Douglas County commissioners tell staff to proceed with plan for child care scholarship fund – Lawrence Journal-World
Oct 15, 2025 – 7:42pm
photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World
Douglas County commissioners met on Wednesday, August 27, 2025.
Douglas County commissioners have told county staff to proceed with a plan for a scholarship fund to help low- to moderate income families afford child care.
This initiative was a strategy outlined in the Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP, a five-year roadmap to improve community health. The goal is to help more working families – or those who want to enter the workforce – access child care scholarships for children under age 6.
The county commissioners included $100,000 in the 2026 budget for what is now dubbed the “Douglas County Community Child Care Scholarship Challenge Fund.” The county will match contributions of $10,000 or more, dollar for dollar, up to a $100,000 cap. The goal is to raise $100,000 in new donations between January and December 2026.
Commissioner Shannon Reid said she appreciated the discussions for the 2026 budget about the idea of how the county can maximize its investment toward this effort and how businesses can be engaged to support these scholarships.
Reid added she hopes for other donors to invest in the scholarships as the county continues to work through the CHIP and explore the different ways of how child care both contribute to economic development and the health and education for children and families.
Commissioner Patrick Kelly said he hopes the county will follow the results of this investment in the future.
“I am interested to learn as we go through this about how we’ll track the results of this, what will be the impacts and where people who may not have been employed before due to the expense of childcare may be employed now,” Kelly said.
Positive Bright Start, a nonprofit with a long history of supporting early childhood education in the county through its own scholarships, will help manage the scholarship program. The scholarship amounts are based on a family’s income and the child’s age, and the scholarship does not cover the full cost of monthly tuition.
The challenge fund aims to increase donor involvement and create long-term sustainability for the scholarship program. The effort also seeks to lower the current scholarship waitlist. Currently only 45% of eligible applicants for scholarships are being served.
In other business, county commissioners:
• Approved a set of procedures for evaluating and awarding funding from the Municipalities Fight Addiction Fund and the Special Alcohol Fund to community partners. During the 2026 budget deliberations, county commissioners were interested in understanding how each fund can be used, the difference between the funds and creating a methodology for distributing funding.
The Municipalities Fight Addiction Fund currently has a balance of $476,195. These funds can be used for naloxone distribution, medication-assisted treatment, prevention programs, recovery initiatives and more. Additionally, the county’s Special Alcohol Fund is supported by liquor taxes and currently holds $246,873.
The funding application process has two annual submission cycles: April 15 and December 15. April applications are evaluated for inclusion in the annual budget, with decisions made by early June, while December applications are reviewed within 90 days for potential mid-year funding. Only agencies with an existing agreement with the county are eligible for the December cycle.
• Approved the 2026 service agreement with changes made by county staff. According to a memo in the agenda, service agreements are used for community partner funding over $80,000, while agreements under that are known as community partner agreements. Partners receiving funding through a service agreement must submit invoices on a monthly or quarterly basis to be reimbursed for the services they have provided.
County staff conducted a review of the 2026 service agreement to clarify existing practices, enhance accountability and align agreement language with current procedures, the memo said.
• Waived finance policies to allow the Douglas County Emergency Communications director to sign an agreement with HCI Energy to purchase replacement power modules for all four radio towers. Each module costs $32,200. The current modules, installed in 2013, have reached end-of-life and are no longer available. Purchases over $100,000 are typically required to go through a competitive bidding process under the county’s finance policy, but commissioners waived that requirement.
State law requires residents of a county to be notified of a lot of different legal matters that are underway at …
The latest headlines from the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, delivered straight to your inbox.
Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of Kansas, LLC | https://www2.ljworld.com | 1035 N. Third Street, Lawrence, KS 66044 | 785-843-1000 | Terms of Service
