Businesses consider child care options for employees before moving to Tennessee, says expert – Tennessean
Access to child care is one of the factors businesses weigh when considering a move into a Tennessee community or expanding operations, said one state official.
It helps companies attract employees, said Sammie Arnold, who works in the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development. He explained that Saturday morning to a room full of child advocates gathered in Nashville.
“There are all sorts of barriers to entry into the workplace, and one of the things we hear the most about are lack of access to child care and day care,” said Arnold, the assistant commissioner of community and rural development who oversees his department’s efforts to increase development and investment in rural communities.
Arnold said his department is in conversations with the Tennessee Department of Human Services to figure out if there are funds that could be added to incentive packages for business development projects that would help companies create their own child care options.
The issue came up during the day-long advocacy summit hosted by Save the Children Action Network, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group that describes itself as a political voice for kids. The action network is the political arm of the nonprofit Save the Children.
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Arnold spoke on a panel about the importance of ages birth to three. He was joined by Michelle Smith a community engagement specialist with Save the Children and Carla Snodgrass, who works on early childhood initiatives for the Tennessee Department of Health.
In Tennessee, 48 percent of the residents live in a child care desert, according to a recent report produced by Tennesseans for Quality Early Education.
“For employers, insufficient child care results in reduced revenue, potentially significant increases in hiring and retention costs, and lost profits … The lost revenue to Tennessee businesses due to child care problems for parents of young children is $270 million per year,” the report states.
The topic was just one of many expected to be discussed Saturday during the summit, which met at Thistle Farms. About 60 people registered for the event, which drew Save the Children Action Network volunteers, advocates and teachers from across the state.
They are gathering at time when the state is facing scrutiny for not spending roughly $300 million from a federal Child Care and Development Fund that provides subsidies to working families.
These federal child care funds have a “lose it or use it” provision and in 2018, Tennessee was one of only two states that had to return the unspent money. The federal government redistributes the money not spent in Tennessee to other states.
Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.
Published 5:08 PM EST Nov 16, 2019
