NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council passed an agreement with United Way of Reno County for its portion of ARPA funds related to childcare needs at the council's meeting on Tuesday. The amount allocated from the city is $1,773,844.61.
The United Way will spend the City's allocation in two areas.
Support for Current providers / Sustainability Grants for Current Providers: These grants would be used to help current providers upgrade their facilities, overcome barriers to childcare relicensing, increase pay to sustain, and incentivize their work in the community.
This would provide direct funding to providers in the least restrictive manner possible that would allow them access to funding they need while innovative approaches are being put in place.
This is a direct impact to maintain the childcare that currently exists in Reno County while growing the industry in other ways. Grantees would be required to submit a report on how the funds were utilized to maintain the integrity of the program.
Innovative Models: These funds would allow the setup of a childcare Co-Op therefore, providers could access health insurance and retirement benefits, additional training etc. Additionally a Co-Op, would allow for experimentation with shared services and provide potential solutions for a community wide substitute pool, allow for business to partner with the Co-Op to provide childcare for their employees and set up neighborhood childcare using the Co-Op model.
A Director of Early Childhood Systems, as recommended by the KSU Child Care Needs Assessment, would be part of the budget.
Council member Stuart Conklin raised the question of what happens in three years when these funds are expended? Lisa Gleason with the United Way admitted they don't know yet.
"We don't have all the answers right now, you're right," Gleason said. "We have been working on them. We've been working on them before ARPA dollars even became a thing. We have partners at the table from all over this community trying to solve this problem together. We know that ARPA funds are going to help us be able to experiment and try things we would never have been able to try before."
Denice Gilliland from United Way invited the Council to a meeting next week where they can learn more on the topic, as well.
"I think I want to take this opportunity to invite you to our Communities in Action workshop, which we are hosting on the 29th of this month at HutchCC," Gilliland said. "We're going to have Child Care Aware there to help facilitate some conversations. I know [Council member Stacy Goss] is planning on being there. I think you would find a lot of value in that, to hear from the entire system, everything that is being worked on, not only locally, but at the state level."
The council passed the allocation unanimously on Tuesday.
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