New 24-hour KD Academy brings expanded daycare, more to Prospect Corridor in KC

The early learning and child care center KD Academy may be relocating, but it is staying exactly where it’s most needed.

Formerly known as The Kiddie Depot Learning Center, KD Academy has migrated from its location on Woodland Avenue to a newly constructed facility at 2141 Prospect Ave.

Despite opportunities to develop north of the river or in Johnson County, co-owners Penny Dale-McCant and Myron McCant were adamant about upholding their mission to bring quality care and education to underserved families.

Around 75% of KD Academy’s patrons come from low-income backgrounds.

“At our facility, we have been able to provide them the things that they otherwise wouldn’t be provided unless they were in a different geographical location, like in a more upscale community,” Myron McCant said.

KD Academy extends that accessibility to its operating hours, too. The child care center provides around-the-clock care, seven days a week to cater to working families with evening or overnight shifts.

Dale-McCant founded the child care center out of her home 16 years ago before expanding to a commercial center at 29th Street and Prospect Avenue in 2012. Five years later, the center relocated to Woodland Avenue to meet growing demand.

Its latest move to the 10,000-square-foot facility will upgrade the center’s capacity from 95 to 430 students, bringing more enrollment spots to the Prospect Corridor, an area McCant says is a child care desert. Its location off of U.S. 71 Highway, Interstate 70 and the 23rd Street pass-thru also promises to bring in families from all over Kansas City.

“We’ve been forced to turn away hundreds of kids over the years simply because we didn’t have the capacity,” Dale-McCant said. “This new state-of-the-art facility not only allows us to offer care for more kids from infancy through young adulthood, it’s also a beautiful building where families will feel at home.”

Awaiting state inspections, the new KD Academy is slated to begin operations at the end of September.

At the new headquarters, children will be greeted by a saltwater aquarium foyer that sits at the center of the lobby before heading to colored alcove classrooms. The new space also features a multipurpose lab for STEM and coding.

The adjoining 4,000-square-foot building is intended to house local partners who can provide pediatric and mental health services to KD Academy families and the surrounding community. In addition to bringing pediatric care to the campus, the model helps parents obtain required immunization records without having to find transportation or take off work to get them.

While many child care programs shut down during the pandemic, the McCants said offering 24/7 services helped keep KD Academy afloat.

“Those families have got to go to work, those moms have got to go to work and those children have to have somewhere to go. And they’ve got to have a quality place to go. And so we never compromised,” McCant said.

The $3.7 million expansion project began in 2017 when the McCants purchased land on Prospect Avenue. The project received funds from several sources, including the Central City Economic Development Initiative and a citywide 1/8-cent sales tax.

But getting a loan to cover the remaining expenses was a grueling process. Despite having enough money to service the debt and cash flow on top of that, the McCants were turned down for loans at four different banks. McCant said lenders viewed a development in the central city as a high risk opportunity.

“It’s the same problem that everybody experiences in central city when you try to develop on the east side,” he said.

Eventually, they were able to qualify for a loan to make the project happen.

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.