Columbus groups receive grant for child care pilot program

A Columbus organization will receive a share of $115 thousand dollars being donated by the Duke Energy and the Indiana Economic Development Association Foundations to assess and address child care gaps in Indiana.

Duke Energy is announcing today that the Community Education Coalition in Columbus will receive a $39,500 grant. The funds will be used for a six-month coaching and business accelerator pilot program to support the growth and development of high-quality child care programs with an emphasis on the Latino community.

The program will be a partnership including Su Casa, Learn by Heart and the Indiana University Serve Design Center. The organizations will provide about 250 hours of direct coaching, to each prospective child care provider to guide them through the licensing process. The Serve Design Center will connect the faculty and students of the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design with child care providers who want to design or redesign their spaces for optimal learning and to meet licensing standards.

The foundations are providing the innovation grants to five organizations around the state working in new and innovative ways to address child care issues in the state which include rising costs and a shrinking number of providers.