RAPID CITY, S.D. — After a Rapid City preschool closed unexpectedly, parents were left looking for a new preschool. A new website is offering opportunities to search for child care openings in the Black Hills.
Little Nest Preschool closed its facility just a day after Thanksgiving. The closure left parents looking for a new preschool.
Kayla Klein, CEO of Klein Visioneering Group, said unfortunately closures for child care facilities are not something unique in South Dakota.
“We’re estimating that this is going to potentially continue to happen. We have to remember, there was a lot of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars coming in for child care purposes,” Klein said. “Now those supplemental dollars are gone and so providers are having to make a choice, either raising their rates or closing their doors.”
South Dakota is one of six states along with Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wyoming that doesn’t offer any funding for preschool programs.
Klein said Black Hills Find Child Care is designed for families in the Black Hills area to locate and identify available child care opportunities.
“What we’re excited about with Black Hills Find Child Care is a very timely platform and opportunity for not only families but providers as well,” Klein said. “We are really urging providers to join this platform so they can share with the public what kind of openings they have, what age, what offers they have for families.”
The John T. Vucurevich Foundation funded the website and is being managed by Klein Visioneering Group.
“This is extremely beneficial for families who might be needing to search for that care now, so when you go to the platform you can input any kind of filters you want. If you are looking for care specifically for infants or preschoolers, It will filter out all the providers that offer care to those age groups,” Klein said.
The most recent data from DSS shows 758 state-licensed and registered child care providers from registered family day care (1-12 children), licensed family day care (13-20 children), licensed day care center (21 or more children) and licensed before and after school programs.
DSS’s website lists 12 “unregulated” child care providers. South Dakota law also allows for an in-home child care provider to have up to 12 children without registering with the state.
Klein told KELO News they are seeing a huge uptick on their website.
“We’re well over 500 views from different providers of families. There’s a huge percentage,” Klein said. “I would say the vast majority of individuals looking on the site are from Rapid City with our next highest being in Box Elder and Summerset.”
Black Hills Find Child Care serves the areas of Bell Fouche, Sturgis, Spearfish, Lead-Deadwood, Summerset, Rapid City, Box Elder and Hill City.
Klein said they are really trying to get providers registered for the program.
“If you are a provider giving care in those areas, there is a huge demand and if you want your organization to be on there to make sure to register,” Klein said. “We have about 60 providers on the platform now and quite a few openings so there is great things for both providers and families.”
She added even if a provider is full, they recommend they register.
“If you’re having parents saying if you are full where can we go or if I don’t want to be on a waitlist who should I look for or who should I contact, this is kind of that one-stop shop,” said Klein
