County Commits $250,000 To Kids Place

The Mills County Board Of Supervisors has committed $250,000 to Kids Place Champions, the organization working to preserve the Kids Place childcare center in Glenwood.

The $250,000 matches the commitment the county board had previously given to the East Mills Childcare Solutions childcare center.

The board voted unanimously last week to allocate the funds to Kids Place after hearing a presentation from Kids Place Champions spokesperson Rachel Reis. Kids Place Champions is attempting to raise $1 million in an effort that would allow the childcare center to be housed in a multi-purposed building being proposed by the Glenwood Community School District.

Kids Place, housed for years in a district building on the campus of the Glenwood Resource Center, has been partnering with the school district for decades but the future of the center was put in jeopardy when announcement of the GRC closure was made and the Glenwood Board of Education removed the childcare center from a $5 million revenue bond it approved for construction of a new building to house the THRIVE alternative high school, a planned innovation center and the district’s administrative offices. The district has agreed to provide space for Kids Place in a new building if the private funds are raised.

Reis told the three-member board of supervisors there is already a shortage of childcare options in Mills County, noting that there are 10 children in need for every one childcare spot available. She noted that the closure of several private providers in southwest Iowa has created an even greater need for childcare services.

“For us, what we know, is that childcare here in Mills County is necessary,” she said. “If Kids Place were to close, there would be 70 kids without childcare.

“We know that we need both East Mills Childcare Solutions and Kids Place. It is not an option for Kids Place to shut down.”

Kids Place Champions has received $30,000 in actual donations up this point, Reis said, but has an additional $684,000 pending.

“A portion of that $684,000 is the Lakin Foundation grant,” she said. “What they’re asking is that there has to be a portion of that grant that’s matched.”

The county’s contribution is important, Reis said, because the Lakin Foundation wants to see support and a financial commitment for Kids Place from the local community.

Mills County’s allocation to Kids Place will come from Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) dollars – a $150,000 contribution up front and $20,000 a year for the next five years. The board has a similar arrangement with East Mills Childcare Solutions, but the initial $150,000 came from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds it received from the federal government.

“You’ve got to support childcare,” Mills County Supervisor Carol Vinton said. “If not, these towns will dry up.”