Child care is everyone’s business

Adirondack employers join forces on child care

LAKE GEORGE — Employers and the greater community from across the Adirondacks came together on Thursday, Oct. 29, to launch a five-county business coalition aimed at one of the region’s most stubborn problems: families can’t find child care, and providers face an unsustainable business model.

The event, Child Care Is Everyone’s Business: Building a Stronger Adirondack Region, brought together the business community, economic development leaders and child care advocates from Warren, Franklin, Clinton, Essex and Hamilton counties.

This marks a significant step forward in the region’s business sector recognizing child care as an essential economic need, as well as a cornerstone of thriving communities.

The coalition builds on years of work by the Adirondack Birth to Three Alliance and Stand Up for Child Care. It is convened by the Economic Development Corporation of Warren County, the Adirondack Community Foundation and the Rockefeller Family Fund.

CHILD CARE IN THE ADKS
Across the region, families face child care deserts and long waitlists. Eighty percent of our region is classified as a child care desert. Approximately six children are vying for a single child care slot. The root problem isn’t demand. It’s a funding model that doesn’t work at Adirondack scale.

“The current business model for child care doesn’t work,” said Kate Ryan, Director of Adirondack Birth to Three Alliance at the Adirondack Community Foundation. “Unlike other businesses, child care providers can’t use standard tactics like reducing staff, increasing sales volume, downsizing space, or cutting hours.”

She explained that the goal of the coalition is to unite regional employers, economic development leaders, and the greater community to champion child care as essential economic and workforce infrastructure, driving investments and public policies that make affordable, high-quality care accessible for families in our rural Adirondack communities.

WHY CHILD CARE IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
Common Roots Brewing Company of South Glens Falls and (g)row, a kids boutique in Glens Falls are the coalition’s first signers and sponsors.

Melanie Weber represented both at the event.

“As a mom and a business owner and someone who cares deeply about the future of this region, I believe child care is everyone’s business,” said Weber. “When families struggle, businesses feel it. I’m not asking the business community to solve the problem on its own. I’m saying that the business community has a responsibility to be part of the conversation.”

“Child care isn’t its own separate thing. It’s the first part of our education system,” said Jim Siplon, CEO of the Warren County Economic Development Council.

MAKING SURE THE ADKS ARE REPRESENTED IN NYS
Siplon highlighted how state funding formulas often leave the Adirondacks out. “The resource allocation model for the park doesn’t work. It’s based on population density, when the whole concept of the park goes against that.”

Part of the business coalition’s work will be to advocate for changing funding formulas.

Kate Ryan says this is critical to do now because the State of New York has committed to a dramatic expansion of child care resources and programs statewide in recent years. “We are building a region-wide coalition to ensure the unique needs of our area are understood and addressed in this investment,” said Kate Ryan from the Birth to Three Alliance.

Child care in the Adirondacks isn’t only a workforce problem; it affects us all, said Mary Feldman, the Rural Child Care Lead Consultant at the Warren County EDC.

“Up here, your employees, your customers, and your neighbors are the same people. So when a young family can’t find care, a parent can’t work, or a family leaves.”