An outreach effort that has been credited with helping support and expand child care options in Clatsop County is seeking a new program manager.

The Clatsop Child Care Retention and Expansion Program, which was established by a county task force last year, offers grant funding and education to providers with the goal of increasing the capacity, sustainability and affordability of quality licensed child care.

Earlier this year, Kristin Freund, a former instructor at Clatsop Community College, was hired as the program’s part-time manager. She replaced Dan Gaffney, a former educator who helped get the program up and running.

Gaffney, who now serves on the program’s advisory committee, said Freund left the position after relocating and that an ad for the position is expected to be posted in the coming week. “She did a great job while she was here and she’ll be missed,” he said.

Gaffney added that the Northwest Regional Education Service District is serving as the program’s new fiscal agent, which is a shift from the Columbia-Pacific Economic Development District.

He said that while the program enjoyed the relationship with Col-Pac, it made more sense to work with the education service district, which is the fiscal backbone of Northwest Regional Child Care Resource and Referral. Eva Manderson, director of Northwest Regional Child Care Resource and Referral, is serving as the program’s interim manager.

The education service district has also added a new quality improvement specialist in Clatsop County to help providers with professional development and with obtaining a license.

“Having that closer alignment with child care specialists and therefore having a better opportunity for state funding is a big reason to make that shift,” Gaffney said. “That’s really the biggest reason to make that shift.”

Last summer, the county Board of Commissioners approved $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to launch the program.

Gaffney said that aside from Clatsop County, key partners include Providence Seaside Hospital, Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria and the Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization.

About a dozen child care providers received more than $226,000 in grant funding from the program during the first distribution cycle.

Gaffney said the advisory committee last week awarded a second cycle totaling about $145,300 in grants to seven child care providers. Another round of grants is expected to be distributed early next year, he said.

Gaffney and Manderson have attributed the grants and support to providers as part of the reason Clatsop County is no longer a child care desert for preschoolers.

The county was one of eight counties to move out of child care desert status for preschool-age children after the percentage of children aged 3 to 5 in licensed care increased to 41% from 28% in 2020, according to a May report from Oregon State University.

Counties are considered a child care desert if there are more than three children for every available child care slot.

Statewide, the report attributes the increase in slots to public funding through programs such as Preschool Promise and Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten. In Clatsop County, Manderson noted the impact of the grant program.

The county remains a child care desert for infants and toddlers.

Moving forward, Gaffney and Manderson said the program will focus on maintaining the preschool slots while also increasing infant and toddler care.

Manderson said the overarching goals of the program remain the same: creating more options for families and making sure the child care workforce is paid well.

She said there are also goals to obtain consistent funding to provide scholarships for families that cannot afford the cost of child care, but also do not qualify for Employment Related Day Care, a subsidy program that pays part of the child care costs for families.