Charleston, W.Va. – An economic development organization of Kanawha Valley says something should now be done about addressing the need for child care after finding a deficit of over 5,000 child care slots, affecting 32% of qualified children throughout the area.
In response to this, Advantage Valley will host twelve business workers to start children from March to November 2025 throughout the nine-circuit region they serve. Part of the advantages of promoting the organization for the beginnings and revival of enterprise in Western Virginia, or the fastest WV program.
The President and CEO of the advantage and CEO Terrell Ellis said they have been very lucky to have some major announcements about economic development in the region recently, such as more dollars coming for Nucor Steel’s continued development in Mason County, as well as the latest Fidelis and Wilcox Bright Loop Facility announcement. data.
She said with those developments there are many opportunities to improve some of the community infrastructure, which includes child care, and this effort will help create more of those child care facilities.
“We all know that caring for affordable and accessible children is a real challenge for people, so what we are trying to do is get people who may be interested in starting a child care business to understand which resources are there to help them,” Ellis said.
Ellis said as with more housing, the area needs more child care facilities so that they can better accommodate the increased number of workers and families who are bringing these latest economic development projects.
Supported by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, Ellis said the workshops are free and will provide resources to prospective and existing child care providers, whether they are looking to maintain a home structure or larger center, or whether they plan to expand their existing operation.
Ellis said that starting a child care business can be a complex process.
“I will be the first to admit that it is not the easiest business in terms of licensing and things of that nature, so if you are trying to go alone, it can feel a little scary,” she said.
However, she said they have been able to partner with the State Center for Small Business Development and an organization called Wonderschool, who are made up of experts in children’s care businesses.
Ellis said they want to help people in this effort at every step of the way.
“They will help us to train us people during the process, so that you do not feel like you are doing this alone and you don’t know what to do next, we will have someone from your side all the way,” she said.
She said the resources that Wonderschool experts will offer people include business training, website and financial management, and operational supervision, which have all been created to help children’s care began to achieve long -term success.
Advantage Valley will host a year -round session throughout Boone, Clay, Cabell, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam and Wayne Counties.
Ellis said that Advantage Valley will lead the sessions, covering everything, from business resources to technical aid and mini-grades available through the fastest WV program.
Ellis said the region currently lacks about 5,300 points of care for children, and with this great deficit, all from employers to employees to communities are feeling the pain.
She said they in Advantage Valley felt like they needed to take a proactive approach to address this problem, because if they don’t do something about it now, the region just will not have enough people to go to work, which creates another problem.
“I spend a lot of time talking to the companies about finding here or expanding here, and the workforce is the biggest question they have had the fact that they have a site available for what they need, and this is a completely different wax ball we have to talk about at one point in time, but the workforce is their number one times,” Ellis said.
However, Ellis said they are aware that there are currently some challenges from a policy point of view they hope to be resolved at the state level or perhaps at the federal level to bring more child care sources.
Meanwhile, the first of these children’s career business workshops will begin at Jackson County this Thursday, March 6 at 6:30 in the Jackson District Development Authority Office, 167 Senica Drive, Ripley.
Below are dates and hours for other future workshops:
. Putnam District at 6:30 Afternoon | April 10 in area 34-7093, 971 WV-34, Hurricane, WV 25526
. Kanawha District at 6:30 Afternoon | May 6 at Connect CCR & R Office (1 club player Dr. Charleston, WV 25311)
Those interested in attending the workshop can be recorded for the free event at events.
Moreover, the remaining workshops will be held at Boone County on June 17, Lincoln County July 24, Clay County 12 August, Wayne County September 18, Cabell County on October 2, and Mason County on November 1st. Additional information about the time and location of these workshops will be provided on the Valley advantage website.