We’ve all heard the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” which speaks to the community of people who provide and interact with a child in order for them to survive, grow and thrive.
With the high demand for workers, 75% of Iowa families have all parents in the household working with children under the age of 6. And so, the simple truth exists across our state: Iowa is built on business; businesses are built on families; and today’s families need child care. Now, what happens when you remove one of these pieces? This question is the current child care reality that we are facing.
We are a state that prides itself as “Iowa Strong.” We are seeing our communities accept this child care situation, not with defeat or complacency, but rather striving to become that “village” in order to best support the future of their citizens, their economy and Iowa’s children.
Determined to solve this child care barrier, some of our economic and local leaders have joined together with established educational facilities to tackle this issue head-on. To help lead them in this effort, they called on Iowa Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) to guide, support and continue their projects forward into fruition with the hope and goal of creating localized child care solutions that would best fit their community needs.
One current example of this partnership can be seen with the Delaware County Child Care Coalition that is being led by Delaware County Economic Development Executive Director, Donna Boss. This coalition group of local business and community leaders, citizens, educational leaders and CCR&R is unfolding in real-time.
Breaking the work down into phases – they are currently carrying out “Phase II” of their child care solutions project. “Phase I” was to see if there was a need. “Phase II” is now to dig deeper and understand that need. With CCR&R support, they were able to access previously used community child care surveys and then meet back as a large group with their CCR&R Community Development Specialist to tailor their child care survey into what they felt was best suited to answer the questions they had and deliver insightful data needed to figure out best “next steps.” This survey was launched the first week of November, with over 100 responses within 24 hours and over 300 responses within days! From a child care data perspective – this is a major success! From this survey, they will work with CCR&R to break down and analyze the results. These results will be used to decide and move forward on the best local solution for their communities.
Successes like these do not just happen overnight when a couple of individuals send out a survey. No, it is when PARTNERSHIP of the coalition unified together to strive to make these data pieces a success that it became a reality. A needed reality that will help put together this child care puzzle. This “It takes a village to raise a child” proverb has been elevated to new and exciting community awareness, involvement and action – Delaware County is that village. They are determined to find solutions for their families.
To learn more about CCR&R and how we can support your community – please check out our Communities page and talk with your child care team today!
CCR&R is very thankful to over 350 Iowa communities that have partnered with us in the search for child care solutions. The questions and conversation exchanges between the attendees have led to meaningful understanding and insight which continues CCR&R’s mission and vision: to provide resources, education and advocacy to support quality child care. CCR&R is committed to ensuring that Iowa’s vision is met: Every child beginning at birth will be healthy and successful.
