Lake Park receives state grant to study child care needs

LAKE PARK, Iowa (KTIV)— Childcare continues to be a growing challenge in rural communities across Iowa and the nation, but experts say solutions go beyond simply building new facilities.

Lake Park is one of three Iowa communities awarded funding to analyze childcare needs. The city will partner with the national nonprofit First Children’s Finance to study local data and identify future solutions.

Childcare continues to be a major concern for families considering a move to Lake Park.

“We do have a lot of daycare providers in town, in home daycare providers and some that aren’t in home. We like to keep people in the community as much as we possibly can, but of course, space is always limited so unfortunately some families are having to choose childcare outside of the Harris Lake Park area, and that is something that we are wanting to fix,” said Mike Thompson, superintendent of Harris-Lake Park Community School District.

“It is going to be used for a study to look at all aspects of our community. They will look at existing daycare, what we currently have, and they will give us a list of recommendations for us moving forward as to what we should be considering,” Thompson said.

District leaders say housing and childcare are consistently the top questions they receive from families.

“Those are calls we get quite frequently here at the school in terms of what people are waning and needing. Housing of course, and then next question after is always what we have for daycare,” Thompson said.

The grant comes as a larger initiative to improve opportunities in Lake Park.

“It is a one part of a multifaceted plan we have discussed. The City of Lake Park has been fantastic to work with. Hopefully the end result is when people come to HLP to school their children, they will have lots of options to choose from,” Thompson said.

The study is expected to begin early this summer with no date estimated for its completion.

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