T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY IVH Commandant Matt Peterson said he has the support of Gov. Kim Reynolds on the childcare center project, which is estimated to cost between $6 and $8 million and would include a mix of state and private funding.

Iowa Veterans Home (IVH) Commandant Matthew Peterson is well aware of the shortage of available and affordable childcare across the state. Instead of simply talking about the problem, however, he set out to do something about it.

Although the project is still in the planning stages, Peterson has announced plans for a 200 to 300 capacity childcare facility on the southwest side of the campus open to both the families of IVH employees and the Marshalltown community at large — IVH employees would, however, receive a discount for their own families. His goal is to bring on a local childcare provider to lease and operate the center and create between 30 and 40 new jobs in total.

“For the local community, the employees of the veterans home, the staff of the veterans home (and) the children of the community, It’s a win across the board because for the already existing childcare operation, they’re going to have an opportunity to occupy a brand new, state-of-the-art facility that they didn’t have to pay a dime to build,” Peterson said.

According to Peterson, IVH is currently exploring two estimates for the facility: one that would cost just under $6 million and serve 200 children and another that would cost closer to $8 million and serve 300 children. The design, he noted, is similar to that of the Fox and Ulery buildings and will blend in well with the rest of the campus.

The plan is to finance construction through a mix of state funding and private fundraising, and Peterson knows he’ll have to work hard to make it happen. Nonetheless, he’s excited to take on the challenge.

“I will ask for contributions that the law and the governor ask me to,” he said. “What I can tell you is the Governor (Kim Reynolds) is very excited about this. Confronting the childcare crisis is one of her priorities as well as innovating the workforce, and this is kind of a blend of those two things.”

The average age of IVH residents, Peterson noted, is 76 years old, and as most of them are grandparents or of grandparent age themselves, they love the opportunity to interact with children.

“There’s no real downside here, and at this point, everybody agrees that it’s a great idea that just needs to have some details ironed out,” he said.

Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall said the IVH childcare development is the type of project he loves to see happen, and he wants to help facilitate it in whatever way he can.

“We rely heavily on the private sector to come up with all these solutions and be the folks that are being innovative, but it’s wonderful to have an entity in town that is trying to be innovative in their own approach to solving their own workforce challenges,” Hall said. “I think this is a great opportunity to utilize a facility that we’ve got and build out on their campus.”

Hall also sees the childcare component as a piece of a broader effort to grow Marshalltown and the surrounding area in the coming years.

“To have workforce challenges at any of our businesses is never good. We know one of our biggest barriers in our workforce issues right now is the availability of childcare,” he said. “The commandant understands that, and he said ‘You know what? Rather than just sitting back and offering insights about the challenges that they’re dealing with, why don’t we come up with some unique and innovative solutions and see what can stick?’ So we’re always supportive of anything like that.”

While much work remains to be done, Peterson is thrilled to have the support of Gov. Reynolds, and he said he has yet to hear from a community member who isn’t excited about the project.

“I hope to learn the satisfaction of what it’s like to combine the local community with the state government working towards a common goal. It’s a goal that’s a little bit and a little bit intimidating, but I think if your goals don’t scare you a little bit, you’ve got the wrong goals,” Peterson said. “What I hope to learn is about fundraising, about project management, but ultimately about how a community comes together to work with the state government to do something that benefits everybody involved.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.