Jackson seeks solutions in childcare gap
Jackson County is looking at options to make more childcare options available.
Stock photo
Jackson County has been working to develop a plan it hopes will mend the multigenerational workforce issue that is impacting communities around the country — childcare, and the lack of availability — on the local level.
“We are trying to figure out a way we can chip away at it, knowing we’re not going to solve the big problem here locally in Jackson County, because it’s way bigger than we are,” Economic Development Director Tiffany Henry told the Jackson County Commission in a report on Jan. 7.
Through grant funding from Dogwood Health Trust, Jackson County was able to solicit the services of Business of Childcare, an agency that works to guide childcare business owners, operators, providers and the communities they serve toward better outcomes. Over the course of several months, Business of Childcare has hosted workshops and conversations with childcare stakeholders in order to get a picture of the childcare environment in Jackson County and determine actionable solutions.
The importance of affordable and available childcare in a community extends beyond the obvious level of providing care and vital developmental services for children.
“We think about it a lot and had a lot of conversations around why it’s even more important for communities from a workforce perspective,” said President of Business of Childcare Jeff Andrews. “Just as we highlight opportunities for jobs, help wanted signs around the county, we know that in some cases those jobs could be filled if there was childcare that matched the needs of that parent or family.”
When a child has a safe setting in which to be cared for, parents and other family members are able to pursue employment or educational opportunities that may lead to employment.
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“We look at this at a broad scale, really from a community perspective and it’s an economic multiplier,” said Andrews.
Beginning in September, Business of Childcare hosted six different workshop sessions, as well as follow up conversations with individuals who weren’t able to participate, to identify current problems and opportunities related to childcare.
“Importantly, in each of those sessions we focused the last half on what, if any of those, look like as a win, meaning, if it were better tomorrow, what does that mean?” Andrews said. “With all of that information, we came back together to really start to review what do those things start to look like as solutions.”
Business of Childcare will present its Childcare Solutions Activation Plan to the public during a session at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Department on Aging in Sylva.
Of the existing childcare centers in Jackson County, the smallest waiting list has four children on it, and the largest waiting list has 45 children. Two facilities have between 25- and 30-person waiting lists, and one center has nine on its waiting list.
While staffing vacancies at childcare center have decreased from 50 in March of 2023 to 37 in December of 2024, that is largely due to the closing of the Southwestern Child Development Commission centers in October of 2023.
“As a non-profit agency, we have asked for additional funding from our government funders, and this has not been granted to us at this time,” Sheila Hoyle, executive director of Southwestern Child Development Commission, told The Smoky Mountain News at the time. “At this time, we have no choice but to close our childcare programs.”
When the closures took place, Jackson was already working with Business of Childcare and the two worked together to help other facilities with staff shortages absorb staff from the Southwestern Child Development centers, as well as some of those children.
“We were able to help find placement for a lot of those just because we were already collaborating and working together,” said Andrews.
Officials are arguing that childcare can improve the local economy. Donated graphic
Overall, the Business of Childcare found that there were as many as 900 additional childcare slots needed in the county, though without further investigation it is impossible to know how many of those 900 or so children who are not accessing childcare already have available care through care by family, friends, or alternative methods.
Like many industries right now, staffing is perhaps the largest hurdle for childcare centers.
“Programs are still faced with increasing pressure, mainly due to labor force and the available labor and the cost of that labor,” said Andrews. “Significant increases, almost leading all other industries on growth, of wages is the childcare factor.”
Andrews noted that childcare employees often make far below “even what the retail establishments of many communities are offering.”
“That is our biggest contributing cost,” Andrews said. “And people say, ‘why is it so expensive?’ I say, ‘because people get paid, and this is a people-focused business.’”
In addition to a lack of available infant and preschool childcare, Business of Childcare found a lack of alternative childcare options such as afterschool programs, opportunities during the summer and extended hours childcare.
“But I think there was a wide belief that the early education field is well-represented in your area, well positioned to be a great partner in continuing to guide some of this work,” Andrews said.
When Superintendent of Jackson County Public Schools Dana Ayers was hired in 2021, she said one of her primary goals would be to expand access to early childhood education and literacy.
Since then, the school system has more than doubled its pre-K capacity with an additional class each at Smoky Mountain Elementary, Cullowhee Valley, Scotts Creek Elementary, Fairview Elementary and Blue Ridge schools, in part due to funding from Dogwood Health Trust and Blue Ridge School Foundation.
In August of last year, the school system added an infant and toddler classroom at Scotts Creek School to help in providing childcare for JCPS employees.
In North Carolina today, the supply of child care falls short of demand with an average of over five families competing for every one available licensed child care slot statewide. Among parents with children under the age of six, 81% pay for childcare, and families in the state spend an average of $633 per month, according to a report from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
While Andrews did not give a presentation of the full activation plan to commissioners at their Jan. 7 meeting, he did present the idea of a formal organization focused on Jackson County and all things childcare and early education.
“The group consensus of the different meetings and conversations is yes, there’s a great opportunity for that because, beyond that formal structure, it gives us an opportunity to have a platform to amplify some of these other things,” Andrew said. “What does childcare mean? Why is it important? Why do we want our kids to be getting prepared to show up in kindergarten? Whatever that might be under that umbrella, it provides an opportunity for the bigger community to be a part of that work and that engagement.”
Andrews also highlighted the importance of creating a workforce and talent pipeline from existing educational entities into childcare careers.
“We need more people doing this work, and part of that is working within the school systems and building on what exists — mentoring programs and others that often maybe need a few more resources or even a few more people,” said Andrews. “An opportunity to show the career pathway that early education or childcare, whether as a professional worker in one of the centers or even going out and starting your own or doing something in the realm, is actually a good place to go and it’s a good place to be and it’s meaningful.”
Most importantly though, Andrews noted, careers in childcare have to be an option in which people can “make a wage that allows you to pay rent and buy groceries.”
Part of the activation plan from Business of Childcare will first involve working to maximize capacity at existing centers in Jackson County, several of which are operating below capacity due to staffing constraints.
“Everybody’s facing this same problem with childcare, and you may wonder why me, as Economic Development Director, is up here talking about childcare,” Henry told commissioners. “Childcare, housing, all these things impact economic development. That’s why I kind of took the lead with this. Our childcare providers are extremely busy and covered up and wanted to do this work, but they haven’t had the capacity to do it.”
In addition to Jackson County Economic Development, DSS, Region A Partnership for Children, Jackson County Public Schools and Southwestern Child Development have all been included in the work with Business of Childcare.
Business of Childcare will present its Childcare Solutions Activation Plan to the public during a session at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Department on Aging in Sylva.
