Feedback sought for community child care needs

Finding the right child care for your family, let alone a quality child care provider with an opening, and then one that you can also afford, is an issue plaguing families across the nation.
On average, 27% of a familys household income this year has gone toward child care expenses.
How to improve the situation locally will be the topic of discussion at an upcoming community conversation hosted by the Boys & Girls Club of Moody County.
Club officials, along with partners from the City of Flandreau, the Flandreau Economic Development Group, Flandreau Public Schools, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe are hoping you will mark your calendars for 6 p.m. Wednesday, December 13.
Representatives from each entity will be present for the meeting in the Elementary School Commons at 500 W Community Drive.
The forum follows a survey earlier this year on local child care availability and needs. That survey and the entities that have come together to work on the issue, earned a grant opportunity recently through the Governors Office of Economic Development.
This initial grant, the Community Child Care Grant, is now a chance for communities, like Flandreau and Moody County, to further work with collaborative partners to seek innovative solutions regarding child care in the community.
There are many aspects of childcare that were discovered as a need including the overall lack of childcare offerings, lack of coverage of needed hours, lack of early education care, and lack of employees or childcare workforce, said Boys and Girls Club Chief Executive Officer, Jody Hernandez.
Our children are our future and contribute to the well-being of society as a whole. Childcare is beyond supervision, but encompasses aspects of growth, education, food security, healthy lifestyles, character development, and more. We have an opportunity to create an engaging, nurturing environment; one that is community-based and community-led.
In particular, of discussion that night will be how the community might expand opportunities for care for children 0-6 years old in Moody County.
This grant allows for opportunity to not only address a need in our community, but become a best practice in childcare for other communities. By hosting community conversations, exploring future expanded childhood programming, and creating a more comprehensive strategy around how we serve our youth of our community, other towns in our region will be able to look towards Flandreau as an exemplary solution to a regional need, Hernandez added.
Also of note, another grant that the Club had been waiting to hear back on, in regard to its current plans for expansion, has come through. Club leaders expect the $1.2M grant will come through before the end of this year, allowing for construction to begin in early 2024.
The competition date on the new addition is expected to be by the end of 2024.
For more information, please contact, at 605-692-3333 or [email protected], or visit greatfuturessd.org.