DEED Awards 14 Grants to Minnesota Communities to Increase Supply of Child Care

St. Paul – The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded grants totaling $2,425,000 to 14 organizations representing communities throughout Minnesota to increase the supply of quality child care providers in order to support regional economic development. These grants authorize $5 million over the next two fiscal years for grants to local communities to increase quality child care providers to support economic development across Minnesota.

The communities receiving the grants will use a variety of approaches ranging from partnering with local employers to build new child care facilities to training and assistance with licensing. The successful implementation of these projects will help solve the growing problem of access to quality childcare in Minnesota.

"Access to quality childcare is a crisis in Minnesota that is holding our workforce back," said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. "These grants, the largest we've ever issued, will make a difference for hundreds of families across our state at a critical moment in Minnesota's economic growth."

Priority was given to communities that have a documented shortage of child care providers in their proposed project area. The definition of documented shortages may include disparities in access to affordable quality child care among targeted groups including but not limited to rural communities, low-income communities, Black, Indigenous and people of color individuals, persons with disabilities, veterans, and women.

A total of $2.5 million was available in this first round with a second round of funding being available before June 2022.

These investments are part of an overall $8 million package of funding to assist communities to address their child care shortages including $3 million directed toward the 6 Minnesota Initiative Foundations covering greater Minnesota to assist communities and providers with their training and planning efforts to expand the supply of quality child care.

The following organizations were awarded funding:

Northland Foundation Duluth, $240,000

CLUES, Minneapolis, $240,000

Prairie Pines Childcare Center, Fosston, $240,000

WomenVenture, Minneapolis, $96,000

Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Bemidji. $224,000

City of Warren, Warren, $210,000

WildFlower Foundation, Minneapolis, $210,000

Agape Child Development Center, Minneapolis, $210,000

Nobles County Community Service Agency, Worthington, $75,000

West Central Initiative, Fergus Falls, $100,000.00

Little Lakers Child Care Center, Lake Crystal, $150,000

Greater Bemidji, Inc, Bemidji, $140,000.00

Morris Health Services, Morris, $150,000.00

Brainerd Family YMCA, Brainerd, $140,000.00

DEED is the state's principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit the DEED website, the JoinUsMn.com website, or follow us on Twitter.