Blue Valley Community Action offers scholarship for child care costs

FAIRBURY, Neb. -- The child care industry is in a tough spot. 

The average family will pay $13,000 for child care in Nebraska, which is nearly 20% of a median families income in the state, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Why is that?

“All of those overhead costs for a child care facility are continually increasing,” said Kari Janssen, Professional Development Manager for BVCA. “So a child care facility, they have to increase their costs.”

With costs increasing, more child care facilities are being forced to close. 

“We’ve seen more and more centers across the state close, in-home providers close because they just can’t make a living doing it,” Janssen said.

But Blue Valley Community Action has collaborated with Kids Connection in Fairbury and Blue Rivers Early Learning Academy in Crete to help make child care more affordable. 

“We are in partnership with Blue Valley that offers a great partnership scholarship for tuition,” said Samantha Rose, Director of Kids Connection. “They provide an opportunity for families that are lower income; that may not be able to afford our tuition to be a part of their program.”

The partnership gives lower income families a scholarship to help with high costs. 

“The initial benefit would be the scholarship,” Janssen said. “So, you would get the subsidy where your child care would not cost you anything.”

Blue Valley also provides families with an advocate who works to provide additional resources. 

Janssen said the more questions families ask about the program, the better. 

“Having people ask more questions about the program to find out if it’s a fit for them, rather than assume it's not,” Janssen said.

Families can go on bvca.net or call the office at 402-729-2278 for more details.