A Child Care Strategy Plan for Small Municipalities

Child Care (and housing) has finally been recognized as a serious economic development issue. However there are a whole host of issues that block municipalities from addressing it.

First off - no one is in charge. There are lots of people involved in child care, but who in your municipality is actually responsible for the growth of child care?

No one. And until municipalities step up, no one will be.

Need one is leadership - and this needs to be you Mayor/President/Chair. Until you are convinced and committed, child care efforts will be continue to wander.

Second, staffing. You thought leadership was hard? Where are you going to find the time of existing staff, or the money to pay for new staff? Like leadership, until you do, child care efforts will be hampered. You have to have staff to implement your efforts.

After those two hurdles, the rest of the effort is straight forward planning and implementation - Develop facts, organize the community, develop mission, goals, and actions.

Attached is the plan that we put together for the City of Lancaster. Simple, to the point, but a solid strategy for the City which is being implemented now.

The Issue:

 There is a lack of child care in Lancaster.  In addition, several facilities have closed in the County, and at least one Lancaster child care center may close, which would further exacerbate this issue. This lack impacts residents’ ability to work, limits employee availability, and may result in parents choosing child care options that are not safe.

 Mission of the City

 We will facilitate a better childcare economy by working with families, businesses, community groups, financing institutions and child care providers to achieve sufficient levels of high-quality child care that meets the needs of the community, while paying living wages to its employees, and insuring the long-term sustainability of the child care businesses.

 Goals of the City

 Understand the needs of families, employers, and businesses in the City

1. Quantify the actual need in the City of child care for families – amount, type, cost, hours available
2. Identify the needs of employers in Lancaster
3. Identify the needs of child care businesses to locate and grow in Lancaster
4. Identify the needs of child care employees for training, wages, and benefits 

2. Partner with residents, businesses, employers, and other groups to work together to address these issues. 

3. Assist private businesses to develop sufficient levels of quality child care to meet the needs of residents and business in the City.
1. Location Assistance
2. Identifying and procuring funding assistance for expansions 

4. Work with other partners to address needed changes to state law and work to implement those changes. 

5. Develop up to 200 new child care slots that address the needs of the community, working with both child care center and home-based child care 

6. Working with other communities, consider creation of a child care advocate position. 

Actions to Achieve the Goals

 

1. We are holding public meetings to raise the issue, identify potential partners, as well as find needs and possible solutions. 

2. To build a core team in the City of “invested community members” to work with to address the issues identified, develop, and expand our strategic planning, and prepare grant applications. 

3. Conducting a survey of employees in large businesses. This will:
1. Complete the required survey for accessing funds from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Partner Up grant, which we are hopeful will be re-funded this year.  Funding from this program can be used to increase staff compensation, pay expenses, reserve child care slots for local business employees, improve the quality of a child care program, and more.
2. Identify actual child care needs in the Community.  We all “know” there is a need for more child care, but no one can quantity what that need is.  This survey will provide actual data.
3. Elevate the issue with local businesses, working with them to address the needs for additional child care 

Background

In late 2022 it became clear that the largest child care provider in the City (Maple Street Day Care) was going to need to relocate or close. This was the impetus for the Mayor (Stuart Harper) to begin to reach out to begin to address the issue of child care.

First Public Meeting

Organized by the Mayor, an initial meeting was held on November 17^th, bringing interested residents and business owners together to discuss the issues and needs of the community.

The 14 participants – providers, businesses, regulators identified issues, questions we need answers to, and solutions that we need to find.

 

·        Issues:

o  Lack of available childcare-extensive wait list

o  Lack of affordable childcare

o  Staffing, including substitutes (limited pool of applicants)

o  Degree requirements for childcare employees

o  More childcare providers leaving the field than entering

o  Over regulation stifles childcare

o  Lack of facilities that meet code

o  Lack of profitability of childcare business model

o  Profitability impacted by creation of Pre-K programs in the school systems

o  Lack of PM daycare (2^nd and 3^rd shift)

o  Parents using the library as after school daycare

o  Fragmented interests – no central authority, focus, person-agency in charge

o  Bad weather – school closures impact employees

 

·        What questions do we need answers to?

o  How are SWTech and UW Platteville partnering with their communities and can they partner with Lancaster

o  What is the actual need – quantify the need – what is the 0 to 4k population.  What is the Lancaster childcare service area?

o  What is needed to make childcare sustainable

o  How does the River Ridge after school program work?

o  What is the short term v. long term needs

o  Who might be financial partners?

o  Is Fund 80 a possible source of funding

o  Is major business sponsorship possible?  What are creative ways to involve them?

o  Is Orchard Manor space a possibility?

o  Do existing churches have co-space that could be used?

 

·        What do we need solutions to?

o  Maple Street Day Care Track – Funding

o  Wages for employees

o  Additional space (more than the MSDC)

o  After School Programs

o  Night/Weekend Care

o  Funding

o  Regulations

o  Possible Cooperation on management between day cares

o  How to involve businesses in seeing day care as an employee retention/recruitment issue

 

·        Next Steps:

o  Maple Street Focus – cost of construction, funding, building

o  City/Ron Brisbois to investigate grant opportunities

o  Meet with major businesses

o  Form core group of participants in effort

o  Consider sub groups for individual parts

o  Consider development of Child Care Advocate position with County/other Grant County Communities

 Second Public Meeting

The City chose to seek a Dream Up! Grant from the State of Wisconsin.  To submit an application, the community needed to identify “Invested Community Members”.  We reviewed with the attendees the progress the City had made and formally asked attenders to agree to be core members.

This following is our core team who have participated in the process and have formally committed to being part of the leadership to accomplish our goals.

Core Team Member	Title/Organization
Stuart Harper	Mayor, City of Lancaster
David Carlson	City Administrator, City of Lancaster
Renae Blaschke	Early Child Education Instructor, SWTC
Heather Bontrager	Executive Director, Lancaster Area Chamber of Commerce
Amanda Buschor	Dairy Farm Owner, Special Education Para
Holly Denmar	Director, Giggles and Wiggles Child Care
CeCe Fishnick	Economic Support Supervisor, Grant County Dept. of Social Services
Pete Hoffman	Owner, Lancaster Dental Associates
Samantha Klein	Mortgage Banker, Community First Bank
Jim Muench	Director, Maple Street Child Care
David Timmerman	Editor, Grant County Herald Independent
Kyle Vesperman	Owner, Vesperman Farms, Director, Lancaster Community Fund
Rob Wagner	Administrator, Lancaster Community School District

Grant County Data

From data provided by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, 50% of zip codes in Grant County qualify as “child care deserts”.  The term Child Care Desert is used to describe whether families in a geographical area have access to child care.   The definition of child care desert is Any ZIP code with at least 30 children under the age of 5 years where there are 3 or more children under the age of 5 years for every 1 child care spot is considered a child care desert.  While the Lancaster zip code (53813) is not considered a child care desert, five of the seven zip codes surrounding Lancaster are.

 

Zip Code	# of Children under Five per Existing Child Care Slot
53813 (Lancaster)	1.6
53804	69
53816	37
53809 (Fenimore)	2.1
53825	46
53818 (Platteville)	1.2
53820	79
53806	9.5
Eight Zip Code Avg	30.7

 

There is 1 licensed child care slot for every 30 children under the age of five, making the area a Child Care desert.

There are currently 39 licensed Child Care providers in the County.  59% are Licensed groups, 41% are Licensed Family (Eight of less children in an at home child care).  There are 0% Certified Child Care Providers (Three or less in a licensed home environment).

In those 39 regulated child care programs, they have 1,083 total daytime spaces, and the State of Wisconsin considers only 38% to be “high quality”, having earned a 3-5 star rating from Wisconsin’s Young Star System.  An additional 38% are ranked 2 star, with 23% not participating in Young Star.

Data Accessed 6-12-2023, https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/childcare/pdg/sandbox/data2

Using the same data sources, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA) calculates that there is a gap, or need, for an additional 1,208 child care slots in the County.  This is based on the number of children in the county under age five (2020 Census Data), multiplied by .74 (it is assumed that 74% of children under the age of five require child care out of the home

In addition, WECA estimates that, as of 2018, there are 94 unregulated providers in the County, as identified by reviewing the WI Census Bureau Economic Survey of Sole Proprietors.  The number of licensed and certified family providers is subtracted from the number of sole proprietors to determine the estimated number of unregulated providers.

Statewide data

Summary facts from the Childcare in Wisconsin and its Impact on Workforce and the Economy, prepared by Baker Tilly for the Wisconsin Economic Development Institute, Oct 2022, Feb 2023

·        75% of Wisconsin employers say the state economy is impacted by a parent’s ability to find affordable, high-quality childcare.

·        Wisconsin families with one infant are spending 20% of their annual income on childcare.

·        The typical family with an infant and a four-year-old child are spending 33% of their annual income on childcare.

·        There are more than three children under age 5 for everyone licensed childcare slot

 

 

SAMPLE FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

THE PARENTING PLACE

POSITION DESCRIPTION

 

Position Title:  Child Care Development Coordinator – City of La Crosse

Department:  Early Care and Education

Reports to:  Director of Early Care and Education

 

Position Summary:

The Child Care Development Coordinator for the City of La Crosse supports the vision and mission of The Parenting Place by working to increase the quality and availability of child care within the City of La Crosse by building awareness in businesses and community members of the economic necessity of child care. 

 

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

 

A.     Coordination and Communication of Child Care Initiatives

a.      Serve on local child-care focused committees

b.      Act as connector and liaison among similarly-focused projects to create efficiency and synergy

c.      Identify and prevent duplication of efforts

d.      Provide a direct connection to child care related organizations such as other CCR&R’s, Supporting Families Together Association, WECA and the Department of Children and Families

e.      Demonstrate awareness of additional funding opportunities and forward to leadership within The Parenting Place for review

B.     Outreach and Community Education

a.      Provide existing child care data in response to community need

b.      Design tools and processes to meet unfilled data needs

c.      Leverage the CCR&R’s existing relationships with businesses and build new relationships

d.      Engage with and educate business and community leaders around the importance of quality child care and its impact on the economy and community

e.      Collaborate with community and system stakeholders to develop, coordinate, and implement culturally responsive organizational outreach plans and strategies

f.       Conduct one-on-one or group meetings or information sessions as needed to build relationships

C.     Coordinate Child Care Development Projects and Distribution of Resources Provided by City of La Crosse including:

a.      Retentions efforts such as training, coaching and financial support programs

b.      Expansion efforts such as connecting sites with available grant and loan programs to increase physical capacity or fill unmet staffing needs

c.      Recruitment efforts such as start-up grants, efficient and affordable access to entry-level courses, and technical assistance for start-up programs

d.      Seek out and coordinate efforts with other county, state or national level funding or support opportunities

 

D.    Other Responsibilities

a.      Participate in department and agency meetings as required

b.      Participate in agency functions such as fundraisers and community outreach events

c.      Prepare monthly, quarterly and/or annual reports as required by agency and funders

d.      Assist with agency phone coverage

e.      Perform other duties as assigned by Director of Early Care and Education or Executive Director

Minimum Qualifications:

a.      Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Community Development or Early Childhood

b.      Economic development knowledge or experience

c.      Familiarity with current state of child care and challenges in Western Wisconsin

d.      Strong understanding of the role of child care in economic viability

e.      Familiarity with Wisconsin child care regulation and support systems

f.       Strong oral and written communication skills

g.      Comfortable with public speaking

h.      Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, email, database operations and internet navigation

i.       Data collection experience

j.       Strong organizational skills

k.      Ability to work collaboratively as well as independently

l.       Flexibility to effectively perform work duties that evolve according to changing needs

m.    Ability to communicate non-judgmentally with co-workers and community members

n.      Satisfactory completion of background check process

o.      Reliable transportation with adequate automobile insurance

p.      Physical requirements of the position include the ability to operate a computer for 2-3 hours, ability to sit for 6 to 8 hours, ability to stand for 2 to 3 hours, ability to crouch, kneel and navigate stairways.  This position also involves exposure to outdoor weather conditions.

Preferred Qualifications:

a.      Three years of economic development experience

b.      Experience navigating child care regulations

c.      Familiarity with challenges and barriers facing the early care and education field

Acknowledgement:

I understand that this job description describes the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this position.  It does not state or imply that these are the only duties and responsibilities assigned to the job, and does not create an employment contract.  I understand that I am an employee at will as that term is defined by Wisconsin state law.  I also understand that I may be required to perform other job-related duties as requested by the Director of Early Care and Education or Executive Director.  All requirements are subject to change over time, within administration’s sole discretion, and to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with a disability.

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________            _________________________

Employee Signature                                                                                 Date

 

State Data on Licensed Child Care Providers in Grant County, as of 6-13-2018

Application Type	Facility Name	City	Capacity	From Age	To Age	Hours	Months	Full Time	Star Level
LICENSED FAMILY	MATHEWS FAMILY DAYCARE	Muscoda	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED FAMILY	MORGAN'S DAYCARE	Cuba City	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	SANDY'S DAY CARE	Platteville	6	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	9 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:15 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED GROUP	SWTC KIDS TOWN USA CCC	Fennimore	60	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:00 AM-05:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP LANCASTER HEAD START	Lancaster	18	3 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	4 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP MUSCODA HEAD START	Muscoda	26	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 1 Week(s)	4 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	-	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP HEAD START PLATTEVILLE	Platteville	36	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP BOSCOBEL HEAD START	Boscobel	28	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP FENNIMORE HEAD START	Fennimore	17	3 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Aug-May	-	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SWCAP BOSCOBEL HS 4K	Boscobel	15	4 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-04:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	5 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	KIDDIE CABOOSE	Fennimore	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 4 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	LITTLE BLOOMERS FAMILY DAYCARE	Platteville	5	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 2 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	KIDZ KORNER	Glen Haven	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:00 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	LANCASTER PRESCHOOL	Lancaster	22	2 Year(s), 6 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:50 AM-	Sep-May	-	Not Rated
LICENSED GROUP	GREAT BEGINNINGS LEARNING CTR LLC	Platteville	61	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 2 Week(s)	13 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	4 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	TRISHA'S TYKES DAYCARE	Platteville	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:00 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED FAMILY	KING CARE	Kieler	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-06:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED GROUP	UW PLATTEVILLE CHILDRENS CENTER	Platteville	48	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	9 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:30 AM-05:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	5 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	UW PLATTEVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER WV	Platteville	40	5 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	10 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	-	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	UW PLATTEVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER NW	Platteville	60	4 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	10 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	-	2 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	FIRST STEP PRESCHOOL DAYCARE	Fennimore	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED GROUP	FRIENDLY FROGS CHILD CARE LLC	Platteville	94	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	IMAGINATION STATION LLC	Platteville	27	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	13 Year(s), 7 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:30 AM-05:45 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	WALMER'S FAMILY DAYCARE	Livingston	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	LANGE'S FAMILY DAYCARE	Platteville	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	7 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	SNUG AS A BUG CHILD CARE CENTER LLC	Cuba City	62	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 4 Week(s)	13 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:00 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	LITTLE PRINTS LEARNING CENTER LLC	Lancaster	26	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 2 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:00 AM-09:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	GIGGLES AND WIGGLES DAYCARE CTR LLC	Lancaster	29	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	10 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	07:00 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED FAMILY	ERIN'S SUNSHINE DAYCARE	Fennimore	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	JUST 4 KIDZ LLC	Cuba City	50	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	05:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	KIDS' CORNER	Fennimore	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 4 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated
LICENSED GROUP	MAPLE STREET KIDS DAYCARE INC	Lancaster	78	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	NEIS FAMILY DAY CARE	Platteville	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 4 Week(s)	9 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:00 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	2 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	IN THE BEGINNING CHILD CARE AND LEARNING CENTER	Boscobel	50	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	12 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	04:45 AM-06:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED GROUP	COUNTRY CARE CHILDREN'S CENTER LLC	Cuba City	45	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 6 Week(s)	11 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:30 AM-05:30 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	3 Stars
LICENSED FAMILY	LEXA'S LITTLES	Boscobel	8	0 Year(s), 0 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	5 Year(s), 11 Month(s), 0 Week(s)	06:45 AM-05:00 PM	Jan-Dec	Y	Not Rated