Story County supervisors hear reports on child-care staffing crisis; chair requests work session

The Story County Board of Supervisors on June 30 heard multiple reports underscoring a local child-care staffing crisis and asked staff to return for a work session to consider options.

Amy Vandenberg, director of Whistle Stop Academy (reporting via Zoom), said the center used American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funds to raise staff pay rates to improve retention. Vandenberg told the board the pay adjustments helped keep the center full without raising fees for families; she also provided updates on recent enrollments and waiting-list criteria.

Shannon Thiele of the Ames Regional Economic Alliance presented the Alliance’s quarterly workforce re-training report and summarized a county child-care feasibility study. Thiele said the study’s key finding is that providers “cannot recruit and retain qualified educators,” with the largest impacts on infant and toddler care. She discussed affordability challenges, supply-and-demand imbalances, and workforce-development strategies. Thiele also announced that Genevieve Christensen has joined The Alliance as Workforce Coordinator.

Chair Linda Murken asked that supervisors schedule a work session to review the study’s findings and possible responses, including workforce-development partnerships and funding options. Supervisors made no formal decisions on new county programs at the meeting; the request for a work session is the next procedural step.

The reports identified workforce recruitment and retention as the immediate constraint on expanding infant and toddler capacity, and speakers emphasized the need to align training, recruitment incentives and employer supports. No specific new county funding was approved at the meeting; staff and The Alliance were directed to provide additional options for the requested work session.