Ditterich, Summers leaving EDA/HRA board

By Robert Williams

Editor

Community and Economic Development Associates (CEDA) Regional Manager Jordan Grossman announced Vergas was one of three successful applicants to the Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP), an innovative community engagement process designed to increase the supply of high quality affordable child care in rural communities.

The announcement was made at the Vergas Economic Development Authority (EDA) / Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) meeting Wednesday, Nov. 5.

“Our application focused on establishing childcare and what that entails,” CEDA Associate Maddi Clavin said during an October update to the EDA/HRA.

Clavin was in charge of preparing Vergas’ application to the program. 

The program is an initiative of First Children’s Finance to address the challenges of rural child care in Greater Minnesota and Rural Michigan through the lens of rural economic development.

Vergas was by far the smallest community accepted. Applications can include a single city, a cluster of small towns, a school district, or a single county. The Twin Cities metro area, Fargo-Moorhead metro area, Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud metro area are excluded as applicants. Preference is given to truly rural communities.

“This is a big deal,” Grossman said. “To only have three in the whole state and they had a plethora of applications. I’m excited to see what comes out of it.”

Vergas is the smallest of the three program recipients, one being Fillmore County, and according to Grossman, will utilize a sister program, the Childcare Strategic Supply Plan program, which would better fit the size of Vergas and the fact there are currently no providers in town.

A part of the plan is having a provider appreciation event and that can’t happen at the moment. The 18-month program is condensed to nine months.

Clavin created a task force of people interested in Vergas childcare that were included in the RCCIP proposal and Grossman advised creating a committee with those people and others to steer the programming.

Greg and Ruby Schmid, of Vergas, made Grossman aware of their interest and the couple also owns property that could be a potential home for a daycare center right next to Jesus Little Lambs.

Due to a number of potential options for daycare in Vergas having fallen through in the past year, Grossman advised finding an exact location for the daycare before moving ahead with the rest of the plan.

“Taking the initiative of saying this is where it’s going to be—I think is a really good first step,” she said. “That way we know we have a place. We can build the funding; we can build the programming but we have a concrete place.”

The next steps are to secure a location and begin working on a budget. The EDA/HRA may schedule more but shorter meetings during the next few months to address any particular questions or issues that cannot wait a full four weeks between meetings.

Board members

President DuWayne Ditterich has officially resigned from the EDA/HRA. Ditterich had a term that was supposed to run through 2026. 

The EDA/HRA accepted the resignation and will name officers for 2026 at the December or January meeting.

Joy Summers’ term expires at the end of this year and Summers has made it known she will not be returning for another term.

The EDA/HRA will address the two openings and are seeking interested individuals who would like to join the board. Current members and terms: Paul Sonnenberg-through 2027; Vanessa Perry-through 2028; Bruce Albright – Council Liaison, Julie Lammers – Staff Appointment.