UCDD Executive Director Mark Farley said a recently passed child care bill can prove to be beneficial to the Upper Cumberland.
House Bill 105 expands the criteria for child care agencies to access funds from the Child Care Improvement Fund. It also provides access to grants from the Tennessee Department of Human Services Non-Profit/Employer Workforce Care Partnership. Farley said non-profit child care at places like Tennessee Tech and Cookeville Regional Medical Center could benefit from this new bill.
“Any program or any legislation that provides benefits for the actual providers, the people that are out here that’s starting and running a daycare, anything that’s gonna benefit them and help them be more financially secure, it’s certainly a great thing and will benefit us in the long run,” Farley said.
The bill also allows for licensed child care providers to expand services through partnerships with employers. Farley said these partnerships can be a big help as the working class in the Upper Cumberland struggles to find affordable daycare.
“Our guesstimate is roughly around 7,000 slots of additional child care capacity that we need across all of the 14 counties to be able to allow the parents who want to work, the ability to do that,” Farley said. “Traditionally, across our region we run a much lower workforce participation rate as compared to the rest of the state, and part of that is because there is not adequate daycare to provide for the children.”
Farley said the cost of putting one child through child care is equivalent to the cost of paying for a college education. Farley said he believes the state would like to see more employers offer child care services to their employees.
“I think you are gonna see in time that businesses have to understand they have to either partner with providers or actually start daycares within their operation,” Farley said. “It’s one of those things that’s one of the chief barriers to getting people into the workplace because in many cases it’s cheaper for the family to stay home with a child rather than work.”
House Bill 106 was also passed and is designed to help parents better understand the license-exempt qualifications. Farley said it is important for parents to know, for safety reasons, who is providing child care. Farley said the Upper Cumberland has many cases where people are providing child care services for several children without a license and do not have an exemption from the state.
