By Tanya Koehn, Director of Family & Community Services, Child Care Aware of Kansas
Child Care Aware of Kansas works alongside local communities to tackle the lack of affordable, quality child care by connecting them to the perspectives, information, and ideas they need to invest in early care and education solutions. In October of 2021, we collaborated with LiveWell Northwest Kansas to host a Communities in Action Workshop designed to do just that.
This day-long experience offered tools and resources from state and local experts, information about funding opportunities, as well as real-life perspectives from child care providers. Community teams also took advantage of several planning sessions designed to determine short- and long-term goals. A community member that attended the workshop shared, “I have more resources now to rely on and know who to call for information and support.”
Tailored to meet the unique needs of communities, this workshop includes up-to-date, county-specific data and an expert community “coach” that is available to answer questions while communities develop a child care capacity-building action plan. “There are so many resources to draw from and organizations to assist us in planning and maintaining our program,” reflected one attendee.
Communities across Kansas are joining the conversation around how to increase the supply of high-quality early care and education. To find out more about building child care capacity in your community, contact Child Care Aware of Kansas.
