The largest single gift in the history of the city of Whitewater will fund a high-quality childcare center that is expected to expand access to childcare for hundreds of families in southeastern Wisconsin.

The $10 million donation from former residents Billie and Steve Moksnes to the Whitewater Community Foundation is designated to support the planned center, in a location to be determined, that will provide at least 100 additional spots for children with a focus on a high-quality curriculum, exceptional pay and benefits for staff, strong support for the families served, and English as a second language (ESL) support for children in a community where an estimated 40% of families in the school district are Hispanic/Latino.

“Billie and I are thrilled to be able to provide a life-changing educational opportunity for children at the earliest stage of their development,” said Steve Moksnes. “In approaching this gift, we asked ourselves, what is the best way to prepare children for the life ahead of them? Based on research, we are convinced that the first five years are the most critical time to make a positive impact on a child’s life and that early childhood education and care play an important role. A high-quality early childhood education center like this one has the real potential to actually raise the arc of a child’s entire life — with lifelong benefits to them, to their family and to the community as a whole.

“Our goal is that this gift galvanizes additional financing — from an array of government funding sources, business support, and private foundation funding — to make this high-impact program truly affordable for families and businesses in the Whitewater area,” Moksnes said.

Before moving from Whitewater in the 1990s, Billie and Steve Moksnes were longtime residents and business owners of Accurate, formerly Moksnes Manufacturing Co., before it was sold to Schenck Process Group in 1994 and most recently purchased by Coperion. They were meaningfully involved in economic development in the community, with Billie Moksnes serving on the Community Development Authority and the board of the UW-Whitewater Foundation, Inc., and both volunteered to support newer families in the area, teaching ESL among other efforts. Those experiences led them to focus their gift on early childhood education and care, knowing it could both play a critical role in the educational and social-emotional development of area children and help area businesses recruit more workers.

The Whitewater Early Childhood Education and Childcare Center project is a collaboration of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Whitewater Unified School District, and the City of Whitewater. Since it began planning in earnest in 2024, the project has been working closely with the Children’s Center, a high-quality facility licensed for 100 children on the campus of the university, which was founded more than 150 years ago as a teacher’s college, graduates the most licensed teachers in the state, and has a national reputation in early childhood education, ESL/bilingual education and special education.

“This is a bold vision for the Whitewater community. The center will be a living learning laboratory, similar to the Children’s Center, and one that expands its capacity to meet regional early childcare needs as it engages faculty, staff and students in community-based learning,” said University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Corey A. King. “There will be valuable internship opportunities for our college students — ensuring a pipeline of professionals in a high-demand field. In addition, the center will allow the university to better attract world-class talent to our community with the promise of high-quality education that is continuous from birth through higher education.”

“Collaboration will deepen between the Whitewater Unified School District and the university, especially in our shared efforts of expanding literacy, the science of reading, early childhood education and care, and ESL/bilingual learning.”

Whitewater is located in the northwestern corner of Walworth County, with portions of the community in neighboring Jefferson and Rock counties. A Walworth County child care study prepared in 2022 by the Fiscal and Economic Research Center at UW-Whitewater on behalf of the Walworth County Economic Development Authority indicated that the county is a childcare desert, with the families of more than 2,500 children in the county unable to reasonably access care. The annual economic impact of that gap was estimated to be more than $77 million.

“This early childhood education and care center will help fill that gap and grow our reputation as a family-centric community,” said Whitewater City Manager John Weidl. “Most people looking to buy a home or work in Whitewater have children, and they expect a high-quality education — whether it’s childcare or the quality of our public schools.

“And it’s an important workforce issue. Businesses looking to establish or expand operations in Whitewater tell us that a lack of access to high-quality childcare is what currently prevents them from considering Whitewater. This center will allow us to change that dynamic and showcase the city as one that excels in childcare opportunities from birth on.”

To accommodate the expected demand for care, the center will work closely with area businesses to assess their needs, including coverage beyond traditional hours of care, and to ensure their workforces can fully make use of the opportunity.

The Moksnes gift was made in September 2025 to the Whitewater Community Foundation, which will oversee the investment of the principal and provide an estimated $500,000 a year to the childcare center to support its operations as long as the center achieves and retains a rating of five stars with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and “accreditation+” from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

“We are so appreciative of this generous major gift to the Whitewater Community Foundation,” said Kat Mawhinney, who serves as co-president of the foundation along with Therese Kennedy. “This is a tremendous and unprecedented contribution to our community, and it will make a significant difference in expanding educational opportunities.”

Led by co-chairs Kristine Zaballos and Thayer Coburn, the Whitewater ECEC Center, which will establish as a 501c3 nonprofit, will closely coordinate efforts with the school district to ensure transportation that lessens the burden on area families and a curriculum that prepares the children to excel in school. In close collaboration with both the Children’s Center and the district, the curriculum’s focus will be on playful learning with intent, and developing the whole child. The goal is for each child to learn to control their emotions, interact appropriately with other children, learn how to solve problems and prepare for kindergarten.

“We are eager to be a part of the donors’ vision and are prepared to help champion the goal that all children will be school ready when they enter our doors,” said Whitewater Unified School District Superintendent Samuel Karns. “We also uphold the center’s mission to work with other childcare entities in the community to lift all children and set them up for success in our district.

“We are excited to be working in partnership with the city and the university on this amazing project,” said Karns. “The district looks forward to exploring ways to collaborate on curriculum and resources for the benefit of all children in the community.”

For more information about the Whitewater ECEC Center project, contact co-chairs Kristine Zaballos and Thayer Coburn at WhitewaterECEC@gmail.com or visit whitewaterecec.com

Editor’s note: The above press release was provided by the Whitewater ECEC Center project. The image on the homepage is a UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner.