Indiana's $1.75 Million Investment Expands Childcare in Marengo: 31 New Seats and a New Playground at Boys & Girls Club
The office of Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced that officials cut the ribbon on October 29 on a new playground at the Boys & Girls Club of Harrison-Crawford Counties facility in Marengo, Crawford County, Indiana, a major milestone in a $1.75 million investment expanding capacity for childcare and preschool students at the facility. The project leveraged $1 million in READI 2.0 funding under Indiana's Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative.
Marengo is home to the largest community in Crawford County, a pocket of the Indiana Uplands region that is a childcare desert. While the interior renovation is still underway, the facility has already added 31 seats for two-year-olds and four-year-old preschool students, reducing the number of childcare seats still needed in Crawford County by 20 percent. The total $1.75 million investment is being used for critical building repairs, including replacement of the HVAC system and interior and exterior improvements, and the new outdoor playground creates a safe space to support outdoor learning. In tandem, the Boys & Girls Club is working with Uplands Smart Start through the Childhood Development Association (CDA) cohort program, which supports early learning professionals in earning new credentials and will help the club move to a Paths to Quality Level 3 Program.
"I am committed to ensuring every corner of Indiana is a place where Hoosiers want to live, work, play and stay," Governor Braun said. "Through strategic use of READI funds, like this one in Crawford County, we are helping communities make important investments to improve quality of place for children and families." Indiana Secretary of Commerce Chuck Goodrich said access to affordable amenities like childcare is a key contributor to quality of place and to talent retention and attraction, and that READI-supported projects like this are essential to improving childcare access, particularly in rural areas.
Indiana's READI program is a $1.25 billion state investment in regional-led strategies. Crawford County is part of the 10-county Indiana Uplands region led by Regional Opportunities Initiative (ROI), which was awarded $60 million in READI matching funds to grow the region's capacity as a national hub for innovation, develop and attract in-demand talent, and advance housing, infrastructure and place-based assets.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 公园内的儿童游乐场（资料图）。CC BY-SA，Shotgunheist摄，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / A park playground (file photo). CC BY-SA, by Shotgunheist, via Wikimedia Commons.
