More than 13,000 people used a new Iowa website to search for child care in its first nine months of operation. Iowa Child Care Connect lets Iowans search for child care openings specific to their kid’s age, and policymakers can use it to see which parts of the state have a higher need for more child care options. Ryan Page is director of child care at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. She says the website is succeeding and other states want to replicate it.
Paige Smothers is the owner and director of Sprouts Early Learning Academy in Carlisle . She says it’s easy and quick to submit her center’s availability to be displayed on the state website.
The website was built with about five-million dollars in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Find out more at www.iachildcareconnect.org.
