WEBSTER CITY — The state of Iowa has given the Hamilton County Childcare Coalition $414,000 through a pilot Childcare Solutions Grant that will further support its ongoing efforts to supplement the wages of day care workers.

In a big way, the grant applauds the success of Hamilton County’s existing child care worker wage enhancement program, one that is so successful that it is a model for spinoffs both statewide and nationally.

Years back, when community solutions to providing child care were elusive, a handful of creative minds in Hamilton County wondered if providing ongoing wage support would help.

Turns out, it did.

“Back when we started, we just wanted to get our centers up to 75% capacity,” said Cindy Im, Hamilton County development director and a Coalition member. “But now most of them are at 100%.”

Boiling the problem down was the work of the local Coalition with support from the Iowa Women’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was empowered by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to act as an agent for the Childcare Solutions Grant.

IWF President Deann Cook told the Boston Globe, in a story about Massachusetts’ child care woes, that the reason IWF agreed to take on the task is that reliable child care “is the key to overcoming all of the myriad barriers women in particular face trying to achieve economic success.”

“If you don’t have child care, you can’t begin to address them,” Cook said. “You can’t go to school, you can’t have a job. You can’t do training.”

For perhaps three years, the Hamilton County Coalition has asked local businesses for ongoing monetary support for the wage incentive program. This is done through yearly commitments to donate to a fund held by Enhance Hamilton County.

It is from this fund that the wage incentives are paid.

Now, with the addition of the $414,000 grant, the Coalition will fund incentives for the directors of the county’s four day cares that have been receiving the wage support for both full- and part-time caregivers. The additional incentives will occur only during the period of the grant, the Coalition said. The money from the grant must be spent by the end of the current fiscal year, which falls on September 30, 2024.

The $414,000 grant is a match to funds the Coalition already holds.

The local Coalition was invited, along with 12 other Iowa communities with active or planned child care worker wage enhancement programs, to apply for the Childcare Solutions Grant, according to a media release from the Coalition. The pilot program matches private funds that were donated by area businesses and individuals.

“Without the ongoing support of the Hamilton County business community, the receipt of this matching grant would not have been possible.”

Doug Follman, another Coalition member, underscored Tuesday that the receipt of the grant does not mean the Coalition no longer needs its local business partners. It does. That is the foundation of the Coalition’s success, he said.

“What makes it special is the generosity of people here in Hamilton County,” Follman said. “I mean, this grant, we wouldn’t have gotten it if people weren’t already giving. You know we basically took this problem on ourselves. The people of Hamilton County did, and we operated for nearly three years without support from the state in any meaningful way. And that’s really cool. Local people solving local problems. And so we’re delighted. But you could not have done it without our donors, and that need won’t end. And the need for those private donors will not.”

Im said, “You know, three years ago, centers were losing staff and their capacity — they had lots of capacity, but no workers. So they kept watching fewer and fewer kids because they just couldn’t retain workers and hire workers.”

Today, though, there is reason for optimism. In Hamilton County, three of its four main daycares are looking to expand.

“Over 100 additional child care slots have been added since the program was introduced,” the Coalition’s media release states. “Additional funding for the wage enhancement program was needed due to the hiring of additional staff in all four centers.

“This state grant will allow the Coalition to continue to supplement child care worker wages in the four non-profit centers as well as expand the program to include funding for registered in-home child care providers.

The Hamilton County Wage Enhancement Program is a public-private partnership with financial assistance provided by Hamilton County, the Enhance Hamilton County Foundation, Building

Families, and many local area businesses.

“The success of the Hamilton County program has been recognized statewide and has become a model that the State Health and Human Services department hopes to replicate throughout the state. The program has been successful because of the leadership and financial assistance provided by the Hamilton County business community.”