One-Stop Shop
A Butler County nonprofit agency is preparing to become the regional hub for those in need of state child care service assistance.
Butler County Children's Center on July 1 will become one of the state's 19 Early Learning Resource Centers.
It is tasked with providing “a single point of contact for families, early learning service providers and communities to gain information and access services that support high-quality child care and early learning programs,” according to a news release by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
The agency will help families find resources, including child care subsidies.
The Butler County Children's Center on Reiger Road in Connoquenessing Township will serve families in five counties: Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Indiana and Lawrence.
Currently, this type of assistance is provided in each county at Childcare Information Services locations.
The Butler County Children's Center, which also provides other services including Head Start, is an informational services location, providing child care assistance services to 1,056 children from 743 families in Butler County.
Under the new structure, the children's center will provide the child care assistance services to 3,273 children from 743 families in the five counties.
“This will make us more of a 'one-stop-shop' for early education and child care,” said Brian Steighner, director of Butler County's current information services and future director of the Early Learning Resource Centers.
“When people come to us, we will be able to provide them with many resources. They will be able to call and get various resources instead of calling and getting separate ones in each county,” he said.
Steighner said being selected to become an Early Learning Resource Centers was an honor for the children's center, and a testimonial to the staff's work and dedication.
The selection process was determined through a competitive Request for Proposals, released by the state Department of Human Services in June 2017.
The selection, which was announced April 24, comes with $17 million in state funding.
Under the existing structure, Butler County Children's Center received $3.7 million in state funding for its share of service in this area alone.
Of the Butler County Children's Center's 140 employees, about seven now work in the child care services department. That number will increase to 17, with some of the new employees being selected from those who work in the other counties' information services sites.
Two rooms inside the agency's facility — which is the former Franklin Elementary School on Rieger Road — are being renovated to accommodate the new services and employees.
Additionally, the children's center will base five of its resource centers' employees at a satellite site in Beaver County. And the agency will work with partner organizations, like libraries, to have sites in multiple other counties.
Executive director Steve Green said he believes “our years of experience and expertise relating to child care” were key in the state's selection process.
County Commissioner Kevin Boozel applauded the initiative saying it “lined up efficiencies for all residents, not just those in Butler County.”
