Child Care

Child Care

Child Care

Every family in Greater Minnesota should have access to high-quality, affordable child care. For this to happen, we need to increase the number of child care providers serving Greater Minnesota, increase the number of child care slots available for our families and workforce, and enhance the quality of care provided to our children.

To accomplish these goals, the GMNP supports both investments and regulatory and market reforms that allow providers to operate financially sustainable child care businesses while maintaining a commitment to a safe and nurturing environment for our young learners. We also support efforts to build a stable, high quality, diverse, and equitably compensated child care workforce that encourages workers to enter and remain in the industry.

Studies/Research/Informational Handouts

• Wanted: Child care facilities in Greater Minnesota (GMNP/CGMC handout, January 2021)
• The Child Care Conundrum: Exploring solutions to the child care shortage in Greater Minnesota (GMNP/CGMC handout, December 2020)
• The Economic Impacts of the Child Care Shortage in Northeastern Minnesota (July 2018)
• Legislative Task Force on Access to Affordable Child Care (January 2017)
• A quiet crisis: Minnesota’s child care shortage (Center for Rural Policy and Development, September 2016)
• Greater Minnesota’s Child Care Center Wage & Rate Survey Results (Minnesota Initiative Foundations, March 2017)
• Southwest Minnesota Child Care Center Wage and Rate Survey Results (March 2017)
• Workforce of Today, Workforce of Tomorrow (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, June 2017)
• Kids Can’t Wait: 2017 Legislative Agenda (Children’s Defense Fund, January 2017)
• United Way of NE Minnesota Child Care Study Results
• Information on the Quality Child Care Program (from Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation)

Bills to Watch

• HF 411 / SF 1169 – A bill for an act relating to capital investment; appropriating money for the Greater Minnesota child care facility program.
• HF 412/ SF 1043 – A bill for an act relating to economic development; appropriating money to increase the number of quality child care providers; requiring reports. (Additional funding for DEED child care grants)
• HF 413 /SF 929 – A bill for an act relating to economic development; appropriating money for the Minnesota Initiative Foundations. (MIF grants for child care initiatives)
• HF 414 / SF 1168 – A bill for an act relating to capital investment; appropriating money for the Greater Minnesota child care facility program; authorizing the sale and issuance of state bonds