The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority’s (CHEDA) Board of Commissioners recently approved $50,000 for a buildout for a child care center at the Marywood facility east of town. CHEDA’s Executive Director Craig Hoiseth talked about that buildout and what will follow in terms alleviating the child care shortage in the coming months and year.
Hoiseth said the board moved swiftly and boldly to fund a buildout after being provided estimates on what it would cost after months of discussion. “As we looked at various opportunities, 18, 19, 20, actually 21 different sites, we saw that the Marywood facility was geared up and ready to go a lot less expensive than some of the others,” said Hoiseth. “We put together those costs of what it might be, and I told my board it’s going to be plus or minus $30,000. And usually, when you’re doing an old building, you can probably say its usually plus rather than minus. The board acted pretty swiftly, pretty boldly and said they’d give up to $50,000 in appropriation to buildout that facility for a child care center.”
Hoiseth said he thinks it is exciting news for Crookston as childcare is one of the leading reasons listed for the workforce shortage in the area, along with housing and training. “That’s fantastic news,” said Hoiseth. “And really exciting news for Crookston actually, because we have a shortage of child care. And as we extrapolate that into the workforce, all of our business, particularly larger employers, are experiencing a workforce shortage. One of those shortages is being deemed child care. The other might be housing and training that is specifically needed for an individual. But childcare has certainly has been at the forefront for quite a while, and I think all of us have a testimony of those personally or those around us experiencing childcare problems. Hopefully, the buildout can happen this summer and maybe by the end of the year, we can have this thing up and running. This child care center, if we get it licensed the way we think it will be, should be able to host 60 toddlers/preschoolers and 20 infants.”
The CHEDA Board has made childcare solutions a priority, but they won’t be involved in running the facility said Hoiseth. That will be handled by a non-profit, Regal Academy, and its board of directors. “Regal Academy is being formed as a non-profit to operate there,” said Hoiseth. “That Board of Directors will make decisions on who to hire and when to hire, policies and staffing and all of that. A lot of good forward movement here prior to the summer months.”
Concerns have been raised throughout the process about the facility being a mile east of town. Hosieth believes there are enough testimonials of people who have to drive 30-40 miles to find child care that the Marywood site is an advantage saying the result is probably the same as a center in town. “The result of being out of town a mile is probably the same,” said Hoiseth. “I’ve heard testimonies where people are going 30 and even 40 miles away from Crookston and then coming back to go to work. So certainly we want to lessen that impact of travel both on the parent and young people.”
Hoiseth has also said that neither he nor the CHEDA Board sees one center as the end solution, and they will continue to focus on childcare options. “I think that my board has given me a pretty clear direction that this is the first piece. It is not the end solution,” said Hoiseth. “What we want to do is get this buildout done, evaluate other sites for other child care center operations. If it’s possible, we may even be looking at another one. The training piece we see as a big [issue]. Also, helping the child care centers that are here with any problems or obstructions that they might have — and building a more robust, more successful daycare option of home providers. All of it is on the table, all of those are on our to-do list. Child care is not being forgotten because we are doing a buildout at Marywood. Quite to the contrary, we see this as an ongoing issue we have to keep diligent focus on.”
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