Colfax Economic Development Corporation will be sharing the latest information on the under-construction childcare facility that’s being built across from the elementary school at a special meeting next week. 

In late 2024, Colfax Economic Development received a $1.7 million Child Care Business Incentive Grant from Iowa Workforce Development to build the 12,000-square-foot, $3.4-million child care center. The grant requires a one-to-one match. At the end of last year, Colfax-Mingo School Superintendent and Colfax Economic Development Corporation Vice President Tim Salmon said the organization was about $900,000 short of that match total. The facility is the first project for the Colfax Economic Development Corporation, and Salmon says the need for it is significant.

“We all know that Jasper County, like a lot of rural counties, has a severe lack of childcare. Particularly in Colfax, we have one childcare center that doesn’t fit the needs of our community. Just alone in our county, and this is data we received from the state, we are short about a thousand spots in childcare.”

The Colfax Economic Development Corporation is hosting an open to the public meeting to update the community on the child care center on Wednesday, March 4th at the block building at Quarry Springs Park in Colfax from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Additional information about the new Colfax-Mingo Childcare Center can be found on the Colfax Economic Development Corporation website https://cedcoiowa.com/.