The Boone County Commission has approved $2.5 million dollars in funding from the State of Missouri to construct a childcare center specifically for Boone County first responders and other public safety employees.
According to a press release, the funding was allocated by the Missouri General Assembly during the 2024 legislative session and approved by the commission during a meeting on October 22.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has declared a child care crisis in the state, and according to a 2023 survey, 80% of employers said the cost and difficulty of finding childcare made it harder to hire and keep employees.
Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said these are the reasons the commission decided to approve a childcare center for Boone County public safety employees. He said the goal is to increase access and flexibility of childcare options for first responders like EMTs and firefighters, as well as other essential employees who work long hours.
“Having access to a public safety child care center on our public safety campus for our law enforcement personnel, our jail detention officers, and then our joint communications, which is all right there in the same location,” Kendrick said. “So it's access and then affordability as well. And so we're going to find a way to subsidize the cost of this and bring it in below market rate.”
According to childcare nonprofit Child Care Aware of Missouri, many families in the state struggle to afford childcare. Kendrick said that the center hopes to increase affordability, access and flexibility of childcare options for first responders and other essential employees who work long hours – like emergency dispatchers.
“We believe that a creative way towards sustainable staffing levels for joint communications will be to provide access to child care services on site,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick said the commission consulted with a police department in San Diego who had started a similar childcare center for their employees and saw higher retention rates and improved recruitment efforts.
He said they learned what worked and what didn’t in other communities and will continue to iron out the specifics in the time to come. Kendrick said that for now, the city hopes to break ground by next year and open the center in early 2026.
The facility will be a licensed childcare facility with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Kendrick said the center will most likely be open anywhere from 18-20 hours per day.
“What's most important about this center is it won't just be your typical, 7 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. center. We are going to run it seven days a week, and look to cover first and second shifts, and even a bit beyond first and second shifts,” Kendrick said.
“That will increase flexibility on scheduling, but also give peace of mind to dispatchers who are in the midst of a call, where they can continue focusing on that call and dispatching EMS or fire, law enforcement if they don't have to worry about rushing out to go pick up their child.”
Kendrick said the commission is open to feedback from the community during the planning process and will be collecting data they hope will help inform other governments who are considering similar projects.
