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Two Fort Dodge child care centers have been awarded state grants totalling more than $1 million to support their efforts to meet the demand for day care in the community.
Childcare Discovery Center received $734,837 to help its effort to build a new facility near 14th Avenue North and 32nd Street.
Community Early Childhood Center, 1315 S. 24th St., received a $330,600 grant to pay for new equipment and furnishings needed for a planned addition.
The grants were announced Wednesday.
The money comes from the Future Ready Iowa Child Care Challenge Fund administered by Iowa Workforce Development.
The grant awards come as the community grapples with a shortage of available spaces in child care programs. The group Linking Families and Communities found 1,743 available spaces in child care programs in Webster County, but 4,673 youngsters in need of such care.
-Submitted photo
Jason Powell, left, a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department, and his father, retired Chicago firefighter Jack Powell, display some of the pheasants they bagged during a weekend hunt in the Fort Dodge area. They were invited to the area to hunt in a gesture intended to thank them for their service. A couple of Fort Dodge firefighters joined the hunt on Sunday. The outing was organized by Jim Kersten, of Fort Dodge, and his former college roommate, Doug Aller, of Chicago. Such hunts may become an annual event.
-Submitted photo
Jason Powell, left, a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department, and his father, retired Chicago firefighter Jack Powell, display some of the pheasants they bagged during a weekend hunt in the Fort Dodge area. They were invited to the area to hunt in a gesture intended to thank them for their service. A couple of Fort Dodge firefighters joined the hunt on Sunday. The outing was organized by Jim Kersten, of Fort Dodge, and his former