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Park River, N.D., woman expands in-home child care with loan from North Dakota Department of Commerce

Grand Forks Herald - 6/30/2021

Jun. 30—Kiddie Klubhouse, a Park River, N.D., childcare provider, received a $97,000 loan from the North Dakota Department of Commerce to purchase a house that has allowed her to care for more children.

Lindsey Votava received the loan in the second quarter of 2021 through the North Dakota Department of Commerce Development Fund. Votava used the loan to help pay for a two-story house in Park River to use for providing child care. Votava operates the child care with Nicole Schempp, and the two women have one employee.

Votava previously ran a child care, called Lindsey's Daycare, which had 18 children, out of her Park River home. Twenty-nine children are enrolled in the Kiddie Klubhouse child care Votava and Schempp operate out of the house she purchased.

The North Dakota Development Fund manages the Child Care Loan Program created by the North Dakota Legislature in 2009. The NDDF also provides flexible funding through debt and equity investments for new or expanding North Dakota primary sectors as an economic development tool.

"The loan program is really nice for day care providers," Votava said." The home is so wonderful to have. It has so much space.".

Votava and Schempp remodeled the kitchen of the house so it would meet commercial standards, including installing a three-compartment sink. The women also converted the garage into a large indoor play area that has an obstacle course and enclosed trampoline.

Meanwhile, the home has a fenced-in yard in which the children enrolled at Kiddie Klubhouse can play.

Though buying the house increased by 12 the number of children she and Schempp can accommodate, there's still a shortage of child care in Park River, she said.

"We have turned away 10 families for summer child care," Votava said.

About 60 miles east and south of Park River, plans are proceeding to build a child care center in Warren, Minn., that will ease a serious child care shortage in that city. The city in late June secured funding of a $1.6 million loan from USDA Rural Development to build a 10,000 square feet child care center in in Warren, which would double the amount of space Little Sprouts Learning Center has now, said Shannon Mortenson, Warren City Clerk.

The city of Warren anticipates that this week the Minnesota Legislature will approve its request to put a 1/2 cent increase in local sales tax on the ballot, Mortenson said. If the Legislature approves the option, it will have to be approved by Warren residents who will vote on the issue in the general election in the fall of 2022, Mortenson said.

The city plans to build the new child care center and lease it to Little Sprouts Learning Center, which will close its location on the north end of town and move to the new location and rent the building from the city. Proceeds from the proposed sales tax increase are expected to raise about $70,000 per year, which the city would use to pay the USDA Rural Development loan, which is expected to be about $63,000, annually.

The city of Warren plans to open the child care center project for bids late this year, and groundbreaking is expected to be in the spring of 2022, Mortenson said.

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(c)2021 the Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

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