Contact:  director@tiptonchamber.org | 765-675-7533

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Tipton County Chamber Foundation Awarded Grant from Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund

The Family and Social Services Administration launched a $25M innovative grant program to help address Indiana’s growing child care needs

TIPTON  — The Tipton County Chamber of Commerce and Tipton County Chamber Foundation were awarded a $100,000 grant from the Family and Social Services Administration to empower employers to develop strategies and programs to address the growing needs of child care in Tipton County.

“The state gave notice about this opportunity with a very short application window, and I am thankful to those who contributed to a successful grant submission,” stated Kegan Schmicker, former Tipton County Chamber CEO. “This grant will enable the Chamber and Chamber Foundation to work alongside our business community creating employer based programs to make child care more affordable for local families.” 

The grant opportunity challenged applicants to pick one of eight categories to apply under and the Tipton County Chamber Foundation selected Offering Tuition Benefits. Under this category the Chamber Foundation will work on the following areas with employers: Child Care Tuition, Program Development and Compliance, Administrative Support, Management Infrastructure, and Employee Engagement and Communication. 

“This is going to be a heavy lift to get this accomplished, but the goal is to create economies of scale changes in handbook policies, child care tuition reimbursement programs, program compliance and management safeguards, and employee communications with this grant,” continued Schmicker. “This is all to help our local employers better retain and attract talent by solving one of the biggest challenges our employers are facing.”

The FSSA opened up a second application period after the first deadline was announced and it was stated in the award notification that this was extremely competitive given the number of applications. Details about the grant are still being communicated from FSSA, but the Tipton County Chamber and Chamber Foundation will be working closely with the FSSA and local employers in the near future.

ABOUT TIPTON COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:

Tipton County Chamber of Commerce is a local non-profit championing leadership development, community marketing, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. Our team is committed to building a prosperous Tipton County and looks forward to the exciting successes of our members. For more information, please visit www.tiptonchamber.org