Child Care Aware of Kansas has named OneMarysville a Child Care Community Champion, recognizing the work underway locally to address child care needs in Marysville.
The recognition comes as OneMarysville’s Child Care Task Force works to better understand where the gaps are, support existing child care providers and explore ways to create additional child care slots.
The task force includes Todd Frye, Josh Haverkamp, Ashley Kracht, Wayne Kruse, Susie Latta, Michelle Luppen, Darren Schroeder, Rachel Strunk, Jon Ungerer and Gina Ward.
“We know child care is a challenge, but we don’t want to make assumptions about what families need or what will work here,” said Wayne Kruse, OneMarysville executive director. “That’s why we’ve brought people together, looked at different models and talked with providers and other communities. Now we need to hear from the people who use child care or are trying to find it.”
OneMarysville has launched a community child care needs assessment to gather that information.
The survey asks about current child care arrangements, difficulties families have experienced finding care, the ages of children needing care, hours of care needed and other factors that can help the task force determine where to focus its work.
The survey is open to people throughout Marysville and the surrounding area, including those who currently use child care, expect to need it in the future or have struggled to find care.
Take the community child care needs assessment: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OneMarysvilleCommunity
“We need people to take the survey and share it,” Kruse said. “The more information we have, the better decisions we can make about what comes next.”
The task force will also survey area employers about how child care availability affects their employees and businesses.
The Child Care Community Champion recognition is part of Child Care Aware of Kansas’ Child Care Friendly Communities initiative, which recognizes local efforts to increase child care availability, remove barriers and support child care providers.
For more information about OneMarysville’s child care efforts or the community needs assessment, call OneMarysville at 785-562-3101.
