Child care is essential to the growth of local economies and the well-being of families. Child care is already a large expense for families, yet tuition does not cover the true cost of care. This outcome depresses wages for child care workers and leads to staffing shortages and diminished child care slot availability. To improve access to child care, policy solutions must increase child care worker wages.
We partnered with Outagamie County and the Fox Valley Child Care Alliance (the Alliance) to understand how child care availability affects area employers. We interviewed several local business leaders to gather their perspectives on child care challenges and to understand what they see as viable solutions. We had a particular interest in the development of a community fund. Community funding is a model that raises money from businesses and other organizations that then gets distributed back to local child care initiatives.
UniverCity Year Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu