June 30, 2023 – Childcare Needs Assessment, Summit Bike Share & Fire Safety Info.

Today, we cover: Results of a childcare needs assessment in Summit County Exciting news about Summit Bike Share Fire safety and prevention information  Childcare Needs Assessment  At this week’s County Council meeting, the results of a childcare needs assessment conducted here in Summit County were presented. Some key findings from the report, which has been in the works since August of 2022, included:  Working Families Need Childcare. The majority of working families in Summit County rely on someone outside of themselves or their spouse/partner/co-parent to provide childcare and over 80% of survey respondents in the report said that childcare issues had affected their employment, such as causing them to reduce hours at work or decline/not seek promotions.   Current Summit County Childcare Capacity Is Insufficient. The current capacity of licensed childcare centers is not sufficient to meet demand and waitlists are extremely high, particularly for infants. In fact, according to the report, Summit County lacks 1,133 spaces to meet the estimated demand. Childcare is Unaffordable for Many Families. Based on survey results, the majority of parents with children aged five or younger in Summit County are paying more than 10% of their income on childcare and most families do not receive any kind of financial support to cover the costs of childcare. Losing Federal Pandemic Support Will Further Decrease Access and Increase Costs.  Federal funds provided the Summit County childcare industry with an investment of over two and a half million dollars in calendar year 2022 alone. In Summit County, 40% of childcare provider survey respondents reported that their program would be closed now without the stabilization payments and all of the recipients used the stabilization payments to increase wages for their employees. Loss of the stabilization grants will only exacerbate historically inadequate compensation causing a workforce shortage in the early childcare industry. Lack Of Access to High-Quality Early Care and Education Harms the Community At Large. Investing in high-quality, affordable childcare and early childhood education in coordination with parental support and health programs helps: (1) closes the achievement gap, (2) assists local employers in attracting and retaining their workforce, (3) strengthens school districts, (4) breaks the cycle of poverty, and (5) maximizes our collective return on investment. If you’re interested in learning more, you can read the report in full at bit.ly/2023childcareneeds. Ultimately, the Council was interested in creating a working group that would include representatives from local and state government, the business community, and nonprofits, to come up with a plan to meet the demand now and in the future. An ideal plan that would include: where the money comes from? Who implements the services? What impact will the services create? And so on.  The Council was wary of making a monetary investment as a band aid solution to the childcare gap and was cautious in their roles as stewards of public monies. However, they