MARYVILLE, Tenn. — A new task force in Blount County is working to maintain and increase the workforce by expanding childcare services.
Blount Partnership’s Early Education Task Force is working to expand childcare facilities, make childcare more affordable and encourage businesses to consider offering childcare for its employees.
The director of the task force said to sustain and strong workforce, the businesses need to start by looking out for their employees’ children.
Mina Oldham and her family moved to Blount County during COVID. Like many parents, she struggled with finding childcare.
“I was pregnant with my second, and I wasn’t on any lists,” Oldham said. “I was trying to figure out where to put my 18-month-old, but where can my daughter also fit it?”
Now, she wants to be part of the solution.
Oldham is a member of Blount Partnership’s Early Education Task Force. The task force just launched blount4kids.com, which gives information and resources for childcare to parents. But the team wants to dig deeper.
The task force hopes to encourage and help people wanting to bridge the gap in accessible and affordable childcare.
The team brought in the Department of Human Services to meet people who may be interested in opening a childcare facility.
“We helped walk those individuals that are interested, through the process,” Jessica Belitz, the director of workforce development with Blount Partnership, said.
The team has also met with Blount County businesses to discuss childcare.
Belitz is spearheading the project and said tackling the childcare issues at hand will have a trickle-down effect on the workforce. She said this is a business and industry issue.
“A child that is prepared for kindergarten is more likely to be on the third-grade reading level, and eighth-grade math level, and graduate on time,” Belitz said.
The team said at the end of the day, when parents have trustworthy and affordable childcare, they can continue their positions in the workforce.