In Lynchburg, there is a pressing need for affordable child care, with a current shortage of licensed slots impacting the workforce.
The United Way of Central Virginia (UWCV) is launching an initiative to tackle workforce and child care issues in the Greater Lynchburg area.
Inspired by a successful project in Southwest Virginia, UWCV plans to establish the Childcare and Workforce Development Center. The center will provide high-quality child care along with hands-on learning experiences in various fields to prepare participants for future employment and leadership roles.
UWCV Executive Director Kim Soerensen said the initiative is urgent due to alarming statistics showing many children in the region are unprepared for kindergarten.
“Due to COVID, companies are really starting to understand that without good quality child care, there is a very limited workforce.”
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She said companies are recognizing the need and are ready to invest.
“The reality is if you invest in early childhood education, that’s the biggest bang for your buck,” she said. “This individual later on will be a functional, productive member of society.”
The initiative is supported by partners including Centra Health, Lynchburg Business Alliance and Central Virginia Community College.
UWCV plans to assemble a team to conduct surveys, create partnerships with employers and educational institutions as well as secure a suitable facility to accommodate child care and workforce development needs.
The project aims to serve 300 families and engage between 50 and 200 training participants, addressing workforce and child care challenges while supporting the local economy. The center will be located within the city and plans to offer flexible hours to accommodate diverse work schedules.
Karen Wesley, director of educational programming at Bright Beginnings Central Virginia (BBCV) at UWCV, said the 2023 regional child care gap analysis presents a stark picture of unmet child care needs for the majority of children younger than the age of five. This assessment reveals that a significant proportion of this demographic lacks access to licensed child care facilities or publicly funded programs such as Head Start or the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI), which encompasses public school pre-K education.
She said the city of Lynchburg can only accommodate 35% of children younger than five, while Bedford County has a capacity to serve 30%. In Appomattox County, only 5% of the under-five population can access available resources, leaving a staggering 95% without accessible child care options.
“This scarcity of child care services exerts a profound economic impact, rendering parents unable to engage in gainful employment or necessitating the reliance on alternative caregiving arrangements that may not provide the optimal environment for children’s development,” she said.
BBCV also supports growth in the workforce by recruiting child care programs to participate in the Beacon of Hope internship program. In 2023, BBCV developed the first partnership with Beacon of Hope and Childcare programs, coordinating the project with Elizabeth’s Early Learning Center and Lyn-CAG Early Head Start.
“The early childhood education field is struggling, and it’s imperative for communities to have these resources,” Wesley said. “While not every family requires child care, many do, and the workforce at large depends on its availability. This sector needs support to remain viable and maintain high quality.”
She said four out of every ten children enter kindergarten without essential skills, setting them behind from the start.
Kimberly Maddox, mixed delivery coordinator at UWCV, said in Lynchburg alone, there are 28 licensed child care centers, but only 22 of them serve children in the birth to five-year-old range.
Between 22% and 26% of children enter kindergarten unprepared, she said.
She added child care is not a moneymaker and when the minimum wage increases, the price of services also go up for families.
“They have teachers that are leaving and going to Walmart and Target, where they don’t have the responsibilities that they do in a classroom, because the expectations and the requirements are so high,” she said. “We’re asking a ton of our child care providers. They’re seeing so much more of mental health issues, both with the teachers, and with the kids that are coming in. There’s a lot more behavior problems. There’s so much more to deal with.”
The Childcare and Workforce Development Center, which plans to open by the end of 2025 or early 2026, will provide comprehensive child care services while offering on-the-job training and professional development opportunities for individuals interested in early child care careers.
“By having a workforce and child care center in one building, we’ll be able to work on the pipeline and provide on-site experience for individuals pursuing careers in early childhood education,” Wesley said.
Wesley said there are financial challenges faced by child care providers and low wages make it difficult for them to maintain balanced budgets.
“It’s a community approach to solving a community problem,” Wesley said.