R2023-51 Resolution Authorizing Agreement with Love Learning and Laugher Daycare

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ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT DATE: March 20, 2023 TO: Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and City Council Members FROM: Scot Wrighton, City Manager Cordaryl "Pat"Patrick, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Purchase of the Former Wee Folks building and adjacent parcels and a related with Love Learning and Laughter Daycare for the Provision of Providing Childcare in the Urban Core RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the City Council approve the resolution authorizing the purchase of nine (9)properties including the former Wee Folks building and the resolution to sell and provide funds for renovations to one(1)of the nine parcels (04-12-11-409- 011) to Love Learning and Laughter Daycare for operating a new childcare facility in the urban core. BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to economic, health, and social hardships for millions of people and a new awareness of the changes needed to reduce pandemic impacts in the future. As a result, the Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus (CDBG-CV) response grants were provided as supplemental funding to CDBG grantees under the CARES Act, to fund a wide range of community development activities to help communities prevent, prepare for,and respond to the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate future risks. The City of Decatur has an unobligated balance of approximately $1 million dollars remaining that must be committed (under a project contract) by September 2023. At the City Council's February 6th regular meeting, the Council approved a resolution to allocate these funds to four different projects, in which staff committed to bringing each project back to Council as a formal agreement for consideration. One of the four projects is the acquisition and facility improvements of the former Wee Folks property. The City of Decatur and Macon County partnered to do a workforce development systems assessment, strategy and implementation roadmap. One of the key observations was, Decatur-Macon County has a significant shortage of childcare facilities, and this problem acts to depress the number of residents who can participate in the local workforce. The former Wee Folks building located on North Jasper street was formally a childcare facility that had to close during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. This left a significant gap in the childcare ecosystem. City staff has identified an entity(Love Learning and Laughter Daycare) willing to re-start a childcare facility in the former Wee Folks building. This project is representative of some many of the City Council's neighborhood revitalization initiatives. This project is along Jasper St corridor,it invests and supports a minority small business, which will help to fill the childcare needs of people living in the urban core so they too can achieve higher participation in the workforce.