The environment has been a topic on everyone’s minds for the last decade, and that is most true to Dayton native Meredith Florkey. Florkey has a deep connection and love for her community and nature and wants to share that love with others.
To spread information and awareness about environment issues and to connect others with nature, Florkey founded Ohio Naturally, a company which focuses on teacher workshops, forming partnerships, and co-creating nature-based childcare centers and programs while serving as a hub for Ohio educators to connect.
Florkey’s next project is the Wildflower Child and Family Center, which will act as a daycare for parents who are working full time and need a place to drop their children off. The Child and Family Center has a planned opening date of spring 2024 but a location has not been confirmed.
During phase one of the opening, which will focus on daycare, Florkey plans on having five to six staff on board. She hopes to add infant and toddler classes, as well as after school and summer care in phase three, which will see an increase of up to 15 staff members total.
A location for the Child and Family Center is undetermined, but Florkey hopes to lease or purchase an existing property building to retain sustainability. She is also unaware of who will do the renovations but has identified some woman-owned businesses she plans to secure contracts with.
With daycare, toddler and infant classes, and after school programs, the Center is expected to house around 60 children. Costs of classes have yet to be determined but will be established closer to opening. Florkey is aiming to keep the care as affordable as possible for parents looking to send their children there.
Florkey was a high school teacher before founding Ohio Naturally and was consistently interested in teaching younger children. After having three kids of her own, Florkey explored early childhood education and made the transition to teaching younger students, therefore finding her true passion.
In 2016, she founded the Learning Tree Farm Nature Preschool, which is in Jefferson Township. The preschool is located on an 85-acre farm and is equipped with hiking trails, historical structures, gardens, and farm animals.
As opposed to a traditional school, students at nature-based schools spend the majority of their time outside, where all classes take place. Come light rain or snow, students remain outside and learn traditional school subjects, but also immerse themselves in nature and learn about the environment.
Florkey has witnessed the struggle that many parents go through to find adequate childcare centers, as well as the wage disparity for educators, and decided to make a change. She founded Ohio Naturally to address these inequalities and has found great success since then.
Through Florkey’s efforts, students are taught about real-world topics such as environmental justice at the schools, which they may learn less about in a traditional school. Florkey has also addressed food insecurity and has organized local food initiatives to help those in need.
Wildflower Child and Family Center
Founded: 2023
Services: Childcare, after school programs, toddler classes
Founder: Meredith Florkey
Website: https://www.ohionaturallyeducation.com/
Florkey believes that a business such as Ohio Naturally is necessary to the community due to the disparity in childcare centers, and to teach children about bigger issues.
“It’s all about action. I think everywhere needs more childcare spaces. I’m hopeful that using this nature-based pedagogy, we can fully bring together that concept of care, not only about each other, but about our community and the environment,” Florkey said. “We want to raise the next generation to not only love our natural world, but also to feel that agency that they can affect change.”
