TRAVERSE CITY — Parents and caregivers around northern Michigan are still having trouble finding childcare with many stuck on long waiting lists.
It’s been an ongoing issue as many communities simply don’t have enough child care centers to meet demand. Now, local leaders are trying to find creative solutions.
“Being innovative is, I think, the key, “ says Chair of the Leelanau Early Childhood Development Commission Patricia Soutas-Little, “We have to start thinking out of the box more and realizing that we have some problems.”
A new study by Michigan State University found in counties across Northern Michigan there’s an average of one open daycare spot for every three kids needing one.
“So childcare provides jobs, you know, one childcare provider provides a great number of employees for other businesses. And that’s something that I don’t think was fully appreciated before.”
Patricia says if parents are lucky enough to find a spot, they can spend as much as $13,000 to $14,000 a year to send their child to day care. But many day care centers also face high operating costs.
“Unfortunately, providers aren’t making a lot of money. And that’s part of the problem,” explains Patricia, “ Most of them do not make a living wage. It’s expensive to provide care to meet all of the rules and regulations it to be, and those rules and regulations are in place to keep our children safe.”
Patricia says her organization and others in northern Michigan are working on ways to encourage more daycares to open.
“In order to fill our childcare desert, we need more providers. We need quality programs. And there are steps being taken. NMC is offering, programs to offer, you know, training for people of providers to go into this field. And so that there are also, scholarships being attached to that to encourage people who may not have the opportunity otherwise. There are different types of, apprenticeship programs that are being created.”
Leelanau County also has a pilot program centered on something called micro-centers. Where private businesses give a provider space to operate a daycare.
“The beauty of these is many people want to do childcare, but they don’t want to do it in their home,” shares Patricia, “So it’s one other way where we can bring new programs to the community and make it more affordable and possible expand capacity…I’m just so excited to see that come to fruition and delighted that it’s possible to have a lot of people working on it to make it happen.”