RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — Affordable and accessible child care is an issue for many communities throughout the nation. That’s why Elevate Rapid City is hoping to help with a loan program.

Rural America Initiatives is a child care service that has about 270 kids with 13 classrooms.

“The loan that we will get from Elevate will help us to construct 8 new classrooms which will allow us to add 80 new slots to our preschool,” Bruce Long Fox, Exec. Dir. of Rural America Initiatives, said.

Elevate Rapid City is awarding 200,000 dollars to several childcare facilities so that families can continue to work while their kids are being taken care of.

“We know that we are not going to solve the issue but we had a number of applicants and they are looking at expanding their services and adding more slots to their services and we are helping them make that leap,” Lori Frederick, Senior Economic Development Dir., said.

Elevate Rapid City is also awarding to other child care facilities in the community. Including Children’s House Montessori and Little Treasures Daycare and Preschool.

With the population of Rapid City on the rise, childcare is a growing need.

“We see a number of families coming to the region and in order to attract those young families and having them come here and be a part of our community, there are certain services they have to have in order to be a part of the workforce and to come here and that child care service is definitely needed,” Frederick said.

“We feel like we are preparing ahead of time to meet some of those needs for growth,” Long Fox said.

Last week, Rural America Initiatives received one-million dollars from the John T. Vucurevich Foundation. The organization is working to fundraise $4 million for the entire expansion project.