FORTVILLE – A big grant is making a big impact on childcare for some Hancock County families.
In February, the Mt. Vernon Community School Corp. was awarded a $350,000 grant through the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund, managed by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
With that funding, the corporation is now offering employees a $4,000 stipend for each child attending a licensed and registered childcare center, including the district’s own Mini-Marauders Preschool.
The New Palestine Community Schools also received a $200,000 grant through the same fund, which the district is using to support its Tiny Dragons Staff Daycare.
Communication’s director Craig Smith said the grant will help fund a parent communication app, staff salaries, meals and snacks for children, and an additional classroom, including furnishings, materials, supplies and curriculum.
Mt. Vernon school officials say their grant not only offsets childcare costs but helps the district attract and retain high quality employees, including teachers.
Employee retention is a big part of what makes the childcare grant so impactful, said Dr. Brandy James, the Early Childhood Coordinator for Mt. Vernon schools.
James was hired to the newly minted position in May as part of the state grant, which covers both her salary and childcare stipends for Mt. Vernon schools employees through May 31, 2025.
At Monday’s school board meeting, she shared the impact the grant has made since stipends were first made available Aug. 31.
James said center-based childcare for children from birth through 5 years old costs American families an average of $13,000 a year.
“That’s a large chunk of change for families,” she said.
Thanks to the state grant, more parents can now afford quality childcare close to home.
That’s especially great news in Hancock County, said James, where childcare can be hard to find.
“Hancock County is what’s considered a childcare desert, which means we have more children in our county than we have spots for childcare,” said James.
The day she first notified families of the new childcare grant, “emails started coming in all day long,” she said.
Fifty-two families have benefited from stipends through the grant so far, said James, four of whom just got enrolled on Monday.
“We started disbursing funds in August, and families were very joyful,” she told the board.
“For many families childcare expenses take up a significant chunk of their income … sometimes even more than their rent or mortgage,” said James.
“Families are saying (this grant) has given them less stress about focusing on bills and difficult payments, and that they were able to set aside money for extracurricular activities for their children, which is very exciting,” she continued.
One recipient shared that rather than stress over bills, her family was instead able to put money towards their children’s college savings accounts.
Another said the extra money helped offset her grocery bills and enabled her kids to do more activities.
Many reported that by saving on childcare, the stipend allowed them to focus on paying for critical needs like food, housing and healthcare.
One parent reported that in addition to financial benefits, she felt a sense of pride working for an employer who goes to great effort to assist in childcare.
Hearing positive feedback from parents was a moving experience for Renee Oldham, executive director of the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation, who wrote and received the grant on behalf of the school district.
“It is so great to hear how this is positively affecting families,” said Oldham, whose own daughter recently struggled to find childcare for her young child.
“It was a no-brainer for the foundation to seek this funding on behalf of the school system,” said Oldham, who saw great value in its ability to attract and retain high-quality employees.
“Mt. Vernon is fortunate to have exceptional teachers and staff, and we want to do all we can to keep them and to give them a good quality of life, as well,” she said.
James said another big benefit of the grant has been the collaboration that has resulted among local childcare providers.
“Because of the grant we were also allowed to create a Community of Practice that allowed us to gather 24 early childcare providers within our community,” she said, which means participants will ideally learn from each other and grow through the shared grant experience.
“Those coming together realize we are in a childcare desert and we have a childcare shortage, and they want to work together to find ways that they can increase capacity in their childcare facilities so they can have more spaces for our children and our district,” said James.
The providers also plan to host an Early Childhood Education summit in the Mt. Vernon district to spread awareness on the benefits such education centers can provide before kindergarten.
James said she’s on a mission to make sure every last cent of the employer-based funding is used before the grant ends May 31.
Mt. Vernon’s chief financial officer, Greg Elkins, said the corporation would continue to be on the lookout for other state and federal grants supporting childcare and early childhood education as they arise in the future.
