Idaho Child Care Expansion Grants, administered by the Workforce Development Council, will increase the number of child care seats available to working families by targeting employers and/or child care providers willing to build new on-site or near-site child care facilities or expand existing facilities.
Donor Name: Idaho Workforce Development Council
State: Idaho
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/01/2023
Size of the Grant: up to $15,000
Details:
Child care is one of the most critical work supports for parents to successfully participate in the labor market. Since the pandemic, labor force participation rates in Idaho have decreased and one of the major factors is lack of child care options.
According to Idaho’s most recent Child Care Gap Assessment 74,670 children have the potential need for child care, and there are only 55,850 child care slots, leaving a gap of nearly 20,000 seats needed to get Idaho parents back to work.
The purpose of the fund is to encourage and enable businesses and employer consortiums to create and develop on-site, or near-site child care centers or partner with local and regional child care services to increase available slots for an employer’s employees (not at the expense of existing or available slots in the local area).
Program Goals
- Increase child care seats statewide by approximately 1,000 by the end of 2024.
- Prioritize small providers, and providers who practice evidence-based high quality care.
Funding Information
The Workforce Development Council has $15 million dollars under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
to expand high quality child care in Idaho. $4 million dollars is set aside until March 1, 2023, for small
providers serving 12 or fewer children. All funds must be obligated by June 30, 2023 and spent by
October 31, 2024.
– Maximum of $15,000 per child served is available to applicants to support the addition of new
seats.
– 50% minimum cash and/or in-kind match is required. In-kind match must be calculated at fair
market value. Applications may score higher if additional match is provided.
– The Child Care Expansion Grant Review Committee shall develop a rubric to use in scoring
proposals.
Eligibility Criteria
An entity is eligible for the grant if it will directly provide high quality child care in Idaho and meets all of the criteria in this section.
- The entity must be authorized to conduct business in Idaho and in good standing with the Idaho Secretary of State along with any other applicable state or local government organizations, and must comply with all federal, state, or local requirements.
- An entity may be any of the following:
- For profit child care providers;
- Nonprofit/not for profit child care providers; and
- Employers (which shall include public and private entities).
- The entity must partner with employers to increase or expand child care capacity. Examples of employer partnership may include:
- Monetary contributions or donations/support of in-kind services necessary for the operation of the program;
- Guarantee to sponsor slots on behalf of employers’ employees;
- Co-op/collaborative/coordinated enrollment model across multiple centers (not necessarily owned by the same entity) in one “system” to provide access to employees of the partners; or
- Other partnership arrangements, as approved by the Council.
- Must comply with local and state child care licensing requirements.
- Provide at least 50% cash and/or in-kind match.
- Show evidence through a business plan, or equivalent, that operations will be sustainable beyond the one-time investment of these grant monies.
- Provide care to children ages 13 years and younger. Provider does not have to serve all age ranges between 0 to 13 and may serve any age range between the ages of 0-13; however,
- program funds cannot be used to support children over the age of 13. An exception will be made for providers serving children with disabilities who are 14-18. Preference will be provided to applicants who are serving infants and toddlers.
- Preference will be provided to applicants who are serving communities with higher need.
For more information, visit Idaho Workforce Development Council.
