The Mount Vernon Childcare Committee will be seeking additional funding to continue the wage enhancement efforts they have administered beginning in late 2023 and 2024.
During a report to the Mount Vernon-Lisbon unit of the Linn County League of Women Voters, committee chairs detailed how the fundraising for the wage enhancement programs were administered this year and the potential need for the coming year.
Linda Bigley said that $62,000 of the money that the community received was money allocated from the state at a 2 to 1 match, and that $62,000 has to be spent by September 2024.
That leaves the wage enhancement funds operated by the Childcare Solutions Committee at $31,000 for the next year. That fund benefits the non-profit childcare centers in the Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities.
Bigley said it would be important to continue that wage enhancement program for at least one more year to help those childcare centers. There is work being done to show how successful this program is at the state and federal levels, with the hopes of a fund would be established to allow those efforts to continue moving forward.
While the childcare solutions committee fundraised in a 30 day period for money that could be matched at a 2 to 1 rate in October and November 2023, more outreach and fundraising may need to be conducted to help increase the funding for the wage enhancement program.
“I look at the childcare issue very much like an Ouroboros,” Bigley said. “There is only so much money that families are able to spend on childcare needs, and daycare centers can only raise their rates so much to provide staffing. Without outside help, it’s a continuing cycle that doesn’t let wages increase.”
The board will need to explore what fundraising efforts to approach in the next year to raise the additional funding for the wage enhancement efforts in the community.
“Without having a significant number of larger employers in our community, that makes the fundraising harder, but we may be looking at contacting county and other private grants,” Bigley said.
Carol Daly said that they will also be looking to help with efforts of Child Care Resource and Referral to offer grants to help in home daycare providers pay for licensing or starting daycare options in Mount Vernon and Lisbon to increase the daycare options in the community. A total of $5,000 will be designated for that cause in the coming year.
That could include increasing offerings in communities like Springville and Mechanicsville as well, communities close to Mount Vernon and Lisbon that would increase offerings.
Finding solutions to items like CPR and first aid classes required for registered childcare providers would be a step as well
Daly denoted that having a registered in home daycare provides at least a background check of all individuals in the home to provide security for the home.
While the goal of the committee was raising the number of beds in Mount Vernon and Lisbon, with the number of providers who closed in the past year compared to the increase of spots at LECC and LEECC West, the overall impact was flat.
The Childcare Solutions Committee can accept donations from anyone in the community under the umbrella of Southeast Linn Community Center by denoting the donations are to support childcare in the community.
MV Childcare Committee seeking additional funding, donations
Nathan Countryman, Editor
May 2, 2024
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.