Childcare Collaborative Efforts UpdateCopyrighted
June 20, 2022
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 08.
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE: Childcare Collaborative Efforts Update
SUMMARY: Economic Development Director Jill Connors is providing a quarterly
update to City Council on the status of collaboration efforts among
partners in Dubuque to address a need for sufficient quality, affordable
childcare options in the community.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Childcare Collaborative Efforts Update-MVM Memo City Manager Memo
Staff Memo Staff Memo
THE C
DUjIBQTE
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: 2022 — Q2 Update on Childcare Challenges and Collaborations
DATE: June 15, 2022
Dubuque
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2007-2012.2013
2017*2019
Economic Development Director Jill Connors is providing a quarterly update to City
Council on the status of collaboration efforts among partners in Dubuque to address a
need for sufficient quality, affordable childcare options in the community.
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Mic ael C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Jill Connors, Economic Development Director
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
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DUB E
2007-2012.2013
Masterpiece on the Mississippi 2017*2019
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Jill M. Connors, Economic Development Director
Economic Development
Department
1300 Main Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4763
Office (563) 589-4393
TTY (563) 690-6678
http://www.cityofdubuque.org
SUBJECT: 2022 — Q2 Update on Childcare Challenges and Collaborations
DATE: June 15, 2022
INTRODUCTION
This memorandum provides a quarterly update on the status of collaboration efforts
among partners in Dubuque to address a need for sufficient quality, affordable childcare
options in the community.
BACKGROUND
Through the work of multiple partners over several years, the lack of access to quality,
affordable childcare has been identified as a barrier to employment and economic
prosperity in Dubuque.
In FY2019 the City Council committed $80,000 to Greater Dubuque Development to
support a pilot program developed to provide free childcare to Opportunity Dubuque
students and graduates at Northeast Iowa Community College. Then in FY2020 a small
group including City staff, as well as staff from Greater Dubuque Development, Northeast
Iowa Community College, and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque,
participated in a National League of Cities program (Cities of Opportunity), using that
opportunity to discuss our local childcare challenges. The program is designed to provide
a framework for how to address community -wide issues in order to achieve desired
outcomes.
During its annual goal setting, the Dubuque City Council identified "Childcare Initiative"
as a 2021-2023 High Priority.
DISCUSSION
Our collective work continues to engage providers and local business owners to see
where partnerships might be made. Stemming from and in tandem with the work with the
National League of Cities, the small group began to have a larger conversation with
additional organizations suited to address childcare issues. This local coalition is
collaborating to address current challenges and to identify next steps in this work for a
community -wide approach to providing sufficient affordable, quality childcare in Dubuque
to support families, employers, workforce, and childcare providers.
Our local coalition is now comprised of the following partners:
• City of Dubuque
• Childcare Resource & Referral
• Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
• Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce
• Dubuque Community School District
• Dubuque County Early Childhood
• Greater Dubuque Development Corporation
• Northeast Iowa Community College
Examples of the Work
City Economic Development staff convenes these partners monthly, with intermittent
communication as needed, to coordinate each organization's efforts to ameliorate the
lack of adequate capacity of quality, affordable childcare.
City Council recently took action to modify city zoning requirements for "child development
homes" which previously would need to be located in a residential area. Planning staff
worked with Childcare Resource & Referral and identified this as a barrier to having
childcare in more locations in the community. This change in policy is one way in which
the City Council is supporting the development of additional childcare options.
Economic Development staff presented information on childcare barriers to elected
officials representing the multi -county area covered by ECIA in late 2021. The legislators
expressed interest in helping how they can at the State level and asked for additional
information on how much some solutions might cost, for example adding childcare to the
current K-12 school system so that childcare providers would benefit from salaries and
benefits available to teachers who educate older children.
Childcare Resource & Referral staff are participating in statewide conversations with Early
Childhood Iowa and the Iowa Department of Human Services to launch a multi -phase
Shared Services project with proven success in other states. Shared Services is a
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framework or management structure that allows childcare businesses to pay attention to
providing high quality teaching and learning, while simultaneously making sure that
business and administrative tasks are performed well.
Childcare Resource & Referral, in partnership with Dubuque County Early Childhood
Services, with funding from the Dubuque County Board of Supervisors, is also helping to
create additional childcare providers by offering $5,000 grants to individuals opening a
new childcare home. 10 of these grants were awarded in 2021. 7 of the 15 available
grants for 2022 have already been awarded — continually increasing capacity in the
community.
Dubuque Community School District and Childcare Resource & Referral are in
communication to see whether Childcare Resource & Referral can assist in distributing
information and communicating to parents the importance of applying for free/reduced-
cost breakfast and lunch for their children for the coming school year, as this program is
no longer universal in the school system.
Northeast Iowa Community College offers a course to increase the number of childcare
providers. This pathway certificate prepares students for entry-level work as caregivers
in a childcare center and/or transfer into the Early Childhood Education diploma program.
Students receive a $12/hour stipend in an "earn and learn" model and may qualify to earn
a Career Pathway Certificate at no cost if they meet all eligibility requirements. Students
are able to receive no cost childcare for their children during their training hours. This is
offered in partnership with the Marita Theisen Childcare Center. Additionally, students
who are not eligible for DHS Childcare Assistance are able to receive childcare assistance
for up to one year post program completion. The student pays more of their own childcare
cost, on a step process, while continuing to work with an NICC College and Career Coach
and while actively employed in their area of training.
Greater Dubuque Development Corporation commissioned a survey of local businesses
and providers to understand their needs in the realm of childcare in order to attract and
retain a workforce. Greater Dubuque has supplied that information to Dubuque Initiatives
(a local 501(c)(3)) which is considering investing in and facilitating a business/provider
collaboration to expand capacity and fill specific "gaps" reported by area employers and
employees. DI is in the process of "testing the market" to see the level of interest in such
an effort and exploring the new state incentives as a potential additional source of funding.
The Chamber of Commerce and Greater Dubuque Development Corporation staff have
been monitoring state legislation to help advise our coalition of possible next steps in our
work. They are encouraging state legislators to increase reimbursement levels from DHS
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to childcare providers who accept DHS-supported families. The current reimbursement
rates discourage providers from accepting these children since the rates fall below the
providers' regular rates — a disincentive to accepting those families, placing a greater
burden on low-income households.
A recent legislative success is the Governor's release of programs that support employers
who create onsite or near -site childcare facilities (or who assist in infrastructure
improvements at current facilities) and/or who buy current childcare slots that would be
reserved for their employees.
In addition, the economic development appropriations bill included an employer childcare
tax credit introduced by Senator Koelker. Under this program, if an employer spends
funds to support childcare needs of their workforce, they can get a state income tax credit
of $150,000 up to 25% of their costs. This is designed to match and mirror the federal
Chapter 45F program.
The legislature also removed some regulatory barriers for childcare providers which were
met with varying levels of support/opposition including an increase in the staff ratio for 2-
and 3-year-old care to meet the national average in both settings. The legislature also
reduced the minimum age from 18 to 16 for staff to provide unsupervised care.
The Dubuque Community School District (DCSD) will support free breakfast/lunch options
during the month of July 2022 to support families.
BELIEF Grant (Blended Early Learning in Educational Foundations) — DCSD applied for
this grant and was awarded $10,000 to explore options for wraparound care. The grant
is in its infancy as the District finishes identifying the needs within the school system's
preschool programming to pinpoint wraparound care needs. The District plans to further
launch a community effort in July 2022.
Challenaes (*and short-term solutions
Childcare Resource & Referral has local staff and programs that are funded through
Dubuque County Early Childhood (DCEC). DCEC is looking at a 10% cut in state funding
in the coming fiscal year due to the formula funding initiative that started four years ago
(some counties are getting increases in their allocation based on the formula). Formula
funding at the state level changes next year, so we are unsure how the funding will be
allocated moving forward.
*DCEC has been fundraising in order to offset the reduction in state funding to
assist with gap funding for their currently funded programs.
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The Marita Theisen childcare center's temporary closing which may affect the ability of
NICC to place their "earn and learn" students.
*The Marita Theisen childcare center temporary closing is not currently impacting
the ability of the NICC students to continue their education and training. NICC is
working closely with Marita Theisen and other childcare providers to ensure
childcare is available to these students during this transition time. Additionally,
NICC will be working closely with Marita Theisen to develop and enhance a training
program for all new staff hired by Marita Theisen in the childcare center.
Marita Theisen's closure of the childcare center also has implications for their preschool
program. They have determined that they will not participate in preschool programming
for the 2022-23 school year.
*DCSD is working with current its current staff of paraeducators to establish free
childcare options at Sageville, Marshall and Prescott for one hour before school
begins. ESSER dollars will support this for the 2022-23 school year.
When state funding is cut, some of the smaller programs Childcare Resource & Referral
offers go away in order to keep operational funds in place. Some examples of programs
that may be affected are CPR/First Aid rebates (funds to reimburse childcare providers
for their CPR/First Aid classes, which is a state requirement to be registered/licensed).
There is also childcare provider training, which provides high quality training to childcare
providers at no/low cost to ensure they are meeting their annual training hours. Another
successful and impactful program is quality improvement grants — when a licensed center
or registered provider has needs (i.e., new equipment, new developmentally appropriate
toys, safety equipment), these grants have been available for providers to apply for to
meet those needs.
*The City may be able to assist in this area with financial support for these
programs. The Community Foundation is also investigating whether filling these
gaps fits under the designations that it has.
*CCR&R indicates that $5,000 for CPR/First Aid, $3,000 for annual continuing
education training, and $5,000 for quality improvement grants (a total of $13,000)
would offset the coming fiscal year shortage.
Also at the state level, the legislature has failed to provide additional funding for DHS
Childcare Assistance, the WAGE$ program, and the , .E.A.C.H. program which would
alleviate the most difficult issues in childcare — the inability of families to afford care and
inability of facilities to pay competitive wages.
Engaging employers in alleviating the lack of adequate, affordable childcare in Dubuque
has presented a two-sided challenge. On the one hand, employers have stated that "they
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are not in the childcare business", so hesitate to create onsite programs. On the other
hand, providers hesitate to work with employers who would buy slots at existing facilities,
as it would mean 'jumping over" their current waiting list of families in order to devote
slots to employees of these companies.
Particular Challenge — Childcare Staffing
St. Mark's has discontinued all before -school care programs; this most recently impacts
Fulton (now most students attending Prescott) and Marshall Schools. This impacts over
50 families that need access to care before the start of the school day. St. Mark's is
unable to sustain before -school programming due to staffing issues.
Additionally, Y-Care discontinued their services at three more DCSD schools this past
school year: Irving, Carver, and Sageville; they recently discontinued at Hoover as well.
This impacts over 60 families needing access to before -school care. Y-Care is unable to
sustain programming due to staffing issues.
RECOMMENDATION/ ACTION STEP
One concrete way the City could play a role in advancing our community wide childcare
efforts would be to help fill the $13,000 financial gap for the training programs that
Childcare Resource & Referral would have to eliminate in the coming year due to state
formula funding reductions.
In addition, I recommend the City Council continue to prioritize childcare as a community
need in the coming years.
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