A day care pilot program focused on providing affordable child care to Polk County health care and service workers is struggling with low enrollment.
Why it matters: Iowa has a shortage of 350,000 affordable child care spots, per a 2023 post by the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines.
- The day care program is meant to help alleviate this, but is at risk of shutting down if they don’t enroll more kids.
How it started: Polk County allocated $600K to West Des Moines-based nonprofit Link Associates in 2021 to launch an on-site, low-cost day care.
State of play: Link Associates helps people with intellectual disabilities.
- The day care facility, ” Link & Learn ,” opened in October 2023 and offers Link Associates employees a discounted rate.
- Reduced rates are also given to service workers in Polk County ranging from medical employees to Goodwill staff.
- Full-priced day care is also available and state assistance is accepted.
Zoom in: Day care administrator Carissa Williams tells Axios that despite being a new, secure facility that can accommodate 24 toddlers and eight infants, only seven kids are enrolled.