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Clatsop County proclaims May 9 Child Care Provider Appreciation Day, highlights childcare grants and gaps for infants and toddlers
Summary
The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners proclaimed May 9, 2025, Child Care Provider Appreciation Day and heard that a local childcare expansion and retention program has awarded about $700,000 since 2022, with up to $1 million expected by year-end while infant and toddler care remains insufficient.
The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners on April 2025 proclaimed May 9, 2025, as Child Care Provider Appreciation Day and heard an update on local efforts to expand and retain childcare programs.
Eva Manderson, director of Northwest Regional Child Care Resource and Referral, told the board the agency supports programs across Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties with training, coaching and recruitment and asked the county to join the national provider appreciation observance. "We provide training and coaching and technical assistance and . . . do a lot of recruiting and then hoping to retain as many programs as we can," Manderson said.
The board received figures from Dan Gaffney, a volunteer with the Clatsop childcare program, on the county's locally administered Child Care Expansion and Retention Grant Program. "Since 2022, the Clatsop child care program has awarded roughly $700,000 to local child care providers. We expect to be able to award up to a million by the end of this year," Gaffney said, adding that preschool access has improved but "infants and toddlers, we're still a desert."
Commissioners thanked the presenters and praised the advisory board and grant partners. Commissioner Banks noted the role of ARPA dollars early in the program's funding and said collaborative investment from many sources has expanded the program's reach. Commissioner Thompson acknowledged longtime participants and volunteers and noted continued community fundraising and scholarship efforts tied to youth development.
The board approved a resolution and order proclaiming May 9, 2025, Child Care Provider Appreciation Day in Clatsop County and authorized the chair to sign the proclamation. The motion carried with the commissioners present voting in the affirmative.
The proclamation text that the board read cites the county's Child Care Expansion and Retention Grant Program and recognizes childcare's role supporting families' work and educational participation. Presenters invited providers to a local provider appreciation event on May 17 to include food, training and a voucher-supported book fair run by the early learning hub.
The board's action is ceremonial; no ordinance or funding change was enacted during the meeting. The presenters and commissioners emphasized ongoing needs for infant and toddler care and pledged continued outreach to obtain state and federal support for providers and families.
