Mimi Obazeluwa is the mother of a one-year old and three-year old, which is a handful in an of itself. But making that job tougher is that Obazeluwa's husband is serving overseas.
For many military families, the burden can be a lot to take.
"It's a lot of work, and so just having this benefit really, really makes a difference for our family," Obazeluwa tells WCCO's Susie Jones.
She was on hand as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced the launch of a new Department of Defense initiative that will expand child care benefits for military families.
“Minnesota’s military families make incredible sacrifices for our state and country,” said Governor Walz. “These families deserve affordable, reliable child care that allows them the flexibility to work, visit the doctor, and manage their lives. By increasing child care options and lowering expenses, we’re making sure our military families know we have their back.”
The initiative will increase child care options for military families, while reducing the cost of child care expenses up to $1,800 per month, per child.
Minnesota National Guard Major General Shawn Manke says that is critical to retaining the troops.
"You know, in the Minnesota National Guard, people are clearly our most important resource and they're our number one priority because we can't do anything without people," Manke explains. "And that's why this program is just another tool that we have to help retain our quality service members, not only in the Minnesota National Guard, but in the reserves or other active duty components here in Minnesota."
The initiative will be funded and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense Benefits, and will help a lot of families says Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flannagan.
"In Minnesota, we have over 10,000 spouses and more than 16,000 children of active duty National Guard and reserve members," Flanagan says. "And so this is, you know, considerably large population in Minnesota who are doing good work to keep us safe.
As of January 2024, Minnesota has nearly 1,600 active duty service members and more than 21,000 active National Guard and reserve members. Minnesota joins 14 other states and counties in this expanded program.
The announcement came on Monday at a child care center in Brooklyn Park, which is already doing work to support military families.
"All of our classrooms here have live feeds so families can log in whether they're in California or Kuwait, wherever it may be, they can log-in and watch their child during the day," says Janelle Mickely who is with the Minnesota Child Care Association.
Obazeluwa says she is grateful for the help and that help starts next month. She says paying for child care is about as expensive as college tuition now.
"The support is tremendous," she says. "It makes us happy to know that we can serve this country, and serve well, and have that support and backing."
The initiative expands child care options through the fee assistance program, known as Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS (MCCYN-PLUS). This fee assistance program, offered to eligible military families, will include quality state rated providers when on-installation child care is unavailable. This program is funded and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Benefits will be paid directly to qualifying child care providers from the DoD.