18 Indiana organizations receive grants to help with child care access
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Early Learning Indiana awarded 18 organizations in Indiana with a total of $1.7 million in grant funds to close child care access gaps in their communities.
The funding is made possible through a 2019 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support Early Learning Indiana’s statewide work to improve access to high-quality early learning programs in Indiana.
“The challenge is great, but the opportunity to build a system of more equitable access for Hoosier children is even greater,” said Maureen Weber, president and CEO of Early Learning Indiana. “Our Closing the Gap grant recipients have put together collaborative solutions to solve some of the greatest barriers to access to high-quality early learning in their communities, and we are proud to help kick start their work.”
The 18 grant recipients represent 18 unique counties in Indiana. In total, their proposals will create 926 new child care seats for 269 infants and toddlers and 657 preschool and pre-K children. These recipients have proposed strategies to address a variety of community-level access issues, including providing high-quality early learning services to families experiencing homelessness, offering care options that prioritize extended hours to accommodate parents who work late shifts, and building an intergenerational model connecting early learners to seniors.
Grant recipients include:
- Adams County Economic Development Corporation – Adams County
- Mental Health America of Boone County — Boone County
- Lewis Cass Schools (Lewis Cass Early Learning Academy) — Cass County
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrison-Crawford Counties — Crawford County
- Early Learning Center at Hubbard Hill — Elkhart County
- Greene County Foundation — Greene County
- TOTally Kids Childcare at St. Mark’s — Hendricks County
- Henry County Child Care Network — Henry County
- Bona Vista Programs — Howard County
- Appleseed Childhood Education, Inc. — Jasper County
- LaunchPad Child Care and Early Learning Coalition — Kosciusko County
- Wee Care Early Learning Ministry — Marion County
- Monroe County United Ministries — Monroe County
- First5 of the Rush County Community Foundation — Rush County
- Scott County School District 2 — Scott County
- ABC & ME — Tipton County
- Union County College Corner Joint School District — Union County
- United Way of the Wabash Valley, Inc. — Vigo County
Wee Care Early Learning Ministry received $100,000 and is the only Marion County child care facility to get the grant.
“We’re going to use the money for additional training for training our teachers on trauma,” said Patti Moore, director of Wee Care. “A lot of our children come from trauma-based backgrounds. We’re also going to expand the kitchen because we have more students.”
For more information on Early Learning Indiana, click here.