HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council will discuss 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.
According to agenda documents, the United Way would 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 this budget.
The County allocated money in the following areas:
Support for Current Providers: $2,490,000
Innovative Models: $1,660,000
United Way Oversight: $ 350,000
Total $4,500,000
The county chose to dedicate more funding to helping current providers.
This effort seeks to keep existing childcare providers open when we are seeing providers close. However, United Way has requested that most of the city funding help with innovative models.
The report provided by K-State notes that without innovative ideas, the city should not expect to see long term change. United Way requests that 75% to 80% of the city funding be allocated to innovative models.
If the council agrees, United Way will oversee the city's childcare ARPA funds and dedicate them to help the City of Hutchinson. The funds would be tracked to ensure that City dollars benefit the City and County funds benefited the County.
The amount allocated from the city according to agenda documents is $1,773,844.61.
The Hutchinson City Council meets Tuesday at 9 a.m. at City Hall.
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