HUMBOLDT — Things are moving right along at The Growing Place. The daycare and preschool center located in Humboldt continues to work on facility expansion thanks to a pair of grant funding mechanisms.
Lately, uncertainty has loomed over the dispensing of federal funds and grant money when in late January President Donald Trump issued an executive order freezing their distribution.
Only minutes before the order was scheduled to take effect, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the funding freeze. Since then, AliKhan asserts that President Trump has violated his order to lift the blanket freeze.
Despite this, The Growing Place seems to have come out unscathed.
“Nothing is on hold with our funding,” said Administrator Janie Works. “Between the Accelerator and CDBG grants, we have quite a bit of money.”
IN JUNE 2023, The Growing Place was awarded a $1.16 million grant to build a nearly 6,000-square-foot expansion. The Child Care Capacity Accelerator grant is administered by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund to create affordable and accessible child care throughout the state.
The center was also awarded a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). “They had never given CDBG grants for childcare before,” said Works. Typically, these grants have gone towards city infrastructure projects. “This time, they opened it up to childcare,” she said.
The Growing Place has been continually “growing” since its inception. The center opened in 2006. In 2009, a couple of rooms were added. In 2021, a 4,000-square-foot expansion that doubles as a community storm shelter and includes a 1,400 square foot recreation room was added.
This latest expansion will include four new classrooms, two each for preschool and for school-aged children, as well as restrooms.
ALL OF THE money through the Accelerator and CDBG awards have been in the form of reimbursement funds. The center pays the costs up front and is later reimbursed from the allotted grant money. Works says these funds continue to be reimbursed without any hiccups.
Works said she recently received an email from the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission assuring her the federal reimbursement portal for the CDBG is fully operational.
To date, less than $200,000 of the CDBG grant money awarded to The Growing Place has been spent.
As far as the Accelerator grant, Works says those funds have already been disbursed to all the states from the federal government. Every month, the center sends a report to the grant facilitator with invoices on how much has been spent. “They then send you back the money,” she explained. “We haven’t had any issues getting those funds.”
Of these funds, roughly $800,000 was earmarked for new construction and $350,000 for supplies, such as baby beds and changing tables. Works estimates that around $700,000 of the construction cost remains unspent, while all of the supply money has already been utilized and reimbursed.
THE CENTER also currently receives funding through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to cover the cost of meals. “It is federally funded and goes to not-for-profit childcare centers and K-12 schools,” said Works. The funding is based on how many free, reduced and paid lunches are served at the school or daycare. Parents of the daycare children fill out wage information to determine whether they are eligible for free or reduced meals.
