Outline Of Need: At present, there are no child care facilities in the Lead, Deadwood, and Central City area. The Northern Hills Alliance for Children formed in 2008 to change this and began the planning process to establish a day care accessible to these communities.

How Rural Development Helped: Rural Development Community Facility Grant in the amount of $50,000 for purchase and renovation of an existing building for a child care facility.

The Results: “Rural Development programs are designed to improve the quality of life and increase economic opportunity in rural America,” said South Dakota USDA Rural Development State Director Elsie M. Meeks. “Day care providers play a very important role in a child’s development and having a facility available helps the community and parents, as well as provides children in the area with the level of attention and nurturing they need to succeed.”

The project involves the purchase of the vacant Qwest building located on Main Street in Deadwood. The building will be renovated and redesigned to stimulate the growing needs of young children and meet state licensing requirements.  The facility will have the capacity to offer child care services to 60 children.  The federal funding will be leveraged with community donations and loans. 

“The new child care center is going to help many families in our area. We know there are many young parents who want to work, but they need quality child care in order to do so. We are very grateful for this grant; it is an essential part of our financing package. We couldn't have done this without it.” said Nyla Griffith, Chair of Northern Hills Alliance for Children.