By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Last fall, the Stafford County Childcare Committee formed to identify the childcare need within the county and how to address the issue. The committee determined there is a need for daycare services for 70-100 children in Stafford County.
Nearby Edwards County has experienced success in securing locations to rotate providers to run their business out of a building.
Stafford County Economic Development Director Kathleen Norman said the City of
St. John committed $65,000 to bring in a modular classroom building to allow
two providers to operate a daycare. The modular would create 18 new slots for
children in need of daycare.
"Some people don't or can't provide daycare out of their home," said Norman. "So there needs to be a different location. This will be more sustainable. There is ownership of the building and some of the key assets that are provided. It creates more stability when people decide not to provide daycare anymore."
Stafford County contributed $55,000 to help construct the concrete footings,
anchor the modular into place, add decks and skirting and meet Kansas
Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) guidelines.
Norman said there are only two licensed daycare providers in St. John.
Child Care Aware of Kansas connects parents, providers, businesses and local
and state leaders to information and ideas to take action to produce child
care. Norman said Child Care Aware informed the Stafford County Commission that
if the county could meet their daycare needs, more than $1 million would go
back into the local economy.
"Currently, there are people not in the workforce that could be in the workforce," said Norman. "Childcare supports all industries. Generally, we see younger families needing two people working. Oftentimes, you need two people working and they need childcare in order to pay the bills and live in our area."
Norman stated the local childcare committee is working with other Stafford
County towns, such as Macksville and Stafford, to address daycare needs.
Here are some of the key learnings from the county-wide Child Care Needs Assessment conducted last fall:
- 70 – 100 children in the county need child care; meaning Stafford County could support 6 – 7 more daycares.
- The biggest concentration of need is in St. John (70%).
- 40% of the need is for children 18 months and younger.
- More than 70% of respondents would be able to return to work or extend their working hours which would increase household income by $30,000 a year or more.
- The 5 most challenging needs related to child care are location, reliability, finding infant care, quality, and dependability.