LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Scottsburg, Indiana, school district will receive $100,000 from an Indiana nonprofit to improve access to high-quality child care.
Scott County School District 2 was named one of 13 winners of Early Learning Indiana’s Child Care Deserts Competition. The grants, between $75,000 and $150,000, will help the recipients provide better access to child care for children aged 6 weeks to 6 years old.
The Scott County district, which has 2,700 students in six schools, plans to use the money to “renovate existing school rooms to create preschool and pre-K classrooms,” Early Learning Indiana said in a news release.
Early Learning Indiana, founded in 1899 as Day Nursery, “provides leadership, advocacy and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana,” according to its website.
The organization said it created the competition because “more than four of every 10 children in Indiana live in a child care desert, … (which) is a neighborhood, town or part of a city where there is no more than one child care seat for every three children.”
“As a result of this competition, many more Hoosier families will be able to experience the two-generational impact of early childhood education,” said Maureen Weber, Early Learning CEO and president. “Parents who previously faced difficult decisions due to lack of access to child care can now remain in or rejoin the workforce while their children benefit from an enriching early learning experience.”
Other winners include organizations in cities including Indianapolis, South Bend, Indiana, and Terre Haute, Indiana.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
