Local-fed collaboration addressing child care needs

This editorial was published in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

———

If you’re a parent — or an employer — the Yakima Valley’s child care crunch probably isn’t exactly breaking news to you.

The serious shortage of providers and the high costs of care have left nearly half of Yakima County’s children without access to licensed care, according to Washington STEM.

The annual cost of child care for a family raising two kids averages $22,752 — roughly a third of a typical family’s total household income, South Central Workforce’s Michelle Smith reports.

And that’s had devastating effects on local families and the local economy.

According to a recent column by Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Yakima County Development Association, it’s forced 4,000 area workers to leave their jobs and stay home to take care of their kids. That, in turn, is costing the region’s businesses about $92 million a year.

But thanks to a 2023 federal grant through U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office, local organizations are setting up some solutions.

South Central Workforce is administering the grant, which has brought $1.5 million to Yakima and Kittitas counties. Subsequent partnerships with the Yakima County Development Association and the Yakima Valley Community Foundation have enabled such programs as YCDA’s Childcare Business Accelerator Program, which offers business training and guidance for child care providers. So far, the program has served 72 local child care businesses, along with 147 business operators, according to Jonathan Smith.

Working in concert with YCDA, South Central Workforce and the Yakima Valley Community Foundation have started some programs of their own, too. Programs that clear paths toward more and better local child care choices. Programs that guide families to affordability options. Programs that help employers help their employees stay on the job.

They all add up to an encouraging community response to a problem that, in one way or another, affects us all.

The grassroots cooperation of South Central Workforce with YCDA and the Yakima Valley Community Foundation is commendable. These organizations are making it work, and that’s making all the difference.

But it’s also important to note that what powers it is the strength of federal assistance.

Sen. Murray, of course, isn’t the first government official to free up money to address regional needs. Elected officials have bent over backwards for years to assist an endless list of local beneficiaries — agriculture, schools, roads, water projects and so on.

Government, as it turns out, isn’t the bogeyman some would have you believe. And in this case, it’s gratifying to see what public and private collaboration on a common goal can accomplish.

TNS