Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington - Pasco Rings in the New Year with $275,000 in Grant Awards to Support Early Learning

​Community-Minded Enterprises (CME) is thrilled to announce grant awards totaling more than a quarter of a million dollars from All In Washington the Washington State Department of Commerce and the Washington State Department of Health. The funds will support Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington - Pasco a division of Community-Minded Enterprises. 
 
CME’s Pasco office and its team of 14 focuses exclusively on early learning. “The work they do is making such a difference in the lives of children and families, especially those who are the farthest from opportunity,” said Lee Williams, CEO of Community-Minded. “We are grateful to be one of 21 organizations in the state be to be recognized by All In Washington as part of their $2,875,000 Child Care Initiative.”
 
The $165,000 in funding from All In Washington will be used to support 27 family child care businesses in Columbia and Walla Walla Counties serving a high percentage of Latinx families and essential workers. “We are excited to partner with the community to provide monetary support to these programs.  Most are still trying to navigate or recover from the effects of the pandemic on their business,” said Suzanne Suyama, Child Care Aware Supervisor – Southeast Washington.
 
CME was also included in the Washington State Department of Commerce second round of funding under the Child Care Partnership Grant program. CME was one of 24 organizations identified for funding. The $63,470 award will support a Child Care Needs Assessment project serving the Tri-Cities area in Benton and Franklin Counties.
 
A third grant was finalized last week with the Washington State Department of Health, for $49,729 as part of the Essentials for Childhood Initiative. The grant will bring Vroom, a cell phone based early learning platform to families in Asotin, Franklin and Benton Counties, communities impacted by poverty, low kindergarten readiness, and lack of connection to resources including language barriers.

• For a complete list of All In Washington grant recipients, click here.
• For a complete list of Washington State Department of Commerce Grant, recipients click here.     

        
Community-Minded Enterprises is a 501c3 nonprofit with four offices in Spokane and one in Pasco. It was formed as a grassroots organization in the early 1990s and incorporated 1997.
 
Our mission is to transform communities in Washington State while advancing diversity and inclusion of marginalized populations, so that all people have an opportunity for equitable health, education, and safety.
For more information on CME go to: www.community-minded.org or find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/communityminded/. For information about Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington - Pasco check out https://www.facebook.com/CCAEWaTriCities.