The Portage-based Northwest Indiana Forum Foundation announced the release of an analysis of the Region’s child care landscape and its impacts.
Entitled “A Northwest Indiana Childcare Investment Strategy – Fueling Workforce and Economic Growth,” the analysis examines the Region’s existing child care and its impact on employers, employees and long-term economic vitality.
Employers across Northwest Indiana continue to face challenges in providing effective child care support. For many small- and medium-sized businesses, offering comprehensive child care benefits can be cost-prohibitive. Others may lack awareness of the value such benefits provide—including increased productivity, improved retention and higher employee satisfaction—or may be unfamiliar with existing child care tax credits available to employers.
Establishing on-site child care requires adequate space, proper licensing and ongoing management. Additionally, child care needs differ widely among employees based on their children’s ages, work schedules and household structures, making a single, universal solution difficult to implement.
The new study provides an assessment of the child care landscape and the current pressures facing both families and employers.
“The data shows an estimated 5,000 work-willing parents in Northwest Indiana are not in the full-time workforce today due to the barriers they face,” said Jennifer Gadzala, Northwest Indiana Forum Foundation grants director and study lead, in a press release. “Forty-two percent of those surveyed cite prohibitive costs as the leading challenge.”
Across the seven-county Region, access to affordable, high-quality child care has emerged as a critical factor influencing labor participation, business productivity and household stability.
The Northwest Indiana Childcare Investment Strategy quantifies existing child care gaps and their economic implications, captures the perspectives and needs of employers and early learning providers and highlights intervention models from around the country that could be adapted for Northwest Indiana.
Building on this work, the Northwest Indiana Forum Foundation will collaborate with First Things First Porter County and a coalition of employers, early learning providers, philanthropic partners and community leaders to prioritize solutions and drive regional action. Together, these partners will work to advance strategies that support working families, strengthen the labor force and enhance economic competitiveness across the Region.
