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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMore employers are taking it upon themselves to help workers find child care, a costly service that can be elusive for working Hoosier parents.
In Indiana, the average annual cost of child care for an infant is $12,612, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Parents of a 4-year-old child pay an average of $9,557 per year. That is compared with the average yearly cost in Indiana for college ($9,038) and housing ($9,613).
Additionally, 55% of Hoosiers live in an area that is considered a child care desert where there are too few licensed slots for the number of children who need care, according to the Center for American Progress.
A lack of child care prevents parents from going to work, which leads to problems like housing insecurity, food insecurity and a lack of health care.
“It creates some really problematic downstream effects,” said Sam Snideman, vice president of government relations for the United Way of Central Indiana. “It has the potential to harm your current economic situation, but also your long-term economic mobility and security.”
That is why state leaders and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce worked last year to involve employers in the child care process to lower costs and increase availability to workers, said Jason Bearce, vice president of education and workforce for the Indiana Chamber.
“You’re talking about the equivalent of a car payment or house payment every couple of weeks, so you can imagine what a strain that can put on a family,” Bearce said.
Last October, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a one-time grant program called the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund.
Its purpose is to create opportunities for employers to provide on-site or near-site child care, either on their own or through a partnership with a local organization. The hope is that employers will build upon their child care systems once their programs are in place.
“It’s not a solution in and of itself, but we believe it is part of the solution,” Bearce said.
The fund, administered by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning, used federal pandemic relief dollars to award $25 million to 86 Indiana-based companies, not-for-profits and school systems in 46 counties. Recipients were named in two rounds late last year and early this year.
The recipients ranged in size from 20 employees to more than 1,000 employees. Grant amounts ranged from $25,000 for the smallest employers to $750,000 for the largest.
Employers indicated in their applications what type of program they wanted to establish.
They could apply to:
◗ sponsor dependent-care assistance plans,
◗ provide on-site or near-site child care,
◗ establish priority waitlist partnerships,
◗ offer tuition benefits,
◗ reserve seats in local child care programs,
◗ provide backup care options,
◗ make community infrastructure investments, or
◗ establish tri-share programs (split the cost of child care among the employee, employer and local government).
The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning will work with employers to implement their proposals. Employers are required to match 10% of the amount they received. Plans must be started within a year of receiving the funds or employers will be required to return the money.
“We wanted to be very intentional to make sure that we created a robust list of ways that they can help meet their employees’ needs that didn’t necessarily have to be, but could be, on-site care,” said Courtney Penn, director of the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning.
Extra benefit
Bearce said many employers don’t want to operate a child care facility but have realized they have their own role to play in easing the burden on employees who are parents. He added that employers are now looking at child care as part of a “more holistic benefits package” in a challenging labor market.
“Essentially, this is just becoming yet another point of competition among employers,” Bearce said. “Employees look for these types of benefits, and this is becoming one of those quality-of-life amenities. Having that support system for your workforce is increasingly an essential must-have for a business to grow and thrive.”
Organizations such as local chambers of commerce and United Way chapters received funding through the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund to increase child care resources in the areas they serve.
The United Way of Central Indiana received a grant of nearly $598,000 that will be used to establish shared service hubs to increase child care capacity across central Indiana, Snideman said.
“Shared service” refers to creating a structure to share resources, such as staff, technology, information and funds, among a network of child care centers or homes.
“We have the tools to support the child care infrastructure in our state. We just have to be willing to spend more and spend better,” Snideman said. “I think the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund is a great example of this. We took some money, and we said, ‘This is specifically for trying to innovate in the child care space.’”
Some applicants are interested in offering care for school-age children along with infants and toddlers, Penn said.
“The example about school-age made my heart happy as I navigate life with a third-grader,” she said. “I always say that I’m also a client of this work as a leader and a client with a child who attends before- and after-care. I’m using it right now.”
Examples of child care partnerships can be found at Early Learning Indiana’s 13 Day Learning Centers around the state where the organization provides discounted care for the children of Indiana University Health and Purdue University employees.
Early Learning Indiana CEO Maureen Weber said IU Health and Purdue help provide facilities and offset costs for the child care provider.
“I think there are working models across Indiana right now, and I’m really anxious to learn how the [86] employers that were awarded through [the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund] program put that to work,” Weber said.
On-site care
Penn said about 40 applicants want to offer services on-site or by partnering with a local child care provider near their offices.
While on-site child care is relatively rare, more companies are adding the benefit to recruit working parents.
Penny Nirider, who owns Lebanon-based IGH Steel Fabrication Inc. with her husband, Scott, said she plans to use the company’s $50,000 grant from the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund to pay for technology and furnishings at the $1.2 million child care facility the Niriders are planning adjacent to their business.
Nirider said she discovered child care was a serious concern when a former employee, a single dad, told her he did not know where he was going to live because he first needed to find child care.
“That’s when I realized we’re in a different age now,” she said.
Nirider and her husband started IGH Steel Fabrication in 2009. She said she works with a Crawfordsville-based ministry to employ people recovering from addiction.
Nirider said an employee survey showed 22% of IGH Steel Fabrication’s 56 employees would use the child care facility that she plans to name Building Mighty Little Hands Academy. Any remaining slots would be available for community residents.
She said she plans to create a checklist other companies can use to set up on-site or near-site child care once the facility is open.
“We hope to share the information once we figure it out and can get open,” she said. “We hope to share it with other companies so that they can do it, too, because we need it.”•
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