(Council Bluffs) Three Council Bluffs center recently received Child Care Grants.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Early Childhood Center in Council Bluffs was awarded $291,00. The project will be the first ever (Phase I) comprehensive expansion of St. Paul’s Lutheran Early Childhood Center. Funding will address infrastructure limitations as well as health and safety needs to provide for increased child care slots and additional future growth.
Li’l Bloomin’ Orkids of Council Bluffs was awarded $25,755. Funding will support the project goal of improving quality, health and safety of all children and employees at the childcare, while providing an additional 4 child care slots.
MICAH House in Council Bluffs was awarded $641,800. MICAH House will begin construction in 2022 to create a quality, affordable childcare center for shelter residents and area families through a 12,000 square-foot on-site facility. The project will serve up to 70 children in a trauma-sensitive and service-rich environment. Most children served would be those staying at or transitioning from Family Shelter. To provide stability to the proforma and programming, it is anticipated that about 1/3 of the slots will be open to the community. Because of area programs’ lack of capacity or financial restrictions, children at MH end up on waitlists. Services will give children and families a running start to address the magnitude of problems their child may face. The goal for serving these children is to eliminate barriers to access and immediately start wrap-around services. The center will not likely be permanent for many children but a steppingstone to a more stable and long-term child care arrangement. We will work to transition children to permanent care settings that meet the family’s longer-term housing and employment goals.
