Child care shortage meeting is Monday; Participants to review ideas

Dec. 09--Ideas about how the Austin area can address its child care shortage were aired during a Rural Child Care Innovation Program town hall meeting in early November

Now, a meeting on Monday will help review the ideas generated at the November meeting and further solidify the project goals for the next 18 months.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Hormel Historic Home.

During the November meeting, data gathered showed the city of Austin to be short just over 800 child care openings, while a 1,370-slot shortage was determined countywide, and including areas in Freeborn County, including Albert Lea.

Jeff Andrews, a business development specialist for First Children's Finance, who has been guiding the community on analyzing child care needs in the community, said perception is different between parents and providers.

While 52 percent of providers believe there is good availability of child care, only 8 percent of the community believed it to be good; 41 percent in the community believed availability to be poor, while no providers thought the availability was poor, according to the data collected.

Families, according to the data, found safety and a healthy environment a top priority; licensure second; and an educational curriculum third. They also want the daycare to be conveniently located with a provider who has a high level of education; that the provider has received high marks from Parent Aware, a rating system to determine whether a provider is current on best practices. And, many said they wanted the provider to be someone they know.

Andrews said data showed a definite link between finding child care and the local economy; 22 percent said they withdrew from the workforce or declined employment due to lack of child care arrangements. Forty percent said they had been absent from work due to lack of child care; 30 percent said they could not work overtime due to provider hours; another 28 percent said they were late for work because of child care challenges. Still another 20 percent said they were unable to work another shift due to child care needs.

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