CHILDCARE --- IT"S A CRISIS FOR EVERY BUSINESS
Dear Upper Valley Businesses,
In an effort to address the childcare crisis in the region, the UVBA encourages you or your employees to join workgroups that are forming as a result of the Childcare Symposium held in November. Business voices and expertise, as well as your employees' voices as parents, are critically important to these workgroups and to tackling this crisis effectively. Please participate yourself and encourage your colleagues to participate. There is a budget for a limited number of stipends for parents to participate; anyone in need of a stipend should contact sjackson@vitalcommunities.org for details.
The three workgroups are listed below. While each group has its own goals, as outlined below, we will all be working toward the broader goal of increasing the availability and affordability of high quality early care and education in the Upper Valley, with a particular focus on infant/toddler care as a crucial and longstanding unmet need in ECE services.
Goal - Create an exchange of successful advocacy policies and strategies that increase high quality availability and affordability in each state and engage Upper Valley businesses in bi-state advocacy.
Co-Facilitators (temporary, until the workgroup decides who the co-facilitators should be):
Sara Kobylenski (communitySLK@gmail.com)
Brooke Couch Freeland (brooke@couchfoundation.org)
Goal - Identify and catalyze short- and long-term strategies to increase retention & recruitment of child care center staff
Facilitator:
Amy Brooks (anbrooks912@gmail.com)
Goal - Identify and catalyze strategies to reduce operational costs, including cooperative procurement of services, tax breaks, etc.
Co-Facilitators:
Shaun Mulholland (shaun.mulholland@lebanonnh.gov)
Jenn Parker (creativekidsadventures@gmail.com)
I hope that you and/or your colleagues will join this initiative and lend your voices to the resolution of this challenge.
Federal Update
Supreme Court Denies OSHA Vaccine Mandate - On Jan. 13, the US Supreme Court ruled against OSHA's vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 employees or weekly covid testing. Although the mandate went into effect Jan 10, this is no longer a requirement. Read the decision here.
However, the Court did allow a mandate to go into effect for medical facilities who receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Employees at those facilities, whether they are in contact with patients or not, will need to be vaccinated (although fully remote employees are exempted). There is no exemption allowed for regular covid testing, but religious and medical exemptions are allowed.
Brother...Can You Spare A Covid Test?
If you or your employees have been hunting for quick covid test results or a test kit lately, you know that both are difficult to come by. Between supply chain shortages and staffing issues, covid tests performed at local urgent care/hospital clinics are taking up to 5 days to get results and tests are flying off shelves of local pharmacies. This is causing employees who may have been exposed to stay home longer waiting on results - in some cases, the employees reach the new CDC recommended waiting period of 5 days and return to work before receiving tests results positive or negative. However, the federal government has launched a website where starting January 19, anyone can order up to 4 tests per household. https://www.covidtests.gov
RETAIL in 2022 OUTLOOK
Retail Strategies, a national retail recruitment firm, recently did a forecast webinar looking ahead at the state of retail in 2022 and how the holiday season was for retailers nationwide. The gist? Sales were up, malls are out, and the metaverse is in. Curious? Read the presentation notes here and view the video.
