A coalition of early childhood education advocates will lay out a road map for expanding affordable childcare in Montgomery County.
The five-year plan, which the Montgomery County Child Care Task Force will present to major employers next week, calls for increasing community and parent education, improving accessibility, increasing program quality, improving affordability and strengthening existing programs.
The Montgomery County Community Foundation plans to apply for funding to hire an early learning director who would work alongside an advisory committee to carry out the goals.
“I think research clearly shows that if we invest funding in the early years of a child’s life, that investment pays off in the later years,” said Kelly Taylor, executive director of the foundation, which helped steer the planning process.
The Mayor’s Workforce Roundtable formed the task force last summer to study the local childcare landscape after employers said the lack of providers was hurting productivity. The foundation was later awarded $100,000 from advocacy group Early Learning Indiana to create 80 new childcare seats in the county.
An online portal will be launched to help employers connect workers to childcare, promote training for local providers and educate parents on the benefits of early childhood education.
The task force found that more than half of Montgomery County children under the age of six are in need of care. About 700 preschool-aged children were enrolled by a known provider, and less than 50 had been placed in high-quality programs, the findings showed.
The coalition plans to assist 10 early childhood programs with becoming licensed or expand to serve infants and toddlers. The plan also calls for boosting the number of high-quality programs in the state’s Paths to Quality system and establishing a countywide kindergarten readiness study.
For existing providers, the coalition seeks to develop training programs in partnership with organizations such as Purdue Extension. A team of volunteers would be recruited to assist teachers in the classroom as needed
The plan also calls for creating a scholarship program for staff working toward a child development associate credential or degree.
To make childcare more affordable, the coalition plans to encourage the use of dependent care accounts offered by employers, promote the availability of publicly-funded childcare programs such as the state’s On My Way Pre-K voucher program or Head Start, and explore tuition scholarships for families.
Taylor said implementing the plan depends on the support of local governments, nonprofits, employers and childcare providers. The coalition has partnered with the Mobile Integrated Health program and the Montgomery County Health Department to raise awareness of early childhood education.
