Following HUD’s Notice of Funding Availability the Tribe solicited for ICDBG project suggestions from Tribal Departments. This was followed by discussions and updates with the General Manager and Tribal Council. Council reviewed five eligible ICDBG project suggestions and construction of a Child Care Center was selected by Tribal Council.
ICDBG is a competitive grant program whose funds are intended to meet an essential community development need and to benefit the neediest segment of the population. The proposed construction of this Child Care Center will primarily serve children from low-moderate income households.
To comment on the proposed application please contact Kim Rogers, Planning & Grants Manager, at 879-2250 or send your comments to him at 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 or kim.rogers@grandronde.org.
Council will review comments collected to date at their October 12, 2021 Legislative Action Committee meeting and again at their October 13, 2021 Council meeting at which time Council will consider authorizing this application. Council will also consider comments provided by Grand Ronde community members in determining whether to make any modifications to the application. The resulting application will be available for review. The ICDBG grant application is due on October 25, 2021.
The Tribe’s Early Childhood Education Center was built in 2001 and has to turn away children and families in need service based on not having space to serve them. Lack of child care is a major barrier to family members obtaining training and achieving employment and self sufficiency. The proposed project will construct a 3,500 square foot Child Care Center with three classrooms (infant through age 2). The estimated development cost is $2.1 million with $1.9 million for the structure and $200,000 for parking and utilities. The ICDBG application will be for $750,000, plus $250,000 in Tribal matching funds planned to come from the Tribe’s Indian Housing Block Grant funding, plus $500,000 from a planned amendment of the Tribe’s Child Care Development Fund grant, and an expected $400,000 in grant funding from foundations. Added building operation and maintenance costs are expected to be $20,000 a year. Adding staffing costs are expected to be primarily funded by increased Early Head Start and Child Care Development funding.
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