Southwest Health will hold an informational meeting about the hospital’s possibly accepting a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that would go toward building a child care center on the hospital campus.
The meeting will be held in Southwest Health’s conference room at 1450 Eastside Road in Platteville Monday, Aug. 21 from 1 to 2 p.m.
Southwest Health Foundation executive director Tammie Richter said the public meeting is a requirement of receiving the grant, but that the hospital has not determined whether it would accept a grant if received, or will build a child care center.
The USDA Congressionally Directed Spending grant is the same grant as the $7 million grant the Platteville Fire Department received toward a new fire station.
Southwest Health is developing 27 acres of property around its Eastside Road campus, with possible additional health clinics, retail and residential properties in the area. Infrastructure was added funded through Tax Incremental Financing District 6.
Child care is an increasing issue among Southwest Wisconsin families and major employers, including Southwest Health, which has 600 employees.
Snug as a Bug Child Care in Cuba City announced plans for a $2 million expansion in the former Shopko building in Lancaster, which has one child care facility needing a new home and another closing.
Giggles and Wiggles, Lancaster’s second largest day care facility, is closing Aug. 31 due to difficulty finding staffing.
Maple Street Kids, which is located in a former Lancaster Community School District school, is looking for a new home because the school district is looking to vacate the 1925-vintage building after next summer.
Platteville has five state-licensed group day care facilities for nine or more children to age 7, including Southwest CAP Head Start, UW–Platteville Children’s Center, Great Beginnings Learning Center, Imagination Station, and Friendly Frogs Child Care, according to the state Department of Children and Families. The Platteville area also has six state-licensed family facilities for up to eight children younger than 7.
Belmont has one state-licensed group day care, Lil’ Wonders Child Care. Dickeyville has one state-licensed group day care, Country Care Children’s Center. Livingston has one state-licensed family day care, Walmer’s Family Daycare, that is listed as “temporarily closed” according to DCFS.
Snug as a Bug’s Lancaster expansion includes possible funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and through the City of Lancaster and the Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government gave states funding to assist childcare operations, with Wisconsin getting approximately $400 million for programs like Dream Up and Partner Up, as well as Childcare Counts. The end of the pandemic resulted in funding cut to $90 million in the current state budget.
The Grant County Herald Independent in Lancaster contributed to this story.
