This is an inspiring and impactful episode with Rachel Davis, founder of Children’s Promise Centers, an early childhood program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Operating 20 hours daily, her centers provide critical support for working families often overlooked by traditional child care models.
Rachel chats with Kris about her journey from the Denver Rescue Mission to creating a faith-driven, community-focused child care network where high standards, deep relationships, and genuine care intersect.
Now also streaming video recorded versions of each episode on YouTube! Visit our channel, The Child Care Success Company, and make sure to subscribe so you never miss a new recording!
Click here to listen to more episodes of Child Care Rockstar Radio™ with Kris Murray!
Below you can read the full episode:
0:00:08 Kris Murray: Welcome to Child Care Rockstar Radio. I am your host, Kris Murray. Child care leaders around the globe are breaking through challenges, leading the way in innovation, testing new best practices, and impacting children and families in a much more powerful and positive way than ever before. Each week, join me for interviews with early childhood leaders and experts that will leave you inspired to become the next next Childcare Rockstar.
0:00:34 Kris Murray: Now let’s go.
0:00:37 Kris Murray: This is Childcare Rockstar Radio, episode 199 featuring Rachel Davis. Welcome back, folks. I’m so excited to be with you. I am Kris Murray, your host here at Child Care Rockstar Radio and it’s my pleasure to have you meet today an amazing woman who’s been in and around the world of early learning and early childcare for most of her life. She grew up in Denver and Rachel Davis got an early start at the Denver Rescue Mission, making a difference in a nonprofit setting for families and children.
0:01:15 Kris Murray: And she took that early experience and put it in her pocket and took it with her down to New Mexico where she founded Children’s Promise Centers. She has two locations in and around Albuquerque and she has continued her faith based approach to making a difference for families and children down in New Mexico. So I call this episode Follow your true Calling because Rachel tells the story of how she was impacted early in her career and how that kind of set forth for her a vision mission for what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. And she’s doing it and she’s done it.
0:01:58 Kris Murray: So very successful lady. And I can’t wait for you to meet her and hear her story. We are into late April here at the podcast studios in the mountains of Colorado. And as I’m recording this, it’s actually still snowing right outside my window. So we’re having some late springtime snow, which always happens here in the Rockies. And we’ve learned to embrace it because that just brings more moisture to our neck of the woods, which can always use it since we tend to have dry summers. And this will hopefully help us avoid fires, keep the rivers high and thriving and make the fish happy and the fishermen and all of the nature enthusiasts out there. And it’s just good for our planet to get all of this moisture. So bring it on, let it snow for the moment until May and then we’ll fully shift into spring and summer.
0:02:54 Kris Murray: I hope that wherever you are, whatever planet corner of the planet that you’re on, you’re having an amazing spring slash summer and that life is good for you and you’re able to take the Things that are happening in our world as they come with a grain of salt and finding the silver lining, finding the joy, tapping into your joy and just wish you all the best. I’m excited to share this episode with you and then in a couple weeks we will experience together episode 200 with Vernon Mason, our special guest celebrity of the child care field. Coming up in the next episode and so much more after that, guys, here on the podcast as we flow into fantastic episodes that are on the calendar and I can’t wait to share those with you as well.
0:03:50 Kris Murray: And with that, let’s just dive in. I can’t wait for you to meet Rachel. She’s an inspiring soul and has impacted thousands and I’m sure you’re doing the same if you’re working in this field and listening to the podcast. And feel free to reach out to me. I’m still answering all of my own personal emails at chrishildcare success.com, chris with a kid and drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you. I’d love to hear what you’re loving about the podcast and any ideas that you guys have for guest future guests. Also, we’re on Facebook. You can find our private free Facebook group.
0:04:26 Kris Murray: It’s an amazing community of a couple thousand people over there on the child care Rockstar Radio group inside of Facebook. So search that up and join us and I look for you over there. All right, everybody, huge blessings to you. Let’s go meet Rachel. Take care and let’s go. Welcome back everybody.
0:04:51 Kris Murray: I’m very excited to introduce you to my guest today, Ms. Rachel Davis. Rachel, how are you?
0:04:58 Rachel Davis: I’m good.
0:04:59 Kris Murray: How are you doing? Fantastic. Welcome to the podcast. Where are you right now?
0:05:05 Rachel Davis: I am currently we’re in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I’m currently sitting in our newest program that’s a year old in our community room.
0:05:16 Kris Murray: Awesome. So how many programs do you have? How many centers do you have? Just tell us a little bit more about your organization, the name and just more of the stats of, you know what, your capacity, that kind of a thing.
0:05:34 Rachel Davis: Sure. This we are children’s Promise centers and we have been open since 2009. On our first location opened in the northeast heights of Albuquerque and the second center which I am sitting in right now has been open for a year. So we have two centers. Our first location is licensed for 80 for I think they’re at about 85% FTEs. And then our newer location is licensed for 194. When you calculate in our nighttime openings okay. And so their FTE is still growing, so they’re at about 50% capacity. But that’s mostly due to staffing.
0:06:22 Kris Murray: Right. Okay, well, we’ll dig into that and talk a little bit about that. So you have a nighttime component of your program. So is it evening care? It’s not 24 hour. Is it?
0:06:34 Rachel Davis: Not 24 hour? But it’s till 2am Monday through Friday, so 20 hours a day.
0:06:39 Kris Murray: Okay, cool. And give us a little. A few little highlights of your journey. These. Your school’s been open since 2009. And how long have you been in the early childhood field?
0:06:53 Rachel Davis: Okay. So I have to go way back to my Denver days. I started in a program when I was 16, in a summer. Summer program just working in an early childhood center near my high school. And I continue to work there on and off throughout high school and college. So it’s been 31 years.
0:07:13 Kris Murray: Wow.
0:07:16 Rachel Davis: I never thought I’d be in the field until I got my degree in elementary education at Metro State College. When I was graduating, I didn’t feel like going into public schools. I started looking around. I had a bunch of missions trips scheduled that summer. And so I thought, well, I’ll just go volunteer someplace for the summer because I had all these weird trips and things. I went to the Denver Rescue Missions Early Childhood center and interviewed for a volunteer position, and they hired me as an assistant director and even. And gave me all the time off I needed for my trips.
0:07:49 Rachel Davis: And so that’s where I really realized that I love the administration side of early childhood. And I think I have to go all the way back to that program because it’s really what a lot of my stuff is based off of. They had a philosophy of 50% full paying customers and 50% subsidies or scholarships. And they would do these family activities and events where they would come together and interact and engage, and nobody knew who was what except for the director and myself.
0:08:22 Rachel Davis: And just some of the relationships and supports and community that came out of those family events was just so amazing that it really just inspired me. So the Denver Rescue Mission then decided to close their doors because we were the thing that least fit their mission statement, which we all kind of understand. But at the same time, it was their only money generator. So it was kind of a. I don’t understand, but.
0:08:46 Kris Murray: Right.
0:08:48 Rachel Davis: So I kind of went on a journey at that point to figure out what I was going to do. I worked as a residential counselor in a group home in California. I did before and after school programs for a long time in Denver. And then eventually I was doing my master’s degree at Denver Seminary in counseling. And I just really felt like it wasn’t the right fit for me. And my parents had. In the meantime, when my dad had been laid off, we joke that the kids grew up and they moved out instead of us moving out, and they moved to New Mexico to buy a commercial cleaning company.
0:09:28 Rachel Davis: And they kept saying, come down here and open early childhood center for our employees who work nights. And at the time, they were first generation Mexican immigrants mostly. And I kept saying, nope, I hate Albuquerque. Never go in there. The Lord had different ideas. And they just started shutting all the doors in Denver. And next thing I knew, I was in Albuquerque finishing my master’s at unm. And so when I came to New Mexico, I did my master’s in family life education.
0:10:00 Rachel Davis: And as my thesis, they let me start up my nonprofit. Rather than doing like a thesis paper per se. I did all my research with my parents, employees and what they’d look for in childcare, how far from them, you know, just all of those stats on why they would, what they would need and why. And then that was kind of my thesis and how I started up. So when I graduated, we started just looking for buildings.
0:10:26 Rachel Davis: In 2008, it was, you know, downfall of the economy, right. New nonprofit. Nobody wanted to give us money. No one wanted to do anything. We wanted to build, but we couldn’t get the funding. And so we ended up in a building that had sat empty for three years, but was built as a Kindercare. And it had all the furniture and everything in it because they had locked out the previous owner for non rent payment.
0:10:54 Kris Murray: Oh, wow.
0:10:55 Rachel Davis: And so it was turnkey for us. So we started up that program with $25,000 in the bank.
0:11:00 Kris Murray: Nice.
0:11:01 Rachel Davis: And from the board members that they gave me loans and my grandmother, and we just started with 20 kids there in 2009. Couldn’t pay rent for the first two years. And the landlord was coming, and my board sat down and said, we need to start paying something.
0:11:18 Kris Murray: Right.
0:11:19 Rachel Davis: And so they decided $2,000 was what we needed to start paying. And he came and he looked at the building and he said, you guys have done a great job. We had never met him before, which is totally crazy. And he came in and he said, you guys have kept up with the building. You guys have done all the maintenance. Because we never asked for anything because we knew we weren’t paying rent and we just did it.
0:11:41 Rachel Davis: And he said, you know what my receptionist keeps telling me, just take care of Those people in Albuquerque. There’s something about him. And so he said, we’ve decided to forgive all back rent and we’re just going to start charging you $2,000 a month. Wow. Which is exactly what the board had said. And we hadn’t said anything to him, so. Wow. We truly feel like it’s a God thing that we’re supposed to be here.
0:12:06 Rachel Davis: So we opened in 2009 with. My son was 10 months old. I was five months pregnant. And we, you know, plugged away for multiple years. I know in 2010, I think it was when you had the child care, it was with the bulky mail and your whole little binder of. Yeah, yeah.
0:12:30 Kris Murray: It was the child care business success system. Yeah, yeah.
0:12:34 Rachel Davis: We did the bulky mailers, we did the door hanging, we did all of that and we got our, our program up there. It’s really kind of cool because they. It’s back in the neighborhood, which is really nice because it feels residential and it feels like, you know, the kids, it’s grassy and everything, but it’s hard to find as a parent, once they find it, they love it. So that was a key part of our, you know, marketing was doing all those bulky mailers and all those things.
0:13:03 Rachel Davis: So in about two, by the end of the third year, we were self sustaining, paying all our bills and doing everything after using that. So.
0:13:14 Kris Murray: Right.
0:13:14 Kris Murray: Well, thank you for the shout out with that. That’s awesome that you were doing the 3D mail. The bulky mail. I love that.
0:13:19 Rachel Davis: Yeah. And then so, you know, that chugged along. I had kids, I had, you know, all those things I had had at the. I had been a part of the child care association in New Mexico. I was president at the time, but I had to step back because of my kids and opening and all of that. And I just chugged along. And then when my kids got older and I had pretty much worked myself out of everything at the center and my dad retired and he said, okay, it’s time. Let’s start praying about a new location.
0:13:52 Rachel Davis: And so we started looking honestly at child care deserts in Albuquerque.
0:13:57 Kris Murray: Right.
0:13:57 Rachel Davis: And where we wanted to be, there weren’t any buildings in that childcare desert. So we ended up in the building we’re in now, which was an office building. And the. It’s called the International District. It used to be called the war zone. And so that just has a little bit about the neighborhood. I think one of the coolest things about this building is we started talking about it and there again, we were looking at SBA funding and we were having issues with banks not wanting to fund a projection based business because it was so much larger than my other program.
0:14:34 Kris Murray: Right.
0:14:35 Rachel Davis: And so by our fifth bank, my dad and I were exhausted. We’d been fighting this for what, a year or whatever. And we said, if we don’t hear by tomorrow, we’re just gonna be done. We’re just tired. We’re done. And the next day, I got a call at 3pm from the bank saying they were gonna do it. And then an hour later, the state of New Mexico called and said, we’re gonna give you a million and a half dollars for that project.
0:15:00 Rachel Davis: And so. Which I didn’t know at the time, but that was 10% of all the slots that that particular fund had available.
0:15:08 Kris Murray: Wow.
0:15:08 Rachel Davis: And so that was, you know, very much a God thing that it’s supposed to happen.
0:15:13 Kris Murray: And that’s amazing.
0:15:15 Rachel Davis: So I. We opened in February 6th of 2024. You know, another down economy. That seems to be my jam. So.
0:15:24 Kris Murray: Yeah. You’re turning lemons into lemonade all over the place. Rachel, I love this. I had forgotten that you were a fellow Coloradan like myself. And were you. Are you a Colorado native?
0:15:36 Rachel Davis: Fourth generation.
0:15:38 Kris Murray: Okay, there you go.
0:15:39 Rachel Davis: My nephews are fifth generation. I’m kind of sad to say my kids aren’t, because I love Colorado. I love the mountains. I miss the mountains.
0:15:46 Kris Murray: Well, come visit.
0:15:48 Rachel Davis: Oh, I do all. I’m up there all the time. My daughter trains up there, so.
0:15:51 Kris Murray: Oh, cool. But, yeah, the Denver Rescue Mission, while it closed its doors on the early childhood piece, it’s still in operation, I think. Yes. Yeah. Cool. Anyways, I’m thrilled that you were an early adopter customer of the child care business success system. I always tell the story about that being like, this creation that I first came to the industry with. It was a 10 module, 10 CDs. And I remember so vividly creating it in my little office upstairs in my house. And the very first order, there was two versions you could get the silver or the gold. And the silver was 697 and the gold was 997. And I remember the very moment that I got my very first order, which was the fall of 2009. So you were not too far behind that in 2010 as a client and customer. And thank you for being on this journey with me for 15 years. I love it.
0:16:51 Rachel Davis: Yeah, it’s. It’s kind of funny because I still have the binder with all the CDs, because I jokingly, my secondhand person was cleaning out and she’s like, we don’t need this anymore. And I’m like, no, we’re saving that because if I ever apply for Rockstar, we’re gonna pull that out.
0:17:07 Kris Murray: Totally. I love it. Yes. Very, very cool. So tell us a little bit more about your home life, married, kids, what do you like to do in your spare time? Tell us more.
0:17:23 Rachel Davis: Yeah. So I am married and I have two children. One is 15 and one is 16. They’re 14 months apart. My 16 year old, he is very gifted and unique in engineering. And so we’re starting to go that whole college trade route. He keeps saying he wants to do nuclear engineering, so we’ll see. He has to like school for that to happen, so I just don’t know.
0:17:54 Kris Murray: Right.
0:17:55 Rachel Davis: My daughter. Oh. And he’s about to become an Eagle Scout, so that’s kind of a cool thing. We’re doing his Eagle project at my second location actually in over his spring break, so in a couple of weeks.
0:18:10 Kris Murray: Oh, nice.
0:18:11 Rachel Davis: And then my daughter, who is 15, does horse belting and that’s gymnastics and dance on a horse.
0:18:18 Kris Murray: Wow.
0:18:18 Rachel Davis: She is considered basically at this point an elite athlete. I equate it very much to an Olympian level. So she. We’re going to the Netherlands in April for her to compete. So that’s really exciting. And she’s trying competing to become one to represent the USA at the Worlds in July, which is in Austria. So she’s very high level vaulter.
0:18:45 Kris Murray: Wow.
0:18:46 Rachel Davis: She trains a lot. So she’s not always here. She’s in Colorado at least one week in a month, if not more.
0:18:52 Kris Murray: Okay, where’s the facility here in Colorado? Is it in Vail or where is it?
0:18:58 Rachel Davis: It’s in Fort Lupton, actually.
0:19:00 Kris Murray: Oh, okay. Up there.
0:19:01 Rachel Davis: Okay. Which is nice because it’s only 20 minutes from day. Yeah, 30 minutes. So her coach, she flies up there and her coach picks her up on the other end. The first year I traveled with her, and then the last year and a half she’s done it on her own.
0:19:16 Kris Murray: Okay, so is that an Olympic sport?
0:19:20 Rachel Davis: No, not yet. They can’t figure out. Interesting thing about the Olympics. They can’t figure out where to put it because it’s not really. Because both the horse and the person are considered athletes and so they don’t know which. Whether equine or gymnastics. They don’t know.
0:19:35 Kris Murray: Right. So very cool. Wow. That’s. This is. I’m getting all sorts of fun facts from you today. This is very cool. But I’ll ask you if you have any more to share. Would you like to share something that not that many people know about you.
0:19:52 Rachel Davis: My, I don’t know. My husband and I have been married about 17 years. 18 years. I met him through my dad’s commercial cleaning company. So I moved to New Mexico because I hadn’t met my spouse. And I went to college wanting the Mrs. And never found it. So as soon as I gave up on it. There he comes. Right?
0:20:14 Kris Murray: Right.
0:20:15 Rachel Davis: Always. Yeah.
0:20:15 Kris Murray: That’s how it always works.
0:20:16 Rachel Davis: I remember when his degree is in map making, which is kind of weird. And so he and I, he was applying for jobs in other places. And I told him, I said, well, God called me here, so you got to decide between me or what your career, because that’s your choice. And he chose me. So we now live east of albuquerque on a 25 acre lot with a. My parents live on the same property, so it’s been really good for my kids to grow up that close to my parents.
0:20:46 Rachel Davis: And we have a guest house that we let people stay in for free. It holds up to like 30 people, but we have horses and donkeys and goats and chickens and then three dogs.
0:21:01 Kris Murray: Love it. Sounds like a great life, Rachel.
0:21:04 Rachel Davis: Yes. It’s like driving to your own retreat, leaving Albuquerque and going through the canyon. And it’s. We moved out there because there’s trees, like pinyon trees and I missed the green of Colorado. So it’s as close as I can get to it.
0:21:17 Kris Murray: Right. I totally get that. Talk a little bit about your schools. In fact, in terms of children’s promise. Oh, I remember what I was going to ask you. You were inspired by the 5050 blend, like this intentional vision of Denver rescue mission going we’re going to serve 50% private pay and 50% subsidy families that we’re going to put that out there as our like our brand statement or our vision. And so I was wondering if children’s promise that you created, did you follow that inspiration or just tell me more about that.
0:21:58 Rachel Davis: So we did start with that inspiration interests where for a long time it was our first location. You know, I’ve always had a passion for the working poor and I like to say that because it’s not those that are like homeless, but they’re working to try and get a hand up, but they just can’t and they just don’t get the same quality and excellence as others. And so that’s really where a lot of my passion has come from. And so our Northeast Heights location is interesting.
0:22:26 Rachel Davis: Our first one because north of us is kind of like middle class. South of US is low income and east of us is high income. And so it’s a really interesting mix. And so that was our whole concept going into that location. We ran into the problems of when you become quality, the higher income seek you out.
0:22:47 Kris Murray: Right.
0:22:48 Rachel Davis: And so we started running into where that was just we were getting sought out by others. And because we’re filling spots on a first come, first serve basis, that was kind of how it happened in New Mexico. Now though, up to 400% of poverty gets paid subsidized. 100%. So. And the state actually pays better than private pay.
0:23:10 Kris Murray: Okay.
0:23:11 Rachel Davis: And so at this point, it doesn’t make as much sense to follow that as much. And so like, our new location is probably 95% subsidized partly because of where it is. But, you know, we’re starting to also get a lot of military families as well. But there again, it’s people seeking us out because of our quality. We’re just known for the quality that we provide. So.
0:23:35 Kris Murray: Right. So that leads perfectly into my next question, which is that, you know, what are you known for? What are the unique benefits and features for how you market your program? What makes you stand apart?
0:23:47 Rachel Davis: Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is we are the only program open till 2am in the Albuquerque area. So that’s a big one. And that’s only our new location. Our original location isn’t. Is more of a traditional mindset because of the neighborhood it’s in. Okay. We have. We’re pretty much known for kind of our community. We create like kind of a relational community approach to everything. So whether it’s our staff or families or whoever it may be, we’re all about building the community and working with the resources around us.
0:24:22 Rachel Davis: But we also are known a lot for. We do a lot of the mixed delivery system. So we’ve had the state pre k. We work a lot with the special needs population and have a lot of those services coming in as well as them going out to those services. And then we have the traditional care as well. Our newest location is really unique because it has a lot of flexibility in scheduling just because of the nature of the hours.
0:24:50 Kris Murray: Okay.
0:24:51 Rachel Davis: And so we have kids coming and leaving at all hours of the day, which is its own challenges. And it’s been a growing thing.
0:24:56 Kris Murray: Right.
0:24:57 Rachel Davis: The other really cool thing that has just really started in our programs aside from our community, and we do a lot of family engagement activities, something every month for the families to connect. But we are implementing this year a monthly family dinner where we just have A dinner where everybody can come, have dinner, sit as a family. We’ll probably do some educational piece for the parents for parenting. But the other big thing is just wins to celebrate each other.
0:25:26 Kris Murray: Right.
0:25:26 Rachel Davis: And, you know, like, even if little Johnny is just took in their first step, let’s, you know, celebrate that because it’s a big deal to those families.
0:25:36 Kris Murray: Cool.
0:25:36 Rachel Davis: And then we also are hoping to implement a breakfast where the parents can come and sit down and eat breakfast with their kids in the community space before they drop them off. Because I think as a parent, we all know how busy and hectic it is in the morning and how many times we’re handing them a granola bar or something and be like, here, how are you? You know, so this is a chance for them to have a hot breakfast together and not have to worry about it. And we just want to provide that free of service.
0:26:04 Rachel Davis: And then the last thing that we’re really excited about. More recently, we’ve started, I like to call our program now our staff, like, I don’t know, the League of Nations or something. I don’t know. We have refugees now working for us. We have someone from. Where was she from? Oh, I just spaced. Where she’s from the. Oh, Albania. We have Navajo speakers. We have, you know, we just have.
0:26:33 Kris Murray: Right.
0:26:34 Rachel Davis: Lethra. We’re working with the Swahili church and getting some of their people in here so that the neighborhood we’re in, a lot of refugees end up landing. And so we want to be able to represent those families with the staff as well.
0:26:46 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:26:47 Rachel Davis: So that’s what we think is kind of a really cool thing that has been a lot of fun. It comes with its own growing because we have to learn how to communicate with second English speakers, you know?
0:26:57 Kris Murray: Right, right.
0:26:58 Rachel Davis: But I think in the long run, it’ll benefit everybody.
0:27:02 Kris Murray: Yeah, I love that. And I think families love the international aspect where children can learn about different cultures, bringing in different menu meal items. You know, like, what is a Swahili dish that, you know, is something we can taste or Albanian food or anything like that. So I think that’s very cool. I will say that the monthly family dinners and breakfasts is very on trend with what we’re seeing is very popular among today’s families.
0:27:36 Kris Murray: They want community events. They want to be as part of. They want their children to have experiences, and they want to have experiences together with their children. So this is all really, really good stuff that you’re doing. So you.
0:27:52 Rachel Davis: Yeah, And I think, you know, one of our core values is actually Relational community, because everybody wants that community. And it’s hard to get, you know, with what they call the garage door society, where everybody just goes in and shuts the doors. In our northeast location or in our other. Our new location, it’s because it’s not safe to be outside. And so that’s where we just. We want to bring the joy back to the neighborhood and the build that community back up.
0:28:21 Rachel Davis: We just really feel like in the neighborhood, if we can help build up five or six blocks and bring the joy back and stuff, it’ll start to spread out and change that neighborhood. And that’s kind of where our focus has been. Beyond the childcare piece.
0:28:35 Kris Murray: Yeah. Have you had to take any additional measures in terms of safety and security? What have you done to just ensure safety for the children in those schools? Because if you’re in neighborhoods that are a little bit more at risk or unsafe, how. What have you done there?
0:28:53 Rachel Davis: Yeah, and I think that, you know, that is actually one of our benefit, unique benefits at our new location. Because we’ve fenced in. You know, it’s fenced in. And then as far as security, all of our parents or staff or whoever’s authorized to come to the building has either the app or a fob they can choose, and that will open the gate for them to get onto the property. And then they have to use it again to get through the front door into the lobby and then again to get from the lobby to the classrooms.
0:29:29 Rachel Davis: Just that three tier system.
0:29:32 Kris Murray: Gotcha.
0:29:32 Rachel Davis: All of our windows around the outside of the building are actually bulletproof, which was something we intentionally went into and said, how can we make this as safe and secure so families feel safe? And our playground is fenced in inside the middle of the property. So, like, it’s not anywhere near the outside where I hate to say it, the homeless or needles or anything like that could be. And then we have, I call it the James Bond security system because we have the lasers on the roof and on the outside so that if someone gets past it, it sets off an alarm and notifies our.
0:30:08 Rachel Davis: We have a security guards that will come on call and then they also do regular rotations during the night hours during the day. It’s pretty safe.
0:30:17 Kris Murray: Right.
0:30:18 Rachel Davis: And then we also have, of course, all the cameras everywhere as well as the alarm system.
0:30:25 Kris Murray: Right. Awesome. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I’m sure people are interested in all of that, for sure. Talk a little bit about your culture and how you’ve had to evolve or transform as a leader since 2008. What are some big shifts that you’ve made personally in your leadership from 2008 or whenever.
0:30:50 Rachel Davis: Well, it’s funny because I was talking to someone the other day about when we opened with 20 kids and I was five months pregnant with a infant, I mean a 10 month old working open to close. You know, I can remember shutting the door to the office and telling my sister I’m going to take a 15 minute nap and just laying on the floor napping. But you know, being in there day to day, open to close, you know, I was generally the primary infant through two’s teacher and we had a classroom that was six weeks to two year olds with a one to six ratio. And that’s what I taught. And I was like, I look on it now when staff are telling me one to four in the infant room with all of them the same age is too hard. And I’m like, oh, give me a break.
0:31:31 Rachel Davis: But you know, totally, you know, it’s just a different generation and a different program.
0:31:36 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:31:37 Rachel Davis: So back then, you know, it was all hands on deck, all the time, full on full, whatever. As my kids got older and they weren’t, they started going to elementary school, I was like, I don’t get to see my kids anymore or anything like that. So I started transitioning myself more into a part time on site, part time off site type person so I could be with my kids on their schedule. My kids had a lot of therapies growing up. They both have some special needs that took some.
0:32:08 Rachel Davis: My daughter had medical issues and my son has special needs and it took, I needed that flexibility. So I think that’s kind of what forced it to get them to all their therapies and everything. And I. So at the time it just really helped me transition out of that day to day stuff to an extent. I mean I still wasn’t fully, but then as we grew and I just started saying, okay, how do we move forward? Because I’m very much visionary and I get very bored with the day to day on, you know, type stuff.
0:32:41 Kris Murray: Sure.
0:32:42 Rachel Davis: I hit that point where I’m like, okay, I need something else. I need to move beyond this. And I ended up building up with me Tasha, who I know you’ve met, but she comes with me to the child care Success Academy meetings. But she started with me when she was 18 years old and she is now my regional basically. And as she took things on because she just kind of took ownership and took over and did it and wouldn’t ask me, whereas the assistant director I had before would Call it. She would never make a decision and just call and ask me everything.
0:33:16 Kris Murray: Right.
0:33:16 Rachel Davis: So when she decided to move on, I was like, okay. And we moved Tasha in, and she started just doing things without involving me. I was like, wow, this is really amazing.
0:33:25 Kris Murray: Right?
0:33:26 Rachel Davis: And it’s all about the right people in the right seat, right?
0:33:28 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:33:29 Rachel Davis: And so I took that. And she is very much a detail person, you know, wants all that. So she’s the perfect opposite of me. And she took it and really did all that well. Then through the years. One day, a few years ago, I got completely hands off before COVID I was completely out of the building.
0:33:49 Kris Murray: Okay.
0:33:50 Rachel Davis: And then. And she was running things, and I was just enjoying. I mean, I was working from home, but I was enjoying life with my family.
0:33:57 Kris Murray: Right.
0:33:58 Rachel Davis: And then when Covid hit it just, you know, reset everything. And our staff had to go to two different groups because we stayed open, we never closed. And because we had a lot of essential workers and things. And so we went to the. Where our staff were. Basically, we had two staff, and they would rotate every other week. And the week they weren’t in the center, they were doing the zoom lessons.
0:34:23 Kris Murray: Okay.
0:34:24 Rachel Davis: And the intention of that was so that if someone tested positive, we could easily plug another group in.
0:34:33 Kris Murray: Cool.
0:34:34 Rachel Davis: And so during that process, I really stayed out because I thought if anything happens, nobody knew what was going to happen. Someone had to be there to deal with the marketing or, you know, something did happen at our center. So towards the end of all of COVID when things are coming back, she and I were sitting there and doing just a day, one day retreat, which we do probably quarterly, if not twice a year or something around that, just the two of us looking at where do we want to go, what do we want to do? And she looked at me and she said, okay, five centers, five years.
0:35:08 Rachel Davis: And I was like, wait a minute, you’re not the visionary. And it was about the same time my dad’s like, okay, it’s time to start looking. And so that’s kind of, you know, it transitioned into me being full blown visionary and letting her handle all that detailed stuff.
0:35:26 Kris Murray: Stuff.
0:35:27 Rachel Davis: And from a cultural perspective, it all came in because she aligned with all of our values. We are a faith based program at our roots, but we don’t expect our staff or anyone to be the same faith. We just expect them to act with those values while they’re at work.
0:35:45 Kris Murray: Gotcha.
0:35:46 Rachel Davis: And, you know, they do and teach, you know, Bible lessons, Bible songs, things like that. So. But she exemplified all of that and has really, I would say she’s pushed me to be a better leader from that stance and learn how to step back and let her take it. And now at our second location, it’s been growing pains because we’re learning how to have middle management, which I’ve never had before. And it was always just her and I and it was so easy. And now we have three directors and then her and then I. So.
0:36:17 Kris Murray: Right.
0:36:18 Rachel Davis: We’re still learning. So I will say I am still transitioning. Cause it’s been a huge. You know, they always say the second center is the hardest.
0:36:25 Kris Murray: Yes.
0:36:26 Rachel Davis: So we’re in that transition period at a year where we’re like trying to put those systems in place for all the middle management. And I’m not as hands on.
0:36:35 Kris Murray: Gotcha. Well, I think leadership is always an evolution. It’s always a journey. You never get done with it. You’re always, you know, continuing to evolve. And of course I have to ask, how’s that five centers in five years dream going? Is that still something that you guys are going to try to conquer or kind of putting it in perspective?
0:36:57 Rachel Davis: Oh no, we still want to do other centers. We’re just not sure like we’ve prayed about where and what a kind of a. This is a. I don’t. Some people know, I don’t hide it. But we have been working with a developer to develop different areas of town. And you know, he’s helping us take. There’s two churches directly across the street from our existing center. And they both. One of them actually had their last service at the end, end of December, the very last service in that building because their congregation had died.
0:37:33 Rachel Davis: And then the other one is down to 14 members, all 80 and older. And so they are in the process of transitioning management and ownership of the property to a foundation we’re creating to manage to start developing that property for affordable housing and youth programming and just a variety of things. So this developer we’re working with, I’ve had a dream of having some sort of special needs specific program for the higher special needs that need like a nurse on site and those types of things.
0:38:05 Rachel Davis: And so the city of Albuquerque came out and said if you provide a development project for us for this land, we’ll give you the land.
0:38:16 Kris Murray: Okay.
0:38:17 Rachel Davis: And so he has developed a couple of properties. He submitted a proposal for where it’s like affordable housing up top and then the bottom floors are like businesses or one of them is for me to have a special needs program, things like that. So we’re just Trying to look at the different perspectives to really help in the different neighborhoods. Right. I’ve asked licensors, where in New Mexico is there the biggest need?
0:38:49 Rachel Davis: And they keep telling me Santa Fe. So that might be out there at some point.
0:38:54 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:38:55 Rachel Davis: They said that, you know, all of the infant and toddler care left.
0:38:59 Kris Murray: Oh, wow.
0:39:00 Rachel Davis: Because the minimum wage there is so high.
0:39:03 Kris Murray: Right.
0:39:04 Rachel Davis: And so that’s, you know, those are all things at the back of our minds. But we want to get this one stable before we do that and get this one full, which is more about staffing.
0:39:15 Kris Murray: So.
0:39:16 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:39:16 Kris Murray: Well, so let’s talk about staffing. So the reason why your newer school is sitting at 50% enrollment is because you did mention because of staffing.
0:39:27 Rachel Davis: So.
0:39:27 Kris Murray: And we have seen trends where. I was actually just talking to Vernon Mason about this on where he’s. Because he’s going around and talking to different owners around the country.
0:39:40 Rachel Davis: Yeah, he was just in New Mexico.
0:39:42 Kris Murray: Okay. Yeah. So feeling like people are job hopping less. And for the number of open jobs, the number of applicants is starting to be more of a one to one ratio instead of two open jobs for every one person looking for employment, those kinds of things. So hoping that we’ll continue to see labor stabilize and that we’ll continue to see the hiring crisis start to come in line. But so talk a little bit about your specific market.
0:40:13 Kris Murray: Is it because you are higher quality, so you’re looking for a higher level teacher or just talk more about your challenges in terms of hiring?
0:40:21 Rachel Davis: Yeah, I think a lot of it. I can get bodies.
0:40:25 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:40:26 Rachel Davis: But we’re so picky about who’s in our program. Like I’ve always told people I’m not going to put them in our program if I wouldn’t leave them with my own kids.
0:40:33 Kris Murray: Right.
0:40:34 Rachel Davis: And that’s kind of very much where we come from. Education as a piece, New Mexico has very low education in general. And so we are. We do have programs where we’re mentoring and working with staff to get their degrees. But in the meantime, to maintain our quality, we still need staff with those educational experiences to continue to get our five star that already have certain classes. But an interesting thing we had had, like Vernon Mason spoke at our association annual meeting in January and he was talking about how for everyone applicant, you need 12 for everyone that you, you know, hire.
0:41:16 Kris Murray: Right.
0:41:17 Rachel Davis: And I was like, wow, that’s so appropriate and accurate and. But then I went to our quarterly meeting in February and I always go to our meetings a day or two early and just take some me time. And mission setting and things like that. And so this time I almost didn’t do it because I, you know, things were so chaotic and things going on between my kids and work and stuff. And I said, no, I need to do this for me.
0:41:45 Rachel Davis: And I. The day in Phoenix, the day before meetings, I found a place called Peace park, and it was inside the cathedrals. And I just went and spent the morning there in prayer and just time alone. And then on Friday. No, it wasn’t Friday. I guess back here, my mom had her Bible study praying for everybody. So then on Tuesday, I met with our HR with Tamina and Kelsey, and they were. Tamina looked at me because I talked to her at the Academy about how I had spent this day and things.
0:42:20 Rachel Davis: And she said, girl, you need to stop praying. And I said, what are you talking about, T? And she said, well, when we came in on Friday, we looked at your Indeed account and you had over a hundred applicants.
0:42:33 Kris Murray: Wow.
0:42:34 Rachel Davis: And I was like, whoa. And since then it’s been like all hands on deck because they’re just pouring in. And so the great challenge right now is getting them weeded through in a timely manner that we can get them hired and then getting them onboarded because that’s a two to three week process. So it’s hard because we have these wait lists of kids that want to get in, but we don’t want to just throw them in with an experienced teacher.
0:42:58 Rachel Davis: So it’s been that whole process of how do we bring them in and do that. I think the other thing that has been interesting and growth for us is our original location as an open concept. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the older kinder cares that didn’t have walls.
0:43:16 Kris Murray: Yes.
0:43:17 Rachel Davis: And so the only rooms that have walls are infant room and our toddler room, our one year olds and the rest of it is like open and we use like cubbies for our walls.
0:43:26 Kris Murray: Right.
0:43:26 Rachel Davis: So culture there. Everybody interacted on a daily basis and it just came really easy.
0:43:31 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:43:32 Rachel Davis: Our new location is all walls, individual classrooms. And so we’re having to learn how to change and do culture that way because that’s so out of our norm. And so that’s kind of where we’re at right now. We’re trying to figure out how to best infuse the culture into our programs. They were laughing at me at the Academy because I asked some of the other owners, I said, how do you systemize culture? And they were just laughing at me.
0:43:58 Rachel Davis: And I was like, no, I’m serious. Because as you grow. Yeah, you can’t be the one doing it. All right. How do you keep it so that your management is doing that as well? And so, like, I think that’s kind of what we’re trying to figure out right now.
0:44:11 Kris Murray: I mean, one of the ways that I’ve seen people do it successfully, like coach Jodi is using Slack so that she can have all of her team members all communicating to each other electronically, which they’re used to chatting and using emojis and sharing cool things and putting funny pictures and videos up there and just sharing wins. So using technology, I think is really, really helpful, especially when you get to that 5, 6, 7, location level, because, yeah, you’ve got to figure out how to use those. Those shortcut tools to keep everybody connected.
0:44:45 Kris Murray: But, yeah, I love that you shared about, like, no walls versus walls, because that is the perfect visual, like, metaphor for trying to keep an empowered, connected, positive, vibrant staff is when you don’t have walls, it’s so easy for them just to connect, you know? And then when you realize that the, you know, everybody going into their individual classrooms, that’s what’s. That’s what creates a separation of human beings from each other. So we got to break those walls down.
0:45:15 Rachel Davis: And it was interesting. On my last pod call, they gave me some ideas, and so we’ve been. I’ve taken some of their ideas and incorporated them. But, like, I think it was Mallory McCoy. I think she was telling me that. She said, well, get some beads and do like, Mardi Gras, but they have to play rock, paper, scissors, and whoever’s the winner gets to take all the beads.
0:45:35 Kris Murray: Right.
0:45:36 Rachel Davis: And so we did that and sent it through the center. And I said, every time you pass another staff member play, and you get to take all their beads that they had, and that was huge. And so I took that. And then I have intentionally, in February each week, done something interactive like that, where they’re purposely engaging with each other in the hallways and things and walking by at both of our locations.
0:45:57 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:45:59 Rachel Davis: And so this week, on Tuesday, we got flowers, and then I made little notes, and I started it off and wrote a note to someone on a way that they represented our core values really well. And I said, now pick a flower, and you get to take it, but then you have to write a note to the next person and hand them, and they pick a flower and keep it till everybody has one. And they seem to really like that, too, because it’s helping them recognize each other and their strengths.
0:46:24 Kris Murray: Yeah, love that. That’s very, very cool. So, Rachel, what is your favorite part about being in the Child Care Success Academy? I know you’ve been in there for a while. I forget how many years, but a.
0:46:38 Rachel Davis: Long time I do, too.
0:46:40 Kris Murray: I don’t know. I feel like six or seven years anyways. So what do you. Why do you stay? What do you love about it?
0:46:50 Rachel Davis: For me, it’s the community. You know, I went to Empire before. I felt like I was ready for Empire. I don’t even. Still don’t feel like I always fit in that room. But I always felt like I needed to be with people who knew more than me.
0:47:05 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:47:05 Rachel Davis: And were smarter than me. And that’s why I just jumped to that when I could. But I think the biggest thing has been the relationships that we just build in the other owners. There’s so much value to other people that own the businesses outside of your own little state, because everybody does things differently. And the ability to come in and just meet with them and say, okay, I’m dealing with this. How do you handle it? And just getting the different perspectives from people that think like you.
0:47:36 Rachel Davis: I also have a good group that we always go to dinner the Wednesday night before meetings. And we also have taken that time on Wednesday some and gone and visited other centers and things, too. Like if we go to a town where one of us has a center or something.
0:47:51 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:47:52 Rachel Davis: And that has been really good, too, just to see other centers. I laugh because we went into one of Tandy’s.
0:48:00 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:48:00 Rachel Davis: And it was her first time ever visiting that center. She had never been in the building, never met them.
0:48:04 Kris Murray: Oh, my God.
0:48:06 Rachel Davis: And so she’s taking four or five owners with her when she goes in for the first time in Chicago. And we’re like this poor director.
0:48:13 Kris Murray: Right.
0:48:14 Rachel Davis: And so Tandy had given us, okay, here’s my issues, here’s my struggles. You know, I want your opinions. And so we’re sitting there and we’re just all drilling the director, and we felt really bad for the director. But we came back to our last meeting and we’re like, okay, we need to know what happened with this and this and this. And so she would. She had to catch us all up because we just needed to know how it happened.
0:48:36 Kris Murray: Right.
0:48:37 Rachel Davis: And so it’s things like that that just, you know, you don’t get from other people. And I joined the academy originally because in New Mexico, I felt like I’d gotten all the training I could get in my state. And it was actually just summit we were going to go to just the summit. And then I talked to Brian and he’s like, no. And so we’re like, okay, we’ll take the plan. So we started in growth and. Right.
0:49:02 Rachel Davis: And then worked our way up.
0:49:03 Kris Murray: Yeah.
0:49:05 Rachel Davis: I think that it’s just been the community I’ve built around that as an extreme introvert to be able to go in and see people and know people. And now I’m excited to have so many other New Mexicans engaged. Yes. After so many years. I mean, they’re all people I was on the board with before I opened my first center. So they’re all, you know, friends of mine. So.
0:49:25 Kris Murray: Yeah, no, we love the New Mexico crew. It’s a very. It’s a. It’s a wonderful state in terms of the support that New Mexico provides you guys and seeing all the things that you’re doing to try to, you know, support families and serve the childcare deserts and play a bigger game and make a huge difference. And I just love it. I love that you’re taking the self care days before the quarterly meetings and also going out with your Wednesday night group and doing things. That’s so awesome. And I want to say that I also feel with your story about prayer and getting 111 applicants or something after you said did prayer and then had your mom do prayer, that I really do believe there is power in that, Rachel, that, you know, it’s really energetic for me is putting the intention out there through a prayer or through, you know, intention through the journaling. But really it’s.
0:50:28 Kris Murray: Prayer is really taking all of your heartfelt energy and putting it to. What you would love is what would you love? I would love to have more staff, that I could actually serve more families. And then they, they showed up and to me it was like, stop praying. Which I think is hilarious.
0:50:46 Rachel Davis: Yeah. And I think, you know, my dad and I joke all the time because he’s, you know, been on my board, been with me through it all. Our new location is a for profit, surely for SBA funding purposes. And so she and our co owners in that. But we still have the community space that’s leased by the nonprofit. And one of the things that he and I talk about, we need to sit down sometime and just write out the miracles that we’ve seen happen.
0:51:15 Kris Murray: Right.
0:51:15 Rachel Davis: Because there’s so many miracles and where we are right now in this neighborhood that we’re in, the things that are happening. Like, we can’t even go into the detail with anybody because it would take for days for us to tell people about you Know, the neighborhood development stuff that we’re seeing going on behind the scenes and.
0:51:32 Kris Murray: Right.
0:51:33 Rachel Davis: I just think it’s so important to take that time to just look outside of your center and outside of your own life and see, you know, what’s. What are you called to do?
0:51:44 Kris Murray: Yes. Love that. What are you called to do? Rachel Davis, thank you so much for being here today. Children’s Promise Centers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and maybe Santa Fe one of these days as well.
0:51:57 Rachel Davis: Maybe.
0:51:59 Kris Murray: Any final thoughts for the audience? And also, how can people find out more about your programs and yourself?
0:52:08 Rachel Davis: I think my, my biggest thing would be just to stay true to yourself. Just because I know that there’s a lot of times I sit in that room and I think, oh, well, they’re doing all these really cool, exciting things and stuff. And then I have to come back to myself and say, this is not who we are. We’re about the community and how we develop, not about just necessarily growing the business. We’re about community and helping people develop and grow. And that’s our focus. And sometimes that’s hard because the little entrepreneurial self inside me wants to take it and just go and do all these other things. But I want to do everything with excellence. And the only way to do that is to put my heart in until it gets to that point before you grow.
0:52:48 Rachel Davis: So I just say for people to stay true to themselves, I mean, like, and what they’re called to do. I know that for me, the other day I read in a devotional about, they said, how would, how would Jesus do your job? And I was like, that’s a really thought provoking thing. Like, am I doing what I’m called to do or am I being taken off on all these little tangents? And so like, that’s where I just say to stay focused on who you are and what you do and not trying to get into the game with everybody else.
0:53:23 Rachel Davis: Right. As far as finding out about us. Www.childrenspromisecenters.org we have a YouTube channel as well, as well as a Facebook channel and Instagram and all those things. And our YouTube has a lot of videos that we had professionally developed. So those are really kind of cool.
0:53:47 Kris Murray: Nice. So guys, if you want to see some cool models of really excellent looking videos, check out the YouTube channel. Childrenspromisecenters.org Love it. Rachel Davis, I love everything you stand for and I’m really thrilled that even though you’re an extreme introvert, you said yes to the podcast today and hopefully you enjoyed it a little bit, even though you had to come on camera and all that. But I think that you look gorgeous and I love your message. I love your, you know, what you stand for and the impact that you’re making.
0:54:24 Kris Murray: So thank you so much for being here.
0:54:26 Rachel Davis: Thank you. And on a side note, my staff would not call me an introvert. They’re always shocked when they hear that. But.
0:54:34 Kris Murray: Well, I’m sure when you get comfortable, you can get rolling and. But yeah, you definitely, yeah, dove in to tell your story and I loved it. So it’s really great to have you here today and thanks to the audience. Thanks guys for still tuning in. We’re almost to episode 200 and excited to continue on with the podcast to go to episode 300 and beyond. So I want to thank everybody who tuned in to this episode for spending time with us.
0:55:04 Kris Murray: And thanks, Rachel. Appreciate you.
0:55:07 Rachel Davis: Thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done over the years for us.
0:55:11 Kris Murray: Oh, thank you so much. It’s been my pleasure. Take care. God bless everybody and we’ll talk to you soon.
0:55:17 Rachel Davis: Bye.
0:55:17 Kris Murray: Bye.
0:55:20 Kris Murray: I hope you liked this episode of Child Care Rockstar Radio. If you did, please leave a review and share it with someone you know.
0:55:28 Kris Murray: To help spread the word to friends.
0:55:29 Kris Murray: And our industry and on social media. Child care business success is my passion and I’m honored to be on this journey with you. As a thank you for listening, I’ve got a new video training that shows you how to add six figures or more of new revenue to your program in the next 60 days by improving your hiring and your enrollment systems. To watch my new video, just go to www.fixmy school.com. that’s Fix My School.com.
0:56:01 Kris Murray: Thanks. Take care and God bless.
