Thanks to additional funding through the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare community grant program, $750,000 was recently donated to the 2C Kids Succeed Early Learning Collaborative.

A portion of the grant will go to helping the Nampa Early Childhood Learning Center as they serve 20 more children and hire a certified teacher, helping 2C Kids continue to build a healthy community for Canyon County children, according to a press release.

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The United Way of Southeastern Idaho has received $20,000 from the Idaho Future Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation for preschool scholarships for children in American Falls.

This funding will further the already under way efforts in American Falls to ensure that every child in American Falls will have the opportunity and access to high quality early learning programs that meet their family’s needs.

“We are extremely grateful to receive this funding from the Idaho Community Foundation,” said Felice Otero, director of ImPACT East Idaho at United Way of Southeastern Idaho. “This grant makes up one third of the preschool scholarships for American Falls, providing students and families that have limited financial resources the ability to participate in high quality programs that will have lifelong benefits.”

One of the many revelations for Americans during the pandemic was the role of child care in making the economy work.

To keep companies staffed and women in the workforce, child care programs need to be open and available, people realized. And more than that, they need to be accessible and affordable, too.

It’s one of those pandemic lessons that people keep learning again and again, as labor shortages persist. Employers feel it—they can’t fill their open jobs. Employees feel it—they have to make choices about whether to remain in the workforce, and if they do, they have to step in and do the jobs of their would-be coworkers. And consumers feel it, too—from supply chain issues to long lines to inflationary pressure.

Beginning August 1, 2022, two thousand childcare providers and workers licensed in Boise will be eligible to apply for a one-time payment of $1,500. The Childcare Incentive Pay program accounts for $3 million of the $34 million in American Rescue Plan funding that is being directed into the community to serve Boiseans who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications are scheduled to be open August 1 – 31, and checks will be issued October through November.

“Childcare providers are vital to the health of our workforce and our economy,” said Mayor McLean. “When the pandemic hit our community, the childcare industry was severely impacted. I am proud to partner with Idaho AEYC to support our childcare workforce. Investing in quality, affordable childcare is a direct investment in our community.”