Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan announced on January 30th the state’s largest-ever round of Child Care Economic Development Grants, totaling over $6 million, to help expand access to child care across Minnesota.
The grants will be distributed to dozens of communities to create thousands of new child care slots for working families struggling to find affordable, quality care.
This represents nearly as much grant funding as was distributed in all previous rounds combined since the program began in 2017. An additional $6.2 million round of grants will be issued later this year.
“Affordable, accessible child care allows Minnesotans to work and allows our economy to thrive,” said Governor Walz. “With the largest-ever round of child care grants, we’re ramping up our efforts to increase child care slots and invest in our child care providers and middleclass families across the state.”
Along with the grants, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is launching a new Office of Child Care Community Partnerships aimed at coordinating efforts between government, businesses, communities and non-profits to address the child care shortage.