Core Team Meeting- January 4th

1. Renville County Rural Child Care Innovation Program
Core Team meeting
January 4, 2022 1:00 p.m.
Zoom meeting
Attended: Mark Glesener, Nate Reuss, Sandy Whited, Joel Harmoning, Sue Thomes, Jessica
Beyer, Greg Snow, Andi and Bailey (Learning Fun House), Susie Lang, Polly
Ahrens, Greg Snow, Kelly Lutgen, Jackie Edwards, Scott Marquardt, Amy
Hubbard, Nicolas Hendriks, Michelle Marotzke
M. Marotzke opened the meeting by thanking the group for their time and dedication to this
project. It has been nearly nine months since the final action plan was created and everyone’s
contributions are appreciated.
J. Beyer discussed facilities grants that First Children’s Finance is working on and that they have
a new grants manager who will be working to make sure grants are delivered across a variety of
locations (metro/rural/etc.) and delivery types (center/family/other).
Marotzke mentioned that the City of Fairfax did not receive the DEED child care grant that it
applied for, but that they would work to submit an application in the next round for 2022. Beyer
also discussed the trends that her team saw in the DEED grant awards. The grants were awarded
to center-based facilities and to some Initiative Foundations. She noted that Southwest Initiative
Foundation did not pursue this grant, instead supporting projects that were applying for the grant.
Many of the projects that received awards were a few steps ahead of the Fairfax project (e.g.
expansion projects with a facility already in place). In the next round, we should emphasize that
the land is acquired and ready to move forward with the build. S. Marquardt asked if there was a
way to get feedback from DEED on the application; Marotzke had looked into it but found that
feedback was not going to be offered.
S. Thomes discussed the first three goals from the Action Plan created in April 2021.
• Shared services goal – consider local collaborations (rather than a state-wide effort)
o Marotzke has been in touch with Don Hickman from Initiative Foundation
regarding a cooperative-style arrangement for providers. He will keep her
informed of any movement that he sees. This is also the update for Goal Four
(Within one year, create a provider association that promotes and shares ideas
among members and provides opportunities for benefits such as health insurance
and shared training, mentorship, and supply opportunities).
• Discussion about having a coordinator for a pod model. Beyer indicated that the Detroit
Lakes pod has a coordinator, so it is something to consider.
• Beyer also brought up changes to DHS regulations that may make new ideas possible.
One idea is a pod model having a non-profit setup which could help create a coordinator
position and possibly operate more than one family license in the pod style.

2. • Thomes discussed a new DHS grant program, including “piloting shared services
programs”. She will forward the information to Marotzke for further review.
• Regarding the first goal (Increase access to local training for all Renville County child
care programs by December 2022):
o Minnesota DHS is doing some new things regarding training delivery.
 Only certain agencies/people can do virtual training
 In-person training needs to be cost-effective, a challenge at times
 Each UCAP region is getting a staff person to help with provider retention
• Regarding the second and third goals (Increase teacher qualified personnel in Renville
County by December 2022, Recruit potential early childhood staff through engagement
and programs in local school districts):
o Looking into providing the CDA in high schools, working with Ridgewater to
make it a program
 Hopefully something will be formed in the next 6 months
 A high school diploma is needed to officially have CDA certification
 Some technical colleges are doing a 10-week certificate (Pine Tech, for
example), but not Ridgewater
 There are some stabilization grants coming out
 Consider TEACH scholarships and Parent Aware rate increases
 Marotzke mentioned the idea of tax reimbursement/credit for providers
and child care workers versus CCAP rate increases.
o M. Glesener brought up that the co-directors at Learning Fun House are interested
in the CDA. Also that BOLD and BLHS may be interested in a LYFT-type
program. N. Hendriks mentioned that RCW may be interested and K. Lutgen
mentioned talking with Deb Kammerlander at GFW.
o S. Whited shared that Tri-Valley has sent three staff through an online CCEI
program and has CDA-credentialed people on staff that can help certify others in
a program.
Marotzke moved on to Goal Five (Within three months, develop an inclusive marketing plan that
provides opportunities as well as encourage development of new proiders). There are two
Facebook pages, one specifically for providers. It has 17 members but hasn’t seen a lot of
activity in the past few months. Glesener mentioned that we just need to add some activity to it
and it should pick back up. S. Thomes stated that 17 members is pretty good given that there are
around 25 providers in the county. Marotzke will work on some content and put a couple of posts
out over the next week.
Goal Six (Within the next six months, the core team will partner with Renville County to create
and promote a forgivable loan fund that will be used to help start up new child care businesses
and partner with Chambers, service clubs, EDA’s and businesses within the ten Renville County
cities to raise donations for teacher training stipends and employee scholarships) was discussed.
The fund has been created and is on the Renville County EDA’s website. Marotzke will add this
to the Facebook page and follow up with Jordan regarding how often it has been used.

3. Goal Seven (Within the next six months, the core team will partner with area banks, the Renville
County EDA, and city EDAs in the county to create a data base of available locations for
potential child care sites and include square footage, estimated sale/lease price, and amenities
and target cities with the greatest need such as Fairfax, Olivia, and Renville) was reviewed. K.
Lutgen thought that Rick has created something but to talk with Jordan about it. Marotzke will
follow up on this.
Marotzke asked for any further discussion. S. Whited brought up the Renville County
Commissioners had a strategic planning meeting and that child care was brought up multiple
times. The Commissioners asked about data and Whited told them that there was data available
from the RCCIP. Marotzke will send the Action Plan to Commissioner Snow. J. Edwards asked
if there were any funding mechanisms to help child care in the county and Commissioner Snow
stated that right now there are not but that the County is looking for solutions. He also mentioned
that the county recognizes that they need to be active and commit to funding child care solutions.
Marotzke asked about future meetings. S. Thomes stated that a monthly meeting was good so
everyone can stay updated. It was decided to continue with the first Tuesday of each month at
1:00 p.m. in a Zoom format. Perhaps in the spring we can set up an in-person meeting when the
weather is more predictable. Marotzke thanked everyone again for their time and dedication to
this project and closed the meeting.