ARPA Highlights - Early Childcare
Early Childcare Expansion: In Ottawa County, between the age of zero and five, there is currently one childcare slot for every two children. A lack of available childcare is a barrier to job seeking parents and employers in desperate need of workers.
In response to this need the County Board of Commissioners on November 23, 2022, voted to allocate $7.5 Million to enable our partner ODC Network to help reduce the local gap in child care capacity by 10% over the next three years and create 1,000 additional child care spots across the county by utilizing local employer sites. ODC plans to accomplish this through a coalition of partners including the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District and local businesses.
More from Mlive:
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI — Ottawa County’s largest employer soon will break ground on an $18 million childcare facility as part of a larger program to create 1,000 new childcare spots in the county to meet an overwhelming need for affordable childcare.
Gentex’s project is part of an Ottawa County effort to boost child care availability and affordability in West Michigan.
In total, Ottawa County is spending $7.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act money on the childcare initiative, with another $30 million contributed by community partners and area businesses.
There is one childcare spot for every two children in Ottawa County, according to Travis Williams, the CEO of the Outdoor Discovery Center Network, which will be running some of the new childcare centers.
“The cost of childcare is extremely high and the availability is extremely low,” Williams said during the county’s finance and administration committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 7.
In order to alleviate the shortage of childcare options, the collaboration among Ottawa County, the Outdoor Discovery Center Network and at least 30 area businesses will attempt to reach that goal of 1,000 new childcare spots in the next three to four years.
The county’s largest employer, Gentex, is one of those 30 businesses. Gentex will break ground this spring on a 43,000-square-foot facility on its Zeeland corporate campus that will include 12 daycare rooms, three infant rooms, a food preparation area and an indoor play center, along with a variety of outdoor playscapes and a fishing pond.
According to Williams, Gentex is building the entire $18 million facility with its own money, and will then subsidize the childcare costs for its employees. Williams said the exact percentage of cost being subsidized by the company for its employees will be between 50% and 70%.
Not all of the various companies that signed up for the partnership will be subsidizing the costs to that degree, and other companies will be using already existing childcare facilities instead of building new ones.
“In some cases, they will have a contract with our organization,” Williams said. “In some cases, they’ve said they’ll build the facility and we’ll run it.”
The Outdoor Discover Center Network already runs three nature-based preschool programs, serving 400 children. The ODC is partnering with the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District to facilitate and run these new and expanded childcare programs throughout the county.
In all cases, if an employer has remaining childcare spots available after offering them to employees, those spots will open to the general public. Any subsidized costs will only be available to that company’s employees, though. The collaboration also will include expanding licensed home-based childcare services, particularly in more rural areas of the county with smaller populations less suited to large childcare facilities.
“We have a commitment to create in-home services in areas where you wouldn’t be able to sustain a full center,” Williams said Tuesday. “In-home is a viable small business operation. We committed to 200 of the 1,000 slots would be in the in-home spots across the county. We’re reaching out, the OAISD has committed to find in-home that could grow to create more capacity.”
Other companies in the county in the childcare project include Stow Corp., Shape Corp., Nu-Wool Co. and Shops at West Shore. The Nu-Wool Co. childcare project in Jenison will have space for between 115-120 children, which will be subsidized by the insulation contracting company.
In total, the collaboration is expected to reduce the gap in local childcare by 10% over the next three years.
On average, Williams said quality childcare costs an average of $75 per day in the county. With subsidization from these larger companies, that cost for Ottawa County families could drop to $20-$25 per day.
The project is still available for more corporate partnerships, Williams said.
“If any business came and said ‘We want your help,’ we’ll have a conversation,” he said.
The timeline to accomplish the targeted 1,000 new childcare spots is well underway. According to Williams, Gentex will be breaking ground on its large facility soon.
“We have three to four years to finish the whole thing, so we need to move now,” he said. “We are spending significant time right now just setting all these up so they’re ready to go. Gentex will start moving dirt in the next three months. This is a big undertaking.”
