The audience for Gov. Kim Reynolds' Condition of the State speech Tuesday gave members of the Hamilton County Child Care Coalition, pictured on the balcony, a standing ovation for its work.

The ovation was well-deserved.

From their seats in the balcony of the Iowa State Capitol building Tuesday, members of Hamilton County’s Child Care Coalition stood and absorbed the applause.

“As the people of Hamilton County were honored by a standing ovation from the entire Iowa Legislature, Supreme Court and all departments of the State of Iowa, it was perhaps the most surreal moment in my life,” Hamilton County Supervisor Rick Young said Wednesday.

“The childcare dream team, made up of Cindy Im, Doug Follman and McKinley Bailey are recognized for creating a model that is being replicated across the entire nation. They created a partnership between public and private funding that has proved successful.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds included that “dream team” in her Condition of the State message.

“Four years ago, Hamilton County’s four childcare centers were sitting at or below 65% capacity, with providers starting at $8.50 an hour. Today, after starting a community solutions fund, staff have received a 36% raise, and three of the four centers are at 100% capacity, with total enrollment increasing by more than 100 children countywide,” Reynolds told her audience.

“There’s no reason this success can’t be replicated across the state.

“To help do so, I’m pleased to announce that we’re launching a statewide solutions fund to which individuals or businesses can donate to enhance childcare workforce wages and help take the regional funds to the next level.

“We’re joined tonight by some of the officials who helped get Hamilton County’s regional fund off the ground. Let’s give them a hand for showing what’s possible when community leaders come together to solve community problems.”

Im, who is also Hamilton County Economic Development director, has said previously, “When we started our research back in October of 2020, we found that all childcare centers in Hamilton County were paying a starting wage of $8 per hour, compared to the food service industry that had raised its pay rates to $12 to 15 per hour. Our centers were losing child care staffers due to the wage disparity.

“In our efforts to prevent the closures of any of the four nonprofit childcare centers in Hamilton County, the Childcare Coalition held community meetings with local leaders, area employers, and the school district. These meetings were focused on finding local solutions to address the childcare shortage that Hamilton County was facing.

“From these meetings, the Coalition launched media educational campaigns to make residents, the community, employers and local leaders aware of the issues we faced.

“Families cannot solve this issue alone.”

Reynolds said the state would capitalize on Hamilton County’s successful model.

“Childcare has been a longstanding priority for my administration,” she said during the Condition of the State speech. “Over the last four years, we’ve increased childcare capacity by almost 27,000 slots. And to make the most of this new capacity, a stable workforce is critical.

“That’s why, two years ago, we created a pilot that provides free childcare to childcare workers. It’s been successful at decreasing the staff turnover.

“So now that we know it works, let’s make this program permanent.

“A new pilot program called Community Solutions Funds is also making progress. Working with the Iowa Women’s Foundation, the state contributed $3 million to facilitate the creation of nine regional community solutions funds. To raise childcare wages without raising costs on families, these funds accept donations from businesses, philanthropists, and nonprofits, recruiting more Iowans to this profession.”

Im has said, “Hamilton County, Iowa, with the establishment of the Hamilton County Child Care Coalition has led the charge on Iowa’s local solution to the childcare funding crisis. Our wage enhancement program created in early 2021 through public and private partnership has helped Hamilton County and the State of Iowa catapult to the national spotlight.

“Hamilton County’s child care wage enhancement program was created to provide childcare workers with a livable and competitive wage along with assisting non-profit childcare centers to retain current workers and recruit new ones.

“Without affordable and available childcare, employers are not able to hire and fill vacancies.

“Without affordable and available childcare, on average, a parent misses two weeks of work which then affects the workplace.

“Having access to available and affordable childcare doesn’t just affect the families, it affects the employers as well.”

The Coalition created a public/private partnership with city, county, area employers, Enhance Hamilton County Foundation, and Building Families (the local Area Early Childhood Agency) to develop and administer the wage enhancement program.

“This program subsidizes the wages of most childcare workers from between $2.85 to $4.10, allowing childcare workers to earn between $12 to $16 per hour,” Im has said.

Hamilton County identified its child care staffing shortage during a 2018 roundtable hosted by the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors.

“There was plenty of physical space with well over 125 licensed child care slots sitting unused on any given day due to lack of staff,” a report to the Supervisors said. “Three of the four centers in the county were at or below 50% of their licensed capacity while the fourth sat at just 65%. Starting wages offered to child care workers were the lowest of any industry in the county.”

Follman, part of the “dream team,” recalls hearing, “If you help us retain staff, recruit staff, that would really make a difference.”

The Coalition’s response was the creation of the Childcare Worker Recruitment and Retention Fund. Private entities contribute to the fund, which then subsidizes the daycare wages and offers bonuses for new hires.

In Hamilton County, child care is estimated to eat up 14.1% of household budgets, those households cited being adults ages 25-44, according to the Coalition.