Rural Child Care Planning Grant Program (IA)

The Rural Child Care Planning Grant Program in Iowa aims to assist rural communities in analyzing their child care needs. With a $20,000 grant, applicants must provide a $10,000 cash match to secure funding for strategic solutions. This program focuses on planning initiatives that engage professional partners to address child care challenges, thereby benefiting communities with populations of 20,000 or fewer. It emphasizes data-driven approaches to enhance local child care services.

The Rural Child Care Planning program seeks to support the use of data and analysis by rural communities to determine the specific needs and solutions for child care in their area.
Child care is a challenge across rural communities in Iowa and across the nation. However, the solutions are often more complicated than the construction of a new facility. Many factors need to be carefully analyzed to determine the feasibility for development of a child care center, expansion of an existing one or support for in-home providers. Through greater understanding of their geographic market, demographics, competition, financials, and other factors, communities can be armed with the information needed to take proactive steps towards addressing child care challenges. Funding from the program will empower communities to assess their current child care environment and develop strategies.
Funding
Grant Recipients will be awarded $20,000.
Applicants are required to demonstrate investment in the project process by providing a minimum of $10,000 cash match. The cash match must be secured, dedicated to eligible expenses, a legitimate part of the project and be expended within the eligible funding period. Cash match constitutes actual cash contributed to direct project expenses by the applicant or other funding sources. The minimum $10,000 match requirement may be raised through a combination of public and private sources but may not include in-kind donations of goods or services, unsecured funding or loans.

Eligibility

Eligible Use of Funding:The program provides funding for planning initiatives addressing child care needs through a professional thirdparty partner.Eligible Applicants:The following entities are eligible to apply:City and county governments or federally recognized tribal governments physically located in Iowa;Federally designated nonprofit agencies and foundations;Public and private schools that serve grades pre-K through 12 and are physically located in Iowa; andHigher education institutions located in IowaThe study must take place in and benefit a community in Iowa with a population of 20,000 or fewer and not contiguous to a city with a population of 40,000 or greater. If a county-wide application, the applicant must be within one of the 88 least-populous counties in Iowa.Any eligible applicant may submit an application that includes one or more partners and may apply on behalf of multiple cities or an entire county if the county is one of the 88 least-populous counties in Iowa.Eligible Project Requirements:Requirements for Rural Child Care Planning Grant awards include, but are not limited to the following:Applicants must demonstrate the capacity for grants administration.Applications must provide 1:1/2 cash match.
Applications must agree to contract with a professional third-party partner for completion of the market study and strategic goals.Applicant communities must identify the third-party organization in their application that will conduct the planning process.