During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alicia and Abdul Yahaya noticed a lack of one particular resource in Johnson County — childcare.

The Olathe couple already owned and operated Open Minds Child Development — which, with its two Olathe locations, had a waitlist of roughly 10 to 15 children all year.

From that waitlist and state statistics, they’d gathered that new parents in Johnson County needed more options for affordable childcare.

So the Yahayas decided to help by opening a center geared toward Johnson County’s youngest. Their newest center, The Nest, marked its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting last week.

The Nest operates at 1750 E. Harold St.

• The center moved into a space right off of Harold Street and Kansas City Road, near Santa Fe Trail Middle.
• The Nest neighbors the flagship Open Minds center, which serves preschool-aged children (ages 3 to 5).
• The Nest is open year-round, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The center is geared toward infants and toddlers

• Children ages 4 weeks old to 3 years old can enroll at The Nest.
• The roughly 4,600-square-foot has five classrooms in total, with a capacity of nine or 10 students per classroom.
• The center received opening funding from the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust, as part of Gov. Laura Kelly’s Child Care Capacity Accelerator Grant Program. In total, nearly $43.6 million went to 52 statewide childcare organizations and partnerships, according to the grant program’s website.

Open Minds Child Development goes back almost a decade

Alicia and Abdul Yahaya opened the first Open Minds center in 2016 — starting with nine kids and growing to 90 in just one year.

Abdul Yahaya said their backgrounds have informed their vision at Open Minds, with Alicia getting her start in early education and Abdul coming from an engineering background. And the two also have four children — three of whom, at the time of Open Minds’ inception, were younger than 4 years old.

“We created a niche in the market for working families needed — quality care but affordable, and affordable does not mean cheap,” Abdul said. “It just means that we’re a little bit more innovative in the ways that we can group together resources, whether it’s grants, whether it’s taking state subsidy, or whether it’s working with families on a one-on-one basis.”

So, Abdul said, the Yahayas understood the importance of accessible childcare. That’s what they set out to create at Open Minds, he said, along with a sense of community — and that’s what he hopes to continue at The Nest.

“That’s really been something that we take pride in,” he said. “Bonding with the community. Not just being a business in the community, but being a part of it.”

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