Clayton County Child Care Solutions Endowment Fund

Every parent wants safe, quality care for their children. The availability of quality child care is key to quality of life for families and communities, and it's a key component to recruiting and retaining a reliable workforce.

In 2023, recognizing local child care challenges, the Clayton County Foundation for the Future applied for and received a Rural Child Care Market Study grant through the Empower Rural Iowa Initiative and thanks to local partnerships, which led to a community survey, market analysis, and the creation of a strategic plan for child care to help address the child care shortage.

The Clayton County Child Care Coalition was formed in 2025 to lead efforts to achieve the goals set forth in the plan, including:

•Increase the number of regulated child care spaces in Clayton County by a minimum of 48 spaces by 2030
•Increase the current and future child care labor pool of Clayton County through training and partnerships
•Increase awareness of the need for regulated child care in Clayton County by engaging local employers and other community partners in child care solutions

The intention of the Clayton County Child Care Solutions Fund is to provide funding that can be used to increase wages paid to child care staff and provide opportunities for further education, rather than child care programs having to significantly increase tuition rates to cover those expenses. The ability for child care programs to pay higher wages will lead to improved child care workforce recruitment and retention.