VALDEZ – A 77 page report to City Council from the Valdez Child Care Crisis Task Force (CCCTF) states, “The task force focused primarily on the logistics of creating an initial licensed child care facility in the community, but also researched various avenues that would help create a diverse mixed delivery system for child care and early education in Valdez.
According to the report, a $880,000 Community INNNOVATION Grant that the City of Valdez secured will provide the committee with the means to pilot some short-term approaches as well as provide funding to conduct the necessary analysis to advance final site selection and establish community supports.
Short-term action item #1 in the report is to select the top choice for a child care center location. According to the report, Top-ranked facilities of interest for the Child Care Center are:
1. Hermon Hutchens Elementary School
2. City of Valdez Recreation Center
3. Prince William Sound College
4. Royal Center Building
The report, to be discussed in a work session at 6pm Tuesday night in City Council Chambers, also proposes various short, medium and long-term goals, including: Establishing a Child Care Endowment fund and establishing a discretionary sales tax (sin tax) on alcohol, tobacco and/or marijuana to directly provide revenue to the fund in perpetuity; establishing PWSC as a hub of training and professional development for the early childhood education workforce in Valdez; and developing a workforce recruitment plan. The report recommends that the Early Learning Center be managed by a non-profit, a for-profit entity or through a co-operative model or shared services alliance. CLICK HERE to read the myriad of suggestions, findings and recommendations in the report.
Task Force Committee members are Susan Love, Lori Plaster, Ana Stroup, Tim Bauer, Melanee Tiura, Dennis Humphrey, Tim Mason and Ashley Christensen with support from Elise Sorum-Birk.