—Alice Williams Library to Become Childcare and Training Hub—
The City of Pensacola is taking steps to address the childcare crisis that’s costing Florida’s economy $5.4 billion annually and forcing workers to leave their jobs.
Theresa Cserep, who coordinates Mayor D.C. Reeves’ Childcare Initiative, shared that the Alice S. Williams Library on North E Street will be transformed into a dual-purpose facility: an infant care center and a workforce development hub. The request for proposals opens in early January, with the facility expected to be operational within weeks of provider selection.
- Why this matters? Mayor D.C. Reeves meets with Escambia Children’s Trust executive director Lindsey Cannon to decide whether the $3.1 million of tax incremental dollars from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency districts will remain in the Trust’s coffers or be used for the Childcare Initiative.
Two Markets, Two Realities
Community childcare summits held earlier this year uncovered a stark divide in Pensacola’s childcare landscape. Research from the University of West Florida Haas Center identified two dramatically different markets with vastly different needs.
- “The major markets here are night and day,” Cserep explained. The first market consists primarily of single mothers, about half with only high school education, earning around $15,000 annually and renting apartments. “It’s a necessity for them to have safe childcare. They’re not getting in a vehicle and searching out, ‘Well, I’d prefer to have this childcare.’ This is a safety need.”
The second market comprises two-parent households with graduate-level education earning around $159,000 annually, typically seeking enrichment activities for older children aged 13-18. For this group, childcare represents a convenience rather than a crisis.
The Infant Care Gap
The Alice S. Williams facility will specifically target the most critical shortage: infant care for children ages zero to one.
State licensing requirements mandate a one-to-four ratio for infant care—one caregiver for every four babies. This makes infant care financially challenging for providers who could serve many more children in older age groups with the same space and staffing.
- “When you look at profitability, it’s just tough,” Cserep acknowledged. Yet the demand is astronomical. Healthcare workers at facilities like Ascension Sacred Heart face impossible choices. “They already have a trained professional. They may love that employee, that employee may love that provider, but they have to make a choice that’s fiscally responsible for their family.”
The Alice Williams transformation goes beyond simply adding childcare slots. One room will be dedicated as a community resource center—what Cserep calls a “one-stop shop.”
- This space could host CPR training, continuing education for childcare providers pursuing military accreditation, mental health services, or caregiver education. “Whatever that’s going on, people have to drop off those little ones at childcare and they got to pick ‘em up,” Cserep noted. “Why not have that room be accessible to the community?”
The facility has been fully remodeled, with the city already securing grants for safe sleep environments, cribs, and other essential equipment to help the selected operator launch quickly.
A Pilot for the Future
The data gathered from this facility will shape future childcare initiatives across Pensacola.
- “Is it going to solve all of the childcare needs? No,” Cserep said honestly. “And we’re not being unrealistic. You know what it’s doing, leaving us in a better situation. And if you ask that family that has that childcare need met and it’s able to work or continue their education as a result of it, I bet they’re going to tell you I like it.”
