Budget for One Minnesota: Child Care Investment and Integrity
1 Mar 2019
For many Minnesota families, child care is a necessity, yet a growing number of Minnesotans can’t access it – it just doesn’t exist. The number of licensed family childcare providers has decreased almost 30 percent in Minnesota since 2005, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Census data from 2014 show that about 310,000 children in Minnesota ages 0-5 have both parents or guardians in the workforce and likely need some form of child care.
Lack of affordable, quality child care is a significant barrier to workforce participation that can negatively affect job and wealth creation, business expansion and retention, and new business location. The safety, well-being, and early education of children, as well as support for their families, are critical to the health of our state. To help combat this problem, Governor Tim Walz recommends $1 million over the biennium for the Child Care Economic Development Grant program.
This funding will provide grants to communities to increase the supply of child care to reduce regional child care shortages, and to support increased workforce participation, business expansion and retention, and new business development. Priority will be given to communities that have a proven shortage of child care providers, are experiencing above average workforce shortages, and experiencing lower than average prime-age workforce participation rates.