WEDG launches child care study

The Washington Economic Development Group announced the launch of a child care market study on Friday, in collaboration with cities in the county, the regional association of governments, Alliant Energy and the Washington Chamber of Commerce.

WEDG Executive Director Mary Audia said the study, contracted with the group First Children’s Finance, would provide vital data to local policymakers.

“We wanted to take an inventory because we lost some child care facilities during the pandemic,” Audia said. “The data that we collect will be an important tool to get additional funding going forward. We’ll have the data set to say, ‘When we did this study, here are the numbers we came up with.’”

Audia said that data would be useful for things like grant applications to establish and expand child care. It will influence worker and employer decisions about child care’s implications for the workforce.

“If somebody comes to work for your company and they know there’s a child care, it makes it much harder to leave that place,” she said. “It might increase retention, and it might increase the number of applicants that you get.”

The survey has three variations: one for employers, another for current and prospective parents, and one for child care providers.

The importance of the feedback is not lost on Washington County communities, which are generally considered to have a child care shortage.

“Child care solutions are vital to continued growth and expansion in our business and industry sectors in Washington County,” a news release from WEDG said. “This study will be a valuable tool to help navigate the challenges and explore solutions.”

While she encouraged as many people as possible to take the survey, Audia said a response rate of at least 25% to 30% would be ideal to ensure accuracy.

“The more people that fill this out, the better gauge we can get of what’s really going on,” she said. “Then we have better data to apply for grants and funding, that type of thing. Please, take the time to fill these out. It only takes a few minutes, they’re quick surveys, but a very powerful tool that we can use going forward.”

Community members in Washington County have until the end of September to complete the survey, before WEDG sends the results back to First Children’s Finance for results, which are expected in November.

While the survey is being conducted online, Audia said respondents without internet access were welcome to contact the WEDG office for a paper version.