City of Moline and WIU-QC launch new program to address childcare, workforce needs
By Mia Tucker
A new partnership among the city of Moline, the Western Illinois University-Quad Cities campus, and a property developer will accomplish several goals.
On Tuesday, Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati, WIU-QC vice president Kristi Mindrup, Lindsay Meeker of the WIU College of Education and Human Services, and Ron Clewer of Gorman & Associates sang the praises of the plan to expand childcare options in an effort to return more people to the workforce and fill long-vacant commercial space in downtown Moline.
WIU-QC will establish a Spanish Bilingual Early Learning and Family Empowerment Lab this fall in the vacant first-floor commercial space of the Enterprise Lofts building, 1871 River Drive, Moline. Bolstering childcare options in Moline and the region in order to increase workforce participation is a key goal for many.
Mayor Rayapati said boosting accessibility to childcare has been a major issue for several organizations in the area, including United Way and Q2030.
“We need entrepreneurs ready to provide high-quality learning and care, as well as existing centers who have opportunities to provide more services to step up and take advantage of this funding,” she said Tuesday of loans available from the city.
The Urban Land Institute report on downtown Moline this past summer also recommended childcare attached to residential housing downtown, she said. “Lo and behold, we have a building ready to help us deliver those services.”
The 2,400-square-foot space at the 69-unit Enterprise Lofts (which opened in 2012) formerly housed a convenience store, which has been vacant more than two years.
Meeker, director of WIU’s Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood Education, said the new childcare center will be operated by Western, serving about 65 children (over various shifts), up to age 8, with evening and weekend options.
“The childcare crisis is not only a Moline problem, but it’s also a Quad-Cities problem and a nationwide problem,” she said. “It’s a main reason parents cannot get back into the workforce following the pandemic. The Quad Cities and the states of Illinois and Iowa are collaborating on solutions, and are bursting with options right now.
“WIU is so happy to be part of the solution, along side community partners to improve access to high-quality learning and childcare across the country,” Meeker said, noting Black Hawk College also will be involved. “The city of Moline is helping to open doors to the work our community needs.”
The new center would serve families working in both first and second-shift jobs.
Need for childcare to help workforce
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the QC labor force decreased by 6,261 between April 2019 and April 2020. While the pandemic was the driver for some of that loss, business organizations have cited lack of quality and convenient childcare is among the biggest reasons for people not re-entering the workforce, according to the city of Moline.
Without such infrastructure, Moline and the entire QC remain vulnerable to further reductions in its labor force and resulting decreased revenues.
The Mayor’s working group has received many letters of support for the program from the region’s Congressional delegation, Quad Cities Chamber, United Way QC and individual families needing expanded childcare options.
Meeker said about one-quarter of kindergarteners in Moline, Rock Island and East Moline speak a language other than English, so it’s important to embrace diversity. “We’re hoping to be able to elevate that program here,” she said.
“Across all demographics of parents, there’s not enough childcare,” Meeker said.
Ron Clewer, Illinois market president for Gorman & Associates (which has developments in several states) said an individual’s health is partly determined on environment and access to basic necessities, to live, thrive and survive.
“When they have access to things like childcare, they’re not only able to get a job, but to maintain a job,” he said. “We know when folks have access to affordable housing, they can take the stress of rent away, they’re not only able to get a job, but keep a job. So today, this partnership between the university and the funding the city brings, but also insight into solving the social determinants of health, is doing exactly what we hoped in integrating the social determinants of health. That’s providing access to safe, affordable childcare for the folks who are most in need.”
Those most impacted during COVID have been Black and brown residents, Clewer said, noting later that Gorman focuses both on providing affordable housing and jobs. They have some housing developments with attached medical clinics and childcare in other states.
“It just depends on the market and what the community’s needs are,” he said.
Q2030 executive director Kate Jennings said this new effort will help the QC maintain its strong workforce and stay competitive for many years.
“The benefits of this program will contribute to all Q2030’s pillars, and it’s a powerful example that regional collaboration will help propel our community’s success,” she said.
Benefits for Western Illinois University
The lab is an example of Western’s strategic plan and commitment to respond to community needs, while providing outstanding educational opportunities for students, said Mindrup, who oversees the QC campus at 3300 River Drive.
“This new childcare center creates a safe and welcoming space, to provide a solid learning foundation for young children, and offer a much-needed service to working parents,” she said.
“The center also provides a real world, hands-on learning environment for Western Illinois University early childhood education students, to positively impact child development and learning,” Mindrup said, “while they gain valuable experience that will prepare them for life after graduation.”
“The opportunity for partnership is critical for us to meet the needs of our community in childcare,” she said later. “It’s a wonderful collaboration between Western Illinois University, the city of Moline, and Gorman & Associates to address this critical need in Moline.
Mindrup noted what is truly unique about this partnership is the opportunity for WIU students and families to benefit from each other.
“It creates wonderful learning opportunities for children at a very early age,” she said. WIU “prides itself on hands-on learning opportunities for its students, to interact in the environments they’ll have to work in. Those opportunities are what Western Illinois University is all about.
“Most importantly, to inspire future early-childhood educators, as well as our students and eventual graduates to continue this good work, to meet the needs of a shortage of educators,” Mindrup said.
WIU currently operates a bilingual childcare center on its Macomb campus, she noted.
“The location here is wonderful, with our campus just down the street on River Drive,” Mindrup said. “The center will have full access to our faculty. Our students will have he full access.”
Provider loans available from city
The Moline City Council recently approved the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to create a Childcare/Workforce Infrastructure Forgivable Loan Program — that will help families and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering quality, worker-friendly childcare options.
The program will work similarly to the city’s successful 2021 micro-business loan program that helped dozens of Moline entrepreneurs survive the economic impacts of the pandemic.
The new program works by offering loans from $10,000 up to $50,000 to childcare providers – either existing or new, like the Enterprise lab by WIU – to improve the quality and availability of childcare, encourage and support those businesses to continue their operations, expand their operations or to open new childcare facilities.
The loan program priority will be given to providers that offer non-traditional hours, particularly second and third shifts, overnights and weekends, and those equipped to care for infants, toddlers and children with special needs. More details on the program can be found here.
WIU will start offering an Early Childhood Degree on the QC campus in Moline, beginning summer 2022.
WIU will also launch a new, flexible program option designed for those who are currently working in the education field and want to work toward their bachelor’s degree, with an option for a Professional Educator License. Enrollment is open now at .
“Our goal at Western is to serve the workers in the field of early childhood in a way that meets their needs,” Meeker said in announcing the degree in December. “There is a shortage of early childhood educators and childcare workforce in Illinois, and Western Illinois University is seeking to be a partner in workforce development, harnessing both traditional and nontraditional pathways.”
