More than 1,400 child care slots are expected to open statewide, nearly all in Greater Minnesota, after a multi-million dollar round of grants to expand child care access.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded $6.1 million in Child Care Economic Development Grants to 25 organizations, a news release announced Thursday, Feb. 6.
Among those organizations is Greater Bemidji, which will receive $575,000 to expand child care in the Bemidji area.
Greater Bemidji’s Dave Hengel said in the release that the funding will support three different child care initiatives for Bemidji and the Red Lake Nation. Child care access is identified as the largest barrier to participation in the workforce there.
Greater Bemidji is a major player in the city’s future YMCA project, proposed for construction in the blighted Rail Corridor. In an interview with KAXE, Hengel said the YMCA is also anticipated to bring much-needed child care slots to the region.
“One of one of the reasons we picked the YMCA Fargo was because it's the largest day care provider in all of North Dakota. They have 2,000 day care slots in Fargo," Hengel said. "[They] expressed some interest in doing that in Bemidji, more as a Phase 2 somewhere downtown. [But] they reached out and said we need to do it sooner, right away — and so it’s built into the project now.”
DEED's Child Care Economic Development Grant program provides funding to communities to invest in new or expanding child care businesses. Funds can be used for things like facility improvements, and worker training, attraction, retention and licensing, along with other strategies to reduce the child care shortage.
Of the funds awarded, 84%, or $5.1 million, will go towards increasing child care availability in Greater Minnesota, creating 1,337 slots. Other Northern Minnesota grant recipients include:
- Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency – $240,000
- Brainerd Family YMCA – $97,500
- City of Wadena – $195,000
- Cook County Public Health and Human Services – $385,178
- Northland Foundation – $240,000
- Northwest Minnesota Foundation – $134,530
- Warroad Community Childcare Center – $240,000
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