Welcome everyone to midday magazine for this January 4th 2023 have your host James J. Mail off here in part two today
We are going to speak with Jackie Carantini UW Extension's own looking forward to having Jackie on the air with us right now
Our good friend Kelly brochart executive director of child carrying Incas with us and Kelly
I know I do this every time that I get the last name right really close really close
Borture. Thank you. I'm so sorry
You're just gonna have to join us more so I can get this name right
Uh Kelly
Thank you so much for being here and right out the gate
I want to thank you and your team at child carrying Inc and all the work that you are doing
We know how important it is
It's a topic that's been coming up quite a bit for the last couple of years and I think in an election year
It's only going to be that much more
Topical but the importance of it is is is almost unwardable
How important child carrying is going forward the way the child care ties into so many different
Things and so many different facets of our lives and different issues and different topics
So I really cannot thank you enough not only for being here before what the work that child carrying Inc does and if you don't mind
I'd actually like to start there as kind of a refresher if you don't mind of what child carrying Inc is
Yeah, thank you James. So child carrying is a child care resource on referral agency. We're a non-profit agency that helps
People become child care providers. We also help families who are in search of quality child care
and we we do a lot of community work where we're on a lot of
collaborative
network committees and
meetings we attend to talk about the importance of child care among community groups
I really want to give a shout out though to Jackie Caratini who I meant who you just mentioned
Yeah, yeah, because Jackie is one of our board members, and so she does
Join us and yeah, so you know like we influence a lot of community organizations to understand the importance of quality early childhood care and education
That's a wonderful tie-in about Jackie. I didn't know that that's a that's fantastic her coming up right afterwards at everything
And it's not surprising either Jackie's amazing
And it sounds like you got an amazing board over there, and I know how great you are and that team is one of the things
It's to me right away when you guys first joined us was
This is an organization that is is not just kind of preaching or talking
They're listening as well. They're listening and sharing you guys listen to communities
You're listening and seeing what is needed here what you're not just kind of saying here's what we do
Make it work. You're kind of like how can we work with you? How can we help out what every area is gonna be have a different set of
Needs or a different gray area if you will every especially with child care where it's just every family's got a different set of issues or maybe a different
Schedule or something like that
Being able to do that is so unique. I think to this organization. I think it's very noteworthy
I love that you mentioned that because in the last year or so we specifically have been working in Portage County as well as Wood County
on dream-up teams which are
Organizations community groups that have received funding from the state of Wisconsin to do strategic planning around child care and boy have we been busy
I can only imagine
Um, we we've talked about this with our representatives and our senators a little bit but the funding you mentioned there
And I don't mean to take us in a different direction, but
Certainly, there could always be more
But is that is that given a bit of encouragement to you to others in child care in the child care industry?
Have you seen that okay? They're they are listening. They do see that there's an issue here
Yes, I think what the dream-up teams and the grant opportunities have given to
Communities is that there are more people
Different sectors different organizations at the table. So the school districts other non-profit organizations
Businesses county government city government people have really been at the table to discuss the unique
You know situation here that we're facing with child care
Kelly it seems like to me that it used to be made and not even that long ago maybe even five years ago
If we were talking about child care
A lot of the community would listen, but people maybe with their kids out of school or without children
Maybe didn't seem to tune in as much. I don't know. I'm curious from you and your team
For me, I've noticed that's kind of changed. It seems like everybody cares about this issue now
Everybody seems to be getting on almost the same page with it like hey, this is something we need to address
This is something we need to tackle. I think what people are realizing is that child care is such a huge economic development issue
We need people to work. We need people
In positions and jobs in order to make you know healthy thriving communities
And I think people are really recognizing the important role that child care plays
You know the life of a working parent
So much so to the point that you guys have a new mission adapted in 2020 from 2020 in 2023
Yeah
We did our board worked with our staff and we worked with an outside consultant to really
Develop a new mission and hone in on this idea of you know, it's not just
Child care providers. It's caregivers in general and it's coming together with
Families and other community
Organizations to help improve child care situations. So our mission is really empowering a community of individuals who care for in
Nurture children as opposed to strictly just focusing on child care providers. It's really
You know all encompassing of families communities as well as child care providers to help influence the lives of young children
It takes a village
And it's interesting to see us kind of I don't want to say going back to that
But kind of bring that it made it. I'm sure not alone there. It came to my mind right away. I'm sure others too
So it kind of going to that system if you will is is only beneficial to the community to the family
et cetera
It's a great mission statement. Where did that did that come from listening to the community from being out there and everything?
Yes, we we in fact
Have like I said we attend a lot of community meetings. We have different
stakeholder surveys that we send out
Other ways that we talk with parents and providers
To gather input and to really understand you know the issues that that people are facing
One of those issues I imagine is getting information out there
Being able to get the help that these people might need or or that you yourselves might need
So that's where I wanted to bring up as well that you guys are offering free startup information. Yes, I think
There isn't a better time to come into this field of child care than today
They're in my third year career. There hasn't been a time where there's been more resources
Supports friendly people financial incentives to come into you know a career in child care. So
We offer startup meetings about every other month or so just an open space to invite people to come virtually and hear more about what it takes to be a child care provider
You know, I think about child care and I think
What other job what other career can you have where you come and play with children interact with kids
Get to have nap time and snack time and just endless opportunity for hugs
It's such a rewarding career and so influential to the child
You know of the future of a child and developing their brain and I mean, it's just such a rewarding career
Kelly every time you join us
I start to question if I'm in the right industry
If I need to leave radio and jump into this because you're right. It sounds so
It's so rewarding
We've kind of seen the the dad and the numbers of this now
But with during the pandemic there was this great migration that went on a people wanting
I'm done doing a job. I'm stick of working nine to five. I want a passion
I want to do I want to follow a passion. I want to certainly keep the lights on
But I want to do something that I I can put back into my community that I can feel good from at the end of the day
We saw a gigantic move to that and and we're seeing
You know a bit more of that in the child care industry
But you mentioned something that I think is incredibly noteworthy that you've been doing this for a long time
And to you that this is the point in time where it's probably the best to join this industry
I think that is really no worthy
And hopefully encouraging to people out there
There is a need for this industry to to to have good people in it
And I I have a lot of young students with acting that I do and every one of them I tell to have a day job
And oftentimes what they'll ask is after that
Well, but what industry can I count on you know
We certainly think that okay the tech industry is going to be quite around for quite a while
I don't know many other industries that are like child care where I
I feel pretty confident saying we're going to need good child care workers going forward
We're going to keep having kids we're going to keep having families having kids and everything
We're going to need child care workers and if you're working looking your young person looking for an industry that you can
Okay, that's going to be here in 20 years
Child careing is definitely one of those
Absolutely
I completely agree with you. It's as important as our public school institutions right maybe even more so
Because in order to prepare those kids to be successful at the public school
You know level and in their future of their lives. They need a good start in early childhood
Absolutely agree with you James as parents. We also understand that
funds are not always a thing you have
You don't always have a much a lot of free income if you will or anything
So that's where I think these startup grants are so key to this too
And I think it's so valuable and awesome that you guys have these things available as well
We don't want anybody not be able to get information because of some of these other factors
Right, can we talk a little bit about those startup grants and what they are yeah
Right, let's let's talk about that
So through a grant that child caring has through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
We have an opportunity to offer grants to people who want to become certified or licensed to do child care
Generally within their home. I mean if you're interested in starting a larger group child care center
We're there to support you as well with with grants
I think they the the family child care providers who do this out of their home find this to be the most impactful because
You often will need a fenced play space and so fences can be expenses expensive
You need to make sure you safety proof your home and certainly you need lots of good
high quality toys and equipment to interact with kids and making sure they're busy and
In playing and so the startup grants can be used for a variety of
Different toys equipment and really most anything a provider would need in order to become
Certified or licensed to do care within their home, but most often it's
fences
Places for babies to sleep can be expensive, you know safety gates
Smoke detectors carbon monoxide detectors. Those are really critical in the health and safety aspects of providing child care
It seems like
It's not that different than starting up almost any business
To certain degrees where you know a lot of people have great ideas for a business
But may not have the funds to be able to do that with something like this though here
We have grants that can kind of help you get the ball rolling and and
With a group like a child caring again organization like that you're not in this alone
You're not navigating through the dark or trying to kind of figure it out online or something or anything
You you have a team there that is going to help you set up your building and get this uh get your child caring business
Set up so that it is all approved and everything is covered. You're it's safe. It's fun a lot of that
Right, I think you know that is a key thing to note about child caring
I think is our really dedicated committed staff
We've got staff that have had so many years of experience within this field and
Just have a lot of great information resources and we answer the phone when you call us
Which I think is pretty cool. That is very cool. That is very go real person Kelly really a real person
That's awesome
When it comes to uh that the the groups the childcare centers are are out there
We're also uh, you know
We want to help if you want to start a child caring facility certainly
But we're also looking for staff or looking for members for other facilities as well
Correct. Yes. I think that that is a great need at this point in time
So while we have a need for family child care providers and people that maybe want to be in business for themselves and offer care out of their home
There's also a great great need for people to work within child care centers
Right now we're experiencing the largest um staff capacity gap that we've ever experienced that are
Still centers as a result of the pandemic and you know other contributing factors
Centers are operating not at full capacity where classrooms are closed because they're not able to find
You know really qualified great staff and so again if you have an interest at all in working with young children
And maybe you want a career change like we weren't talking about right like
This is just a wonderful time. There are a lot of supports and ways to get free education and
Support to come into this field
Yeah, you bring up a good point there Kelly because that immediately I think of young people who are just starting in in college or tech schools or something
And maybe they're on the fence about what to go what path to take in their career
And maybe this their skill set and their passions kind of align with child care
But there's also yes the the older people are the people that have been doing a career for a while or maybe you've been doing it that job
You did out of college for a five ten years and kind of ready for a change of pace
Are you looking for something that maybe a bit more rewarding or or something along those lines
I know I bring up the word rewarding because I've heard so many people when they are talking about this and making this
Jump this move which I admire very much
A lot of times it's that it's they they're looking for something where they're putting back they're giving back
They're doing something good and they can know that at the end of the day they feel that I can't think of many more
Rewarding things than child caring and and what the the work that it takes to be able to do that
So if there's a person out there listening and they are on the fence on that
What kind of skill sets are you do you think that the child caring industry are looking for when it comes to people
What kind of person is it that it would be a perfect fit for something like this or a good fit
Yeah, so to come into the field of child care. I think
You need to want to be your own kids. You need you know, you need to want to
Play with children and interact with children and feel very comfortable with them certainly
Being a fun, you know loving person and positive and
Being willing to put yourself out there and be real honest with kids that that that was some of the the big pieces for me when I was working directly with kids is
I just love their honesty and the way that they just say whatever's on their mind
You really I mean you have to have a lot of patience and being willing to you know have a
A fun time at your job. I think those are some
pieces that I would I love that great answer great answer
And I have no doubt there are people out there that heard that that felt a pull on their heart
for the pull I'm like, oh, that's me or that hits me
And thinking about maybe I just need to go into this or maybe this is something I could do
We want to see these numbers rise up. We want to see a lot more people getting into the child care industry
Um, there are ways of of kind of like getting that information out there of helping people
I want to touch on the CCR and our agency. Could you tell us what that is?
Yeah, so child caring is one of nine child care resource and referral agencies across the state of Wisconsin
And we're part of a statewide membership organization called supporting families together
And we're also then part of a national organization of child care resource and referral agencies and across the country
You'll find agencies similar to us who really you know is mission is to help improve the quality of child care for for young children
So CCR and ours child care resource and referral
It's a great organization with a lot of great people in it and doing a lot of good in this industry and to child care and the quality of that
I think that that's another key part of what we're talking about here and when we're talking about child care going forward
It's not just having child care. It's good child care safe child care
One of those things that is a key part of this as well
The other factor that I wanted to touch on too is the other side of this the family's needing child care and the
Accessibility to that the the funds for something like that you guys a child caring anchor helping with that as well
That's that's right James. We offer good start grants, which is a very local program that child caring offers
Primarily funded through United Way like United Way of Southwood United Way of Portage County those organizations help
financially support good start grants
Which is a way for families to help them pay for child care
So we often hear about Wisconsin shares, which is a subsidy through the state of Wisconsin
We've taken that a step further and offer grants to those families that just missed those cutoff guidelines
And you know really need that support because we know how expensive child care can be and so good start grants is again
locally administered and
We do that in house and so it's a very easy application and so many families are so grateful for that support
Yeah
This comes back to the beginning of our conversation and and and what
How important child care is to our economy to our communities and getting people back into the workforce
And again going back to the last three four five years the way things have been a kind of correcting the ship and kind of getting things to where they were before pre-pandemic
If anything that is just even getting to that point is a positive right there
but
That we we understand
From the Alice report from the United Way and many other factors that there's so many families out there in that gray area
There are the ones that it's clear cut they could definitely use help they are grant available or
They can scholar they can submit for those
But then there's an organization those families that you have two working parents maybe you have a decent income
But they're still struggling and they certainly don't have the funds to be able to do child care with the expense of that and everything
Having these grants available is only going to benefit our community and only going to get people more out there into the workforce more
It's really impactful um do you
Do you see on the rise and I'm not asking you to look into your crystal ball here or anything like that Kelly
But it is an important year and it is an election year and and for better or worse oftentimes things get done in election years
You know for people want to keep their jobs. Let's be honest about it
And that's how a politician keeps their job by getting bills passed and everything do you feel a
Do you feel positive this going into this year that child caring is going to get more attention that more that we're going to have more bills more things
Pass to try to help you and and others in this industry
I do feel it's a big question. I'm sorry, but it is
But I can't help myself I have to ask because you know this industry much better than I do and in many of our listeners
I think that
We're at such a wonderful opportunity in 2024 to to continue to support child care and
Sadly, I don't know that the bottom has dropped out yet
I still think that we continue to see a loss and the supports that we have in place simply are not enough yet
And so yes, I do think there's some great opportunity in 2024
There's been several bills brought at the state level to support child care and child care
providers
We haven't landed on anything significant yet. We're still
Hoping to have additional support for a stabilization payments that providers are receiving at the state level called child care counts
Those have been saved through partially through 2025
Again, I think we're just you know sort of staying afloat because of that, but there definitely is opportunity
In 2024. Thank you Kelly. Thank you for that answer
We're speaking with Kelly broacher
B orchard oh
Kelly B orchard executive director child caring and Kelly. Thank you for porting up with me and for the great conversation today
We're kind of wrapping up now. It goes by so fast when you and I get together
We do want to encourage people though to look into the industry
We we need good people in this industry and we kind of want to re go over that a little bit if you don't mind
Yeah, we think that
This is a great time to become a child care provider
There are endless opportunities for support
Friendly people to help you through the process. There are a lot of financial incentives right now coming into the field
There's help paying for all the education that you need to come into this field
So if you are a person that enjoys spending time with young children
We need you. We want you please call us
There is
Wherever you're coming to it on this angle if you are a family that could use child care
If you're a individual that wants to get into the industry
As a staff member or is starting your own child caring facility child caring Inc is right there for you
And they're going to be able to help you along the way with this whether it's
Helping you find out grants or just information or any of the gray area or any of the area of this
They're right there for you encourage you to reach out to them and find out more child careing Inc. org
We'll get into other ways that they can contact you and your team Kelly
But I didn't want to actually mention before I forget one of the ways
I'm able to do homework with you guys and be all ready for these interviews is your newsletter
You have a great newsletter
I always want to encourage people to sign up for that
It's a great way to keep up on all the information of what you guys are doing and there is especially in this industry
There is always ever changing information. There is new stuff coming up all the time your newsletter is a great way to keep up on that
Thank you for mentioning our newsletter. We also have a weekly listserv
So if you go to our website and
Contact us
We have an opportunity for you to sign up for all those listservs for our newsletter for our annual report
The weekly newsletter is really kind of keep you up to date on current trainings
Current opportunities
What's happening locally? I love our weekly email too. Yeah
And keep in mind that while we are broadcasting from Wood County here you guys cover quite a few
Shell carrying ink covers quite a bit of an area
I Adams Clark Langdale Lincoln Marathon Marquette Portage Taylor Washor
Washor and Wood Counties
Yes, all that area if you're listening to us in that area
Child carrying ink is there for you and Kelly if people do want to reach out to you and your staff and find out more information
How can they get a hold of you guys?
They can go to our website www.childcaring.org. We have a talk to feature if you prefer to chat
Otherwise give us a call Monday through Friday 8 30 to 4 30
800 628 8534 or shoot us an email at info at childcaring.org
Your local child care resource and referral agency child carrying ink
Be sure to reach out to them with any of these concern any of these needs any of these thoughts
Which might have out there Kelly we got to get you back in real soon
It's been too long. We got to do this more consistently love talking with you sounds great
Thank you James. Thank you for the time
We'll have more midday magazine coming up for you right here on 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WF HR. We are locally grown radio
