A Minneapolis child care center prominently featured in a viral video attempting to expose fraud in Minnesota has suddenly closed, state records show.
The Quality Learning Center at 1411 Nicollet Av., shut its doors on Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
The facility in a gray concrete building with no windows just south of downtown attracted attention after a video posted by right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley went viral. As of Thursday, Jan. 8, the video posted on X had more than 139 million views.
In the 42-minute video Shirley posted just before Christmas, he alleges that a group of day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis has misappropriated “upwards of $100 million.”
Quality was one of several day care centers featured in Shirley’s video in which he pointed out Quality had the word “learning” misspelled. The sign was subsequently corrected.
In the following days, state regulators went to the child care centers featured in Shirley’s video to see if there were any licensing or other issues to be addressed.
Tikki Brown, commissioner of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said at a Dec. 29 news conference that two of the Minneapolis centers closed this year, including Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis just last week. However, a department spokeswoman said later that the center has “decided to remain open.”
But during the week of Jan. 4, records showed Quality was no longer operating even through its license was renewed on Jan. 1. The provider is unable to reopen without reapplying for a license, a spokesman for Department of Children, Youth, and Families said.
