Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar will be receiving a $200,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to help grow the supply of affordable, quality childcare in southwestern Minnesota. Priority was given to communities in the state with a documented shortage of child care providers.

It’s part of DEED awarding $2.5 million to 17 child care organizations representing communities throughout Minnesota. The community organizations receiving the grants will use a variety of approaches ranging from partnering with local employers to build new child care facilities, to training and assistance with licensing.

Since 2017, DEED has awarded more than $4 million to Minnesota organizations focused on increasing access to affordable, quality child care across Minnesota. In total, the funding is expected to create 9431 new child care slots across the state.