Deschutes County’s Local Fiscal Recovery Fund investments will help create more than 500 new child care spots and train more than 275 new workers in the child care and early education fields. Funds will support collaborations with Central Oregon Community College and Oregon State University Cascades to determine how to expand affordable child care over time. This is a multilevel program and system investment that addresses

1. the immediate need to build the supply of child care by retrofitting existing spaces to become new child care centers on college campuses and
2. the longer-term need to develop the early learning workforce through training and certification programs.