ALAMOSA — A public hearing was held by the Alamosa City Council on Wednesday to entertain a motion authorizing the city staff to submit a Community Development Block Grant for $540,000. The money will be used for the design and engineering phase and the hiring of a project manager for an early childhood center. The motion passed unanimously 5-0 with Mayor Ty Coleman abstaining as he sits on the Early Childhood Board of Directors and Councilor Kristina Daniel absent.

Staff was contacted by representatives from the Early Childhood Stakeholders group about the City’s willingness to serve as a pass-through for an application of a Community Development Block Grant.  The efforts of this group are thought to be important for not only Alamosa, but the entire San Luis Valley and the city staff feels that the construction of an early childhood center is critical. 

As described by Aaron Miltenberger of the Alamosa Boys and Girls Club,

“These funds aren’t for the building of a building, it’s really to ask the community what they want, it’s to work with some design architects on a good design, and we’ll do a process just like what happened with the Cancer Center. (We’ll) make sure we do some planning and design and don’t just pop up something that our community may not be interested in.”

The Early Childhood Education Stakeholders Group in the San Luis Valley has been meeting over the last several months.  The purpose is to engage the San Luis Valley community to develop a high-quality Early Childhood Care and Education Center, in Alamosa, that brings together multiple funding streams and wide community support.

The group currently has representatives from the Alamosa School District, Adams State University, First Southwest Community Fund, Center for Restorative Programs, Marsh Elementary, Trinidad State Jr. College, City of Alamosa - Economic Development, Early Childhood Council and Boys & Girls Club.

“Really excited about the support from the city and being willing to be that fiscal agent that does that actual application,” said Miltenberger.