Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Plains opens The Clubhouse in Moody County
By Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterprise
After years of conversations, planning and persistence, a long-awaited solution to one of Flandreau’s biggest challenges is finally here.
“It’s real and it’s really happening,” said Jody Hernandez, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Plains, as the new Early Childhood Enrichment Clubhouse held its grand opening ceremonies Friday.
The ECEC e is a new early learning center for children ages 6 weeks to kindergarten, offering extended-hour child care to better support working families.
Founding partners and supporters from across the region gathered to celebrate not just the opening of a building, but what many described as a long-overdue investment in local families.
A community needs assessment in 2022 revealed a pressing concern — a shortage of licensed child care providers across Moody County.
For many local families, the challenge goes beyond simply finding a spot for their child. Limited availability, long waitlists and a lack of flexible care options have made it difficult for parents — especially those working in healthcare, manufacturing and service industries — to remain in the workforce.
The Clubhouse was designed with those families in mind.
“This was built for children, but built by all of you,” Hernandez said.
The project is not only unique in what it offers, but the collaboration between the City of Flandreau, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and founding partner Dakota Layers, accomplishes something none of them could have accomplished alone.
Plans include expanded care options for nontraditional schedules, including evenings and weekends, along with designated sick spaces so parents aren’t forced to miss work when their child can’t attend a traditional daycare setting.
Leaders also see the facility as part of a longer-term solution. In addition to early childhood programming, the Clubhouse will serve as a training ground for future care providers, helping build a local workforce pipeline while offering families a more seamless path from infancy into the early school years.
“This stands alongside our home-based providers who have been the backbone of childcare in our community for generations,” said Amber Allen, president of The Clubhouse Advisory Council, and member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.
“The Clubhouse was never built to replace them; it was built to stand with them.”
Local leaders say that distinction matters, especially in a small community where home-based providers have long filled critical gaps in care.
At the same time, the Clubhouse represents something new — a model that blends public, private and tribal partnerships while expanding what child care can look like in a rural setting.
“What happened here is something many people said would not happen. Three groups came together around a single shared truth, that every child in this community deserves to be seen, to be safe, and to belong. And the core of every partner in this room are children, the common ground,” said an emotional Hernandez.
For more photos of the Grand Opening, please see page 12 of this week’s Moody County Enterprise.
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