Addressing the “Severe Childcare Desert” in Grant County
By Logan Bagett on Thursday, July 11th, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
JOHN DAY – According to Childcare Coordinator Kitman Kienzle, Grant County is in what is called a “Severe Childcare Desert” for children in the infant and toddler stages, and a “Childcare Desert” for those who are preschool age. This means that for every ten infants or toddlers in need of childcare, only one space is available. For every three preschool age children needing care, only one space is available.
Grant County Childcare Committee Secretary Katrina Randleas noted on KJDY’s Coffee Time that one of the committee’s biggest challenges is addressing how they can offer more support to the current childcare providers:
“There’s a double-edged difficulty with childcare, in that…to provide accessible childcare that parents can afford, but also that will sustain an income for the person that’s providing the childcare…
That is one of the creative strategies that we’re trying to figure out.”
Listen to the full podcast with Randleas and Kienzle below:
