ACE Fund board outlines $5.65 million in near-term spending, names contractors and faces assembly questions about oversight

The Anchorage ACE Fund board presented a status update to the Assembly on its first six to seven months of work, describing three discrete funding streams — early educator childcare subsidies ($1.25 million), operational assistance grants ($2.4 million) and pilot projects/capital grants ($2 million) — and naming contractors the board has selected to implement two of those programs.

The update matters because the ACE Fund will spend public dollars intended to stabilize Anchorage’s early-childhood workforce and expand child-care capacity, and Assembly members pressed the board and administration on contract terms, eligibility rules and how one capital award was advanced outside the board’s planned competitive process.

“These are public dollars. They have trusted us when they voted for this,” Trevor Storrs, chair of the ACE Fund board and a staff member at the Alaska Children’s Trust, said as he outlined the board’s work on program design, outreach and transparency. Storrs said the board meets monthly, is fully staffed with nine members and has prioritized getting money out quickly while planning a longer-term strategic investment strategy for the 2026 budget.

The board described three programs that were included in the municipal 2025 budget and are now moving toward implementation. Early educator childcare subsidies: the board reported a program allocation of $1,250,000, with about $1,027,000 estimated to be paid directly as subsidies and roughly 17–20% allowed for contractor administration, outreach…