURCED & RESOURCEFUL ]
Necessity is the mother of all… breaks from convention. We learned quickly that the combined costs of commercial real estate AND running a childcare center exceeds what most families in this country can sustainably support. Instead, we partner with churches (and other community organizations) who share our values and whose real estate sits vacant 80% of the week, a savings we pass along to our fellow parents. To clarify –we are an entirely secular and autonomous organization and our spaces truly feel like they are our own.
[ 2nd – Our spaces are COLLABORATIVE & COMMUNAL ]
We’re here for the breakdowns, the breakthroughs and the plain ol’ break from the breakneck. While we market ourselves as a coworking and childcare space, our primary focus is community care. Without community care, self care is just another stressor. And for moms, childcare IS self care –it’s non-negotiable and it can't cost you your firstborn child.
[ 3rd – We endeavor to DISRUPT & DECOLONIZE ]
We’re guided by the values of the world we want for our children and these values are baked into our business model. As a cooperative, our Villagers are our owners and primary stakeholders, maintaining democratic control and sharing in our profits. Together, we’re asking questions like:
- What does feminine entrepreneurship feel like?
- How do we decolonize this business?
- and... how the heck do we secure startup funds as a cooperative?!
As it turns out, cooperatives are notoriously difficult to fund because the business model itself is inherently disruptive to unjust and oppressive power structures. BOOM!
WHILE BEING A COOPERATIVE HAS KEPT US IN BUSINESS,
IT HAS ALSO KEPT START-UP FUNDS AT BAY.
We love being a co-op but it comes with complications because we fall through many traditional funding gaps. We lose out on grants, donations and government initiatives that favor non-profits. Lenders don’t give loans to businesses with equal-ownership. And investors can’t command the power or profits they’re accustomed to.
THUS... WE CROWDFUND!
TOGETHER, WE'RE RAISING $50K IN 50 DAYS.
...to launch two additional locations along the Colorado Front Range by the spring of 2023 to meet the growing demand for our space. We have an active community awaiting our return to Longmont and an eager leadership team ready to launch in the Windsor/Greeley area. While it is our intention to land in these communities, providence may nudge us elsewhere and we will stay in clear communication with our prospective Villagers throughout the process.
The funds you contribute will go towards payroll and start-up expenses. Some of those expenses (such as insurance and software) will benefit from being bundled with our existing accounts, keeping costs to a minimum. As for things like furniture and childcare supplies, we pride ourselves on being scrappy.
But one place we don’t scrimp is on the treasured humans who make this place possible. Not only do we proudly pay our childcare team twice the national average, we also provide them with free childcare and a greater ownership-stake in the business.
So who are we?
We are co-founders Nikki, Emily and Melanie. We met through through Family Village and have been stewarding this business on friendship, feminine leadership principles and a fierce knowing that a better way is possible (and also alliteration). During the past 4 years, we’ve seen each other through the death of a parent, deployment and divorce, and life-changing diagnoses (not to mention 5 personal moves and a pandemic)!
AND THROUGH IT ALL...
WE'VE STAYED TRUE TO OUR MISSION:
"To empower mothers to become change-makers (not just diaper changers) by creating spaces for community care, cooperative entrepreneurship and the re-humanizing of cultural norms."
We’re here to elevate the vision of a mother-centric world because the things mothers and children need to thrive are the things that make societies thrive. And they're the very things our culture fails to protect.
It's time for moms to stop internalizing society's shortcomings as their own. It's time to buck the paradigm of "mom's come last" by creating a culture where moms thrive. It's time for a movement of well-resourced mothers to step up and take the lead.
WE MAY BE OVERLOADED MOTHERS...
BUT TOGETHER, WE'VE STRUCK THE MOTHER LODE.
ALRIGHT ALREADY... ENOUGH ABOUT US!
THIS IS also ABOUT YOU & YOUR DREAM FOR THE WORLD.
Even though most of you who support this campaign won’t benefit from using our space, we’re banking on the idea that you share our vision of a more just and joyful world FOR ALL, and that caring for mothers is central to creating that world. Because we also know this: the banks and their backers don't want us to succeed. But this shared vision of ours (of which Family Village is but a small part)...? It's global. It's grassroots. And it's growing.
And IT'LL BE BORN THANKS TO THE COURAGE & GENEROSITY
OF MOTHA-LOVIN' HUMANS LIKE YOU.
SO THANK YOU, AND (PLEASE) BACK US NOW!
PSST... WHICH OF YOUR FELLOW #MOTHA-LOVIN' HUMANS
ARE YOU SHARING OUR CAMPAIGN WITH?
* REAL TALK: While our messaging is aimed at mothers, anyone who parents (grandparents, guardians, etc.) can benefit from this space –so yes, dads are welcome, as are moms whose gender or genitalia aren't limited to a binary. Likewise, despite the surface-appearance of our demographics, we are committed to hiring, learning from, investing in and being led by queer, black, brown and indigenous humans. And while we are clearly still a work in progress in these areas, they are central to the thriving of our vision.
