Sioux Falls Thrive

The Statewide Child Care Task Force is happy to announce the webinar in which they will present the report from their 2024 efforts! The webinar will be on Jan. 10 starting at 11 a.m. MT / noon CT. Senator Tim Reed will be kicking off the conversation and the Hunt Institute will be reporting out about the results. Register here: https://bit.ly/4f7x1UH

As Avera Academy Administrator, Sarah Siemonsma helps students like Maksym Pylypchuk explore diverse healthcare careers through hands-on experiences to help them find their work and career paths. As a Sioux Falls Thrive board member, Sarah brings her knowledge of #workforcedevelopment to help grow Thrive's initiatives.

Thrive Operations Manager Erin Nosal recently attended the Beyond Idea Grant & Bush Prize: South Dakota Recipient Convening in Pierre, hosted by the South Dakota Community Foundation. Recent Beyond Idea Grant recipients met and connected as they learned more about each other's organizaitons and how they are working to help South Dakota residents. The Eat Well Sioux Falls Mobile Market, a Thrive initiative, received the grant this spring. "We had a great time visiting old friends and making new ones!" Erin says. "It was great to see all the work that has been funded in one room. Very Impactful and encouraging." Photos: 1 - Erin with Ginger Niemann, Senior Program Officer for the South Dakota Community Foundation. 2 - Participants included (from left to right): Malcom Chapman, Bush Foundation; Kayla Klein, South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children; Billy Mawhiney, South Dakota Afterschool Network; @Will Bushee and Fran Rice, HEALTH CONNECT OF SOUTH DAKOTA INC.; Darla Biel, MA, MFA, CFRE, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment; and Erin Nosal, Sioux Falls Thrive.

“I always come back to that concept that all of these kids are our kids,” Sioux Falls Thrive President Michelle Erpenbach said. “If we can figure out ways for systems to support this future workforce of ours, getting them into situations where they learn more about themselves and what it is to participate in community, it will benefit all of us.” Check out the website and sign your organization up at sfyouthconnect.org.

The City Council on Tuesday received their latest briefing from a consultant hired to explore options to ease the strain on families and childcare providers. Earlier this year, the council agreed to hire Justin Smith, a lawyer and lobbyist with the Sioux Falls firm Woods Fuller, to research potential solutions and make recommendations. One element of Smith’s charge was to outline a plan to create a “tri-share” program under which the city, employers and families combine resources to make childcare more affordable. “A one-year pilot program would allow the City of Sioux Falls, the business community and families to evaluate the pros and cons of the program,” Smith said. “The benefits from it, the best options for this community, approaches that right-size it for Sioux Falls.” To read more details on how a tri-share model would work, check out pages 53-54 of the Sioux Falls Childcare Collaborative's Community Childcare Initiative Final Report: https://lnkd.in/gfYZnbKn. Thank you to Patrick Lalley from Sioux Falls Live for your reporting!

The Child Care for Working Families Act (CCWFA) could eliminate child care costs for many lower- and middle-income families. If more families had access to affordable, high-quality child care, safety net programs would spend less funds acting as a patchwork system of financial relief that fills household budget holes created by child care costs for families who may not otherwise be eligible for assistance. Food, income, and housing assistance programs are largely designed to help people facing financial difficulties at certain points in their lives, not as a necessity to raising a young child. Comprehensive, sustained investments in affordable and accessible child care would improve family financial security, reduce the rate of children living in poverty, and reduce strains on the social safety net system. To learn about other solutions to the #childcarecrisis, read the Sioux Falls Childcare Collaborative's Community Childcare Initiative Final Report: https://lnkd.in/gfYZnbKn.

Congratulations to Shelby Kommes, MPH, Jason Simon-Ressler, and all the professionals who made South Dakota State University's 30 under 30 list for transformative work in public health! Shelby and Jason both are volunteers for Thrive's Community Food Security Network. “Public health work occurs in so many forms, especially in South Dakota where we often have limited resources for specific public health professionals, so I loved being able to highlight individuals who are making a difference without having more formal restrictions," says Keri Pappas, co-creater of the list.

Sioux Falls Thrive celebrated its short but successful history recently by honoring the people whose vision gave life to this work. Many thanks to Thrive's founding executive, Candy Hanson, long-time Board members Deb Koski, CFRE and Beth Jensen (Fuller), and so many others who understand that cradle-to-career workforce development supports the potential for all of our community's children.

Thank you to the City of Sioux Falls city council for letting the Sioux Falls Thrive Housing Action Team discuss our housing education courses taking place in Terry Redlin Elementary! The program is truly one of a kind, providing childcare and meals. The project aims to help those on a path to homeownership receive a HERO certificate and those renting know their rights and responsibilities as renters. Thank you for all parties that made this possible!

Dr. Suzanne Smith from the Augustana Research Institute at Augustana University (SD) kicked off last night's first session of the free Community Housing Education Course, hosted by Sioux Falls Thrive’s Housing Action Team and funded in part by the REALTOR® Association of the Sioux Empire, Inc., the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, and the Sioux Falls School District, with education provided by LSS of South Dakota and the Sioux Empire Housing Partnership. Participants started learning about Pathways to Home Ownership and Smart Renting Strategies. Participation is free. Meals and childcarebare provided. Tonight is the last opportunity to begin the course and complete all required sessions. Click here to register now: https://lnkd.in/gWZRCTPp. We look forward to seeing you there!