TCEDA's Solutions to Thayer County's Child Care Crisis

This article originally appeared on and was written for Thayer County Economic Development Alliance by Golden Shovel Agency.

The child care crisis is “nationwide, threatening the future of the U.S.’s youngest minds and is hindering employment and education advancement of the American workforce. … The crisis can be broken down into three key, interrelated challenges: affordability, accessibility, and quality of care. … As a whole, the industry is labor-intensive and requires a high level of staffing, raising the financial burden on centers, and increasing the costs of care.” - Gianna Melillo, The Hill.

“The annual cost of the infant-toddler childcare crisis is $122B.” - Ready Nation & Council for a Strong America's 2023 Report.

TCEDA is Always Working Behind the Scenes

Nebraska’s statewide solution to help combat the childcare crisis was the creation of the Communities for Kids (C4K) Initiative. As stated on its website, “The C4K Initiative aims to partner with communities’ public and private entities to support and coordinate planning for access to high-quality early care and education for all children birth through age five.”

Thayer County Economic Development Alliance (TCEDA) wants to work as a team to combat the child care crisis and strengthen Thayer County’s early childhood professional workforce. In the Spring of 2022, TCEDA began discussions, data collection, and the application process to receive a C4K grant, backed by Nebraska's Dept. of Human and Health Services. By Spring 2023, TCEDA was notified of a $30k award that would span three years at $10k per year. With this news, TCEDA took more action toward helping Thayer County’s workforce and children.

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