Copper Country Great Start Collaborative Director Iola Brubaker presents a year-end report to the Houghton County Board Tuesday. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Studies conducted several years ago conservatively identified about 600 to 700 children in Houghton County who weren’t able to find space in a childcare program.

The Start Small Build Your Childcare Business pilot program, launched last year by the Copper Country Great Start Collaborative and financially supported by Houghton County, seeks to address the shortfall by helping small child care center operators with assistance for the licensing and business planning.

Iola Brubaker, director of the Copper Country Great Start Collaborative, gave an update on the first 10 months of the project during Tuesday’s Houghton County Board meeting.

In December, the board approved earmarking $77,500 of the county’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funding for child care, which will be used for a second year of funding for Start Small.

More than 20 people had asked about the program since it began in March, Brubaker said.

Of those, three people have either opened an in-home child care center or are waiting on a final orientation session with the state before they can open a program. Each of those centers would accommodate up to six children.

Another one is redeveloping a space to expand her in-home business to a 46-seat center.

Four more people are actively going through the program with Abbey Carlson, Start Small’s childcare coach.

“One of the things that she hears over and over again from each participant is, ‘I would have quit without her support,'” Brubaker said. “Licensing and working through (Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) and all of this, to these new business owners, is something that many of them have never experienced and don’t know.”

Through a partnership with the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance, people who participate with Carlson get access to up to $20,000 in grants to offset the costs of items such as fire extinguishers or new sinks the state can request as a condition of the license, Brubaker said.

The shortage of child care slots in the area has also corresponded to a shortage of staff. Three people who have gone through Start Small went on to child care positions within existing programs. One more person enrolled in the education program at Northern Michigan University.

Start Small is also working to provide advice on business practices to assist existing centers, and helping other groups that are investigating the possibility of center-based programs.

“About 600 kids and we’ve got 67 slots coming,” Brubaker said. “Means we’ve got about 500 more to go. But one step at a time, right?”