Minneapolis childcare reacts to Nick Shirley's fraud allegations after viral video sparks uproar

A child care centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is contesting claims of fraud following conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley's viral video that has attracted national attention to its activities.

The Quality Learning Center has been in operation on Nicollet Avenue for eight years. However, it recently became the center of public and political scrutiny after a video shared by Shirley garnered almost two million views. This video also caught the eye of FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance.

In the footage, Shirley raises doubts about the center's legitimacy, pointing out locked doors, a sign with a misspelling, and a nearly vacant parking lot. In one segment, he inquired of a local whether he had ever seen any kids at the center, to which the man replied, “None. None at all.”

When the man questioned Shirley about who manages the center, Shirley replied, “Somalians.”

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Amid the uproar over the video, Ibrahim Ali, a manager at the center, stated that his parents are the owners of the facility. Ali mentioned that the center accommodates approximately 50 to 80 children on a typical day and employs around 25 staff members. “There’s no fraud going on whatsoever,” he said, as per Kare11.

He also explained that the misspelled sign shown in the video was a mistake made by the graphic designer and will be rectified shortly.

Ali mentioned that the video was not filmed during the operational hours of the center, adding that Shirley arrived around 11 am, when neither children nor staff were present.

Ali encouraged those who have doubts about the center to visit during its operating hours. “You guys could come tomorrow. You guys could come on Thursday, you guys come back Monday.” He denied journalists a tour of the facility's interior, citing the necessity for media releases concerning the children, as well as the preferences of parents of minors who do not wish for their children to be filmed.

Also Read: Nick Shirley vs HasanAbi: YouTubers engage in war of words over viral daycare scam video, ‘you botched it for clickbait’

On Monday, Tikki Brown, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, stated that the agency takes allegations of fraud very seriously. “While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously.”

Brown further said that staff members had visited the centers shown in the video at least once in the last six months as part of the state's standard licensing procedure. She also noted that staff revisited the centers on Monday to assess the claims presented in the video, with results anticipated on Tuesday.

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