Missouri is looking to invest in new partnerships between businesses and child care providers, Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Office of Childhood is making $60 million available to eligible daycares, child care providers and businesses working to expand local access to child care.
The Innovation Start-up Grants are aimed at supporting new child care programs that will assist in addressing statewide workforce shortages. Potential applicants may include providers, businesses or hospitals that establish onsite child care or child care programs near employers.
"Access to quality child care for Missouri families is critical to achieving our workforce development goals," Parson said in a statement announcing the grant program. "Missouri businesses consistently rank child care access as one of the largest hurdles to recruiting and retaining skilled workers. This grant opportunity will allow more businesses and providers to work together to start new child care programs in their communities. Coupled with the three child care tax credits we've asked the General Assembly to approve, we can not only increase child care access but sustain it for more Missouri families now and into the future."
Applications opened Thursday and must be submitted by May 31. The amount of funding applicants can receive is based on the amount of matching funds or in-kind contributions a business or community partner invests in the child care program. Facility capacity and hours of operation are also factors that will determine funding.
To be eligible, the child care program must plan to operate in a location where no other child care providers were licensed as of Dec. 1, 2022. The applicant must not have previously operated a child care program there either.
Preference will be given to rural communities and child care deserts, according to the agency's spending plan.
Grant applications must include a copy of the child care provider's operation license application and at least one letter of commitment from a business or community partner that includes the amount they plan to invest and a timeline of that investment.
If awarded, the provider must become a licensed child care program with children enrolled by March 31, 2024.
More than half of Missouri residents lived in an area with a child care shortage before the COVID-19 pandemic, Parson said while addressing lawmakers last month. Those conditions got worse during the pandemic as about a third of child care facilities throughout the state closed.
Child care gaps result in Missouri losing $1.35 billion in economic opportunities each year, including $280 million in lost annual tax revenue, according to a 2021 study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Stakeholders at the state and local levels are working hard to address the serious child care capacity challenges in our state," Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner of the Office of Childhood, said in a statement. "We are slowly recovering from the impact the pandemic had on Missouri's child care system, but we still have a lot of work to do. Start-up and expansion grants like this one are tools to continue improving child care access for children and families."
Last month, Parson called on lawmakers to appropriate $78 million to increase the rate the state subsidizes child care operations and to create three new child care tax credit programs.
The three new child care tax credits would benefit employers who offer child care assistance to employees, as well as assist child care providers with payroll costs and incentivize capital improvements to their facilities.
The Governor's Office plans to announce additional grant programs, funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, in coming weeks. Those include grants for existing child care programs partnered with a business or other local entity to expand access and pay teachers with the goal of restoring facilities to full capacity.