Gianforte visits Polson facility to highlight child care grants

Gov. Greg Gianforte stopped by Fun and Fancy Free Learning Center in Polson on Monday as part of his statewide tour touting the importance of child care for Montana families, and called attention to block grants to expand and support child care infrastructure throughout the state made available from the federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA).

“Child care facilities like this are so important to hard working Montanans,” Gianforte said.

Fun and Fancy Free was started 23 years ago by Lisa Wall-Wilbert and her husband, Alex Wilbert, when they were 18 and 22 and before they were married. The business has continually grown to meet increasing community child care needs. In February, they completed construction and moved into a large, new facility that not only brought together the 86 children they had cared for in three separate buildings, but greatly increased their capacity at a time when many child care facilities closed throughout the state. Lisa also recently completed her teaching degree.

The facility can now host up to 124 children at a time, but actually serve 250, balancing part-time schedules of different families. Besides construction loans and other funding, much of the building was furnished with COVID-related stimulus funds in 2020, including items like lunch tables, mats, electronics, toys, busses and lockers, Wall-Wilbert said. They hope to purchase large outdoor playground structures for each play area with the new ARPA grants.

The facility has a reputation for extensive staff training and doing whatever it takes for every single child to feel and be safe, and be able to learn and prepare for school, helping with everything from foster care to haircut appointments. Even with their expansion, they currently face a 54-child waiting list.

“We had heard about Fun and Fancy Free and the scale they had achieved, the number of families they were serving,” Gianforte said. “So this was a perfect place to come and highlight the fact that we want to support child care, and we want to help organizations like this through these grant programs to build capacity so that we can come alongside hard working Montanans.”

Gianforte met with staff and parents in the facility’s gym, and then held a Q&A session with a group of young children in the library. Several parents, some of whom also work there, spoke of the importance of Fun and Fancy Free in their lives. He asked parents what it means to the parents to have quality child care.

“It’s hard to leave your kids to go to work, so to know that they are safe and you really don’t have to worry about your kids at this place, makes me tear up,” said one staff member and parent. “It means security.”

A retired military father had experienced a daycare that was “not so kind” to his young child, who still suffers some separation anxiety, but now is happy at the end of each day, as is his second child, and he is able to study to be a teacher. Without financial assistance from being a veteran, he said, he and his wife would not be able to afford the child care and education expenses.

A mother who has raised her child as a single parent experienced a daycare situation that was “neglectful and abusive” to her son early on.

“It was terrifying to drop him off at a facility where I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen with him,” she said.

She was pleasantly surprised that her child was getting “kindergarten-ready” at the Polson daycare, and came home at age 4, showing he had learned his letters and how to write his name.

“He’s always super happy when I pick him up,” she said.

Gianforte said 171 child care facilities closed during the COVID outbreak in 2020. Montana received about $2.7 billion in American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funds, $112.5 million of which has been designated for Child Care Expanded Block Grant Services and Child Care Stabilization Grants.

“It is one-time money intended to build long-term capacity,” Gianforte said.

Block grants will help with infrastructure needs, including support for emergency and essential workers. “Funding should support prioritizing child care deserts, equipment and infrastructure, property improvements, onsite child care, licensing, and employee training and professional development,” the program website says.

“Funding can support the early childhood workforce and subgrants to providers for personnel, rent, utilities, maintenance, PPE, training, professional development related to health and safety practices, purchases or updates of equipment and supplies, goods and services necessary to maintain or resume services,” the website says. “Funding can also support mental health and health consultation and technical assistance.”

Stabilization grants are open to child care providers who have been licensed, regulated or registered under CCDF regulations as of March 11, whether open or closed during the pandemic may be eligible for subgrants. This may include family, friend and neighbor providers as well.

The funds are being administered through the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Service. They are planning activities to gain public input including advisory council recommendations, surveys of providers and parents, town halls and discussions with stakeholder groups.

Visit arpa.mt.gov/health for more information.