Looking to Find Affordable Daycare in Williston?

Creative efforts are helping to keep daycare accessible to all Williston residents.

By Rebecca Treon on September 15, 2023

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Williston, ND, has seen tremendous change over the past decade – thanks to an oil boom, its population more than doubled between 2010 and 2020 – but with this rapid population increase, the community has had to come up with creative infrastructure solutions to support its new residents, such as finding creative ways for affordable daycare in Williston.

Dealing with Stellar Growth in Williston

“We’ve gone from a town of 12,000 and people moving away because of lack of opportunity to tripling our population in the last 15 years. We’re one of the youngest micropolitans in the nation. Our average age here is 31, and we’re seeing record birth rates,” says Shawn Wenko, city administrator and executive director of Williston Economic Development.

“Economic development used to be about job creation, but what we’ve found is we can have all the jobs we want, but if we have a city no one wants to live in, it will be a challenge for us. We’ve shifted our focus to quality-of-life development – that means restaurants, retail and child care – trying to increase the capacity of daycare with small-business development.” 

Helping New and Existing Daycare Providers

Although the average cost of a daycare provider is $13.40 an hour in North Dakota, which is slightly below the national average of $14.46 per house, parents in the Williston area have faced challenges finding child care. To combat rising child care prices and better serve working parents, the city is partnering with several organizations to create more affordable child care options in the region. 

Williston Economic Development helps new day care centers with their initial startup or expansion costs, so they won’t start with upfront debt. Help comes in the form of grants, matching grants, low interest loans and assistance with license renewal. 

New and existing daycare providers in Williston and the surrounding area now have access to various financial assistance programs, including the STAR Fund, Flex PACE Interest Buy-Down and the Mini-Match Program. 

The STAR Fund comes from a voter-approved 1% city sales tax – 25% of which is dedicated to jobs creation and community development, and 75% of which is for infrastructure debt relief. The Flex PACE Buy-Down helps reduce the interest rate on a loan for those who want to build, expand or remodel their facility. The Mini- Match Program matches up to $5,000 for new businesses. 

Creating Spaces for Affordable Daycare in Williston

The Williston City Commission approved up to $250,000 through the STAR Fund over the next five years to help Little Joe’s Early Childhood Center get started. They will be able to take in up to 80 kids when their site is completed next year. 

Kenzi Brown, owner of Coyote Pups Learning Den, also benefited from the STAR Fund and a partnership with CHI St. Alexius Health. She is leasing a newly renovated space on the CHI St. Alexius Health campus for her day care. The renovation was made possible through a STAR Fund grant. 

“Rather than having our own facility, we rent space from CHI St. Alexius and one from a church. I applied for grants, and we accept state assistance. We have a lot of our parents who pay a good portion of their child care tuition using the Child Care Assistance Program, and we can accept that because we’re a licensed facility,” Brown says. 

North Dakota’s Child Care Assistance Program helps pay a portion of the cost of child care for working families or families in training or education programs. 

Alissa Renner Photography

Coyote Pups started with 30 children and has grown into two centers with 140 kids and a 100+ waitlist. “The community has been very supportive,” Brown says. “Williston Economic Development has been great, and demand is very high.” 

Happy Families Daycare has used these resources to expand its existing facility at New Hope Church into a new early childhood learning center on the campus of Williston State College.

Janie Cox, owner and director of Happy Families Daycare, used a STAR Fund grant for her initial startup costs and her recurring licensure renewal. 

“We aren’t the only child care facility that has benefitted from this, but it’s been a huge deal,” Cox says. “The new facility being remodeled only happened because of the economic development office, and it will be on a college campus, part of a program where people can get their early childhood degree. Parents will get care for infant through school-age children, including preschool and pre-K. That is a game-changer for Williston.”