Our opinion: Cheers to local efforts to beef up child care worker pay

Across the tri-state area, providers and local officials are having conversations about how to address challenges to providing needed child care, including ways to increase wages. That’s precisely what needs to happen.

Time and again, federal, state and local efforts have provided dollars for day care expansion. But until we begin to put an appropriate value on the work of child care providers in wages and benefits, the solution will remain elusive.

The good news is, organizations such as Child Care Resource & Referral of Northeast Iowa and Dubuque Initiatives as well as child care centers themselves and economic development officials are teaming up to brainstorm ideas to address staffing challenges while still keeping child care affordable.

Here’s hoping this broad and concerted effort will lead to answers.

Officials at Greater Dubuque Development Corp. identified another obstacle to increasing workforce, and they followed up with a solution.

Potential applicants for area manufacturing and other jobs noted transportation to and from work was a challenge. GDDC put up $15,000 for a trial run of a free Jule bus route that will get people to and from some key businesses.

The pilot program for two routes will begin Jan. 9 and run for six months. The east route will cover Kerper Industrial Park and the north end of town. Planned employer stops on the route are Loras College, Andersen Window & Doors, Giese Sheet Metal Co., Rousselot, Klauer Manufacturing Co., Hirschbach, UPS, Hodge and John Deere Dubuque Works. The west route will cover Pennsylvania Avenue and Dubuque Industrial Center West. Planned employer stops will be Penn Place Apartments, Rite Hite, A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Co., Geisler Brothers Co., Nordstrom Distribution Center, 7G Distributing, Duluth Trading Co., Hormel Foods, Giese Manufacturing and Simmons Pet Food.

Credit to GDDC for responding to this need with a possible solution — and putting up the money to give it a try.

Still another effort to address workforce challenges comes from the very institutions in need of employees. A collaborative effort among hospitals and clinics has seeded a new program at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore.

As part of a new partnership with Southwest Tech, six area hospitals pledged $75,000 each to help fund additional nursing faculty, sponsor nursing students and offer other student supports with the goal of bolstering local nursing numbers amid a nationwide shortage.

It makes great sense for these invested local partners to build their own pipeline when the well was running dry. The participating hospitals are Grant Regional in Lancaster, Platteville’s Southwest Health, Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County, Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics, Crossing Rivers Health in Prairie du Chien and The Richland Hospital and Clinics in Richland Center.

For their part, college officials have expanded programming so they can enroll students in both January and August, making Southwest Tech the first college in the state to enroll prospective nurses twice a year. That already has paid dividends with 12 new students joining the program next month.

A tip of the nursing cap to Southwest Tech and area hospitals for getting on board with this innovative solution.