SASD Community Helping Hands Award

The Community Helping Hands Award recognizes a school district and their non-school community partner for their outstanding collaboration in implementing a successful program, project or activity that has generated significant local community involvement and positively impacted the education of children.

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2025 Winner

Brookings School District – Brookings Childcare Collaborative (BCCC)

Through this initiative, Brookings School District and its community partners have built a model that supports children’s early development, enables, family stability and fuels economic growth.  The mission of BCCC is to expand access to quality, affordable child care, enabling children, families and local businesses to thrive.  It brings together the Brookings School District, nonprofits, city and county leaders, local employers and early childhood professionals under one unified goal. Together, this group works to create a financially sustainable childcare system that supports working families and invests in the early learning workforce.  The community partners provide funding, business mentorship, space and technical assistance which reduces startup costs and scales operations efficiently.  Childcare providers receive mentoring, operational support and access to shared services i.e. grant writing and administrative tools.  By focusing on early childhood development, the BCCC helps ensure that more children arrive at kindergarten prepared to learn and thrive.  The BCCC represents what is possible when schools and communities work together.