Lawmakers funnel $450K to help grow Minnesota's child care workforce
PLYMOUTH, Minn. — More help will soon be available to parents of young children in Minnesota. The state is expanding its Duel Training Grant program to the childcare industry this year.
"We are in a really important moment where we are finally talking about childcare in the way it needs to be talked about," Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said. "Which is the backbone of the economy, the workforce behind the workforce."
Flanagan visited an early childhood development center in Plymouth Monday morning to highlight the effort.
"It's just one of the many ways that we're expanding the labor force and growing the economy," she said.
In all, the grant is funneling $450,000 to help grow Minnesota's child care workforce.
"It gives our teachers an opportunity to get funded for an education but also to get mentorship and on the job training which is huge in our industry," Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Executive Director of Talent and Development Melissa Semira said.
Maddie LaScala has worked at Yellow Brick Road for at least three years, and now, she's furthering her education in early childhood development while working.
"I learn a lot from hands on," LaScala said. "I would rather learn in a classroom than from a book."
The grant is helping her turn her passion into a career.
"It does something else to your soul that nothing else can," she said.