(Atlantic) Childcare Resource & Referral of Southwest Iowa is sounding the alarm on a childcare shortage in the Atlantic community. In the last two weeks, multiple childcare programs in Atlantic have closed their doors, for a variety of reasons, leaving almost 100 children without childcare.
Kelsey Smith-Walhovd, CCR&R Childcare Consultant, said one of Childcare Resource & Referral’s goals is to recruit and retain the childcare workforce so the community can grow and thrive.
“We know without a childcare workforce there is no other workforce. Iowa leads the nation in all available parents in each household working, so we know that those parents need childcare, so that is our mission,” stated Smith-Walhovd.
Childcare Resource & Referral will be hosting a “Child Care Ready ” series, an online recruitment event, with hopes to recruit, retain, train and support quality childcare and early education providers.
“Our efforts have always been focused on supporting our childcare providers and programs and even more so right now on recruitment and retention of childcare workforce. We have a series that is starting soon called “Child Care Ready” and as participants sign up and get through the four class series they will have all of the training required of them to either be childcare staff at a center or to start a small business of their own as a child development home,” said Smith-Walhovd.
Childcare Resource and Referral has partnered with the Iowa Women’s Foundation to provide a small $250.00 incentive grant to each participant who completes the series. Funding will be primarily used to pay for costs associated with the start-up of becoming a childcare home provider opening a Child Development Home business. The incentive will potentially remove the barriers associated with the costs of training, start-up materials, supplies, and other issues individuals might be facing. Core training requirements, health, and safety items will be the first priority for childcare providers. This includes: Essentials Pre-Service training, CPR/First Aid, participant support, background checks, fingerprinting, business starter-kits, and incentives.
CCR&R is looking to expand their $250 incentive grant to better serve individuals looking to start their own home business. They have partnered with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce and Cass/Atlantic Development in their efforts. The group is asking businesses/individuals to make a monetary donation of their choice to the project to be paired with the $250 grant. This will better incentivize and recruit new childcare providers to fill an immediate need while retaining and supporting existing childcare programs currently operating. If businesses or individuals wish to make a contribution to their efforts, checks can be made out to Cass/Atlantic Development or dropped off at their office located at 14 West 6th Street, Atlantic.
The “Childcare Ready” series event is available at no cost to attendees. If you are interested in opening a Child Development Home business, email Child Care Resource & Referral of Southwest Iowa at surich@westcca.org or 712-579-9057 for more information.
