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Child care crisis needs creative, cooperative solutions, say forum leaders

Free Press - 8/1/2018

Aug. 01--MANKATO -- Blue Earth County needs 900 more child care openings, according to a new study. That's the third highest number in south-central and southeastern Minnesota.

Nearly 100 child care professionals, public policymakers and economic development leaders gathered Tuesday to hear a new analysis of the child care shortage and discuss potential remedies.

"With the 8,600 needed spots for children in our region, it's going to take all of our involvement to help address this crisis," said Teri Steckelberg, early childhood director for the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation.

The foundation hosted the luncheon, which also included presentations from multiple agencies working to improve child care quality and accessibility.

First Children's Finance Business Development Manager Jeff Andrews shared a new study conducted by his organization estimating the size of the child care gap across the state. The analysis looked at state licensing and census data to compare the number of licensed child care slots to an estimated number of young inhabitants who have working parents.

In the 20 counties served by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, there is an estimated shortfall of more than 8,600 openings.

In Blue Earth County, the study found that over 900 more children are in need of child care than there are available spots. Olmsted and Mower counties were the only counties in the region with larger shortfalls.

In south-central Minnesota, Waseca County has the second greatest deficit of nearly 100, and Brown County has the smallest deficit of fewer than 100.

Steele County is the only county with more openings than needed, and the surplus is fewer than 30.

All of the speakers suggested the child care shortage is a communitywide issue that requires community investment to solve.

"This is not an issue that's limited to families," Andrews said. "It's extending beyond into our communities and impacting growth around the state."

The Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is now investing $1.5 million to $2 million a year toward resources for child care providers, said President and CEO Tim Penny. That aid includes grants, loans and free training opportunities. The foundation will introduce new pilot projects in the fall, he said, including grants for communities that sponsor their own initiatives aimed at alleviating the crisis.

First Children's Finance provides loans and other start-up support for child care provides and works with communities to assess needs and build partnerships.

Andrews said building a standalone child care center is the go-to plan to respond to shortages in communities. But such centers often are not financially sustainable, he said.

He highlighted several unique partnerships in other communities that have included public or business subsidies and/or locating day cares on the same site as another enterprise.

One business, for example, provided free space for an on-campus care center run by a nonprofit parent cooperative.

A nursing home provided space for an independent day care provider, and assistance including meals for the children and insurance for the child care workers. The children and senior residents now participate together in multigenerational programs.

A school district that was leasing space in a school to a day care took over when the day care became financially insolvent and community organizations contributed funding for operations.

A small city in northern Minnesota transformed a no longer needed portion of a government building into spaces for multiple small care providers.

Andrews said some key components of finding creative solutions in other communities include establishing a leadership team that is representative of the community, engaging the community, garnering support from businesses, and doing cost and revenue projections to predict whether ideas will be financially viable.

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(c)2018 The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.)

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