The Pittsburg City Commissionheld its bi-weekly meeting Tuesday night, which included a spirited debate about whether the community should apply for a grantto help fund a nonprofit childcare and education facility. KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
Childcare availability before the pandemic was already a challenge in rural parts of the US, like southeast Kansas. It was made even more so by the pandemic, and while many parts of the economy have successfully rebounded, childcare has not.
According to recent data from the nonprofit Child Care Aware of Kansas, childcare access in Crawford County would have to expand by 48% to meet current demand.
There was some confusion Tuesday night at the Pittsburg City Commission meeting about whether the community should apply for a state grant to help alleviate childcare access. Deputy City Manager Jay Byers and Council member Chuck Munsell interacting at the meeting Tuesday.
"Down the road, we can apply for, and we can decide if you don't want to accept the grant. I understand that, but I made this motion with a request that I had this morning to take any action from the action on this."
Ultimately the commission voted to table discussion about the grant at and approved city officials to move forward with the application process and update the commission at their next meeting on Tuesday, April 25. For 89 9 KRPS News, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro
