— Daily Freeman-Journal file photo A class of four-year old children at Riverview Early Childhood Center use brushes and paint to create art. The center, one of four in Hamilton County, is having a difficult time hiring and retaining workers. A bonus program has been implemented to help encourage childcare workers to join the staff at local facilities and stay in the job.

Officials with the Hamilton County Childcare Coalition say they have nearly completed the first round of fundraising for the group’s retention and hiring bonus program.

McKinley Bailey of Building Families said the coalition has met with a group of Hamilton County’s largest employers to present the bonus program.

“These businesses from around the county have pledged so far just over $100,000,” he said, adding that the businesses have pledged that amount for the next three years.

The first retention bonus checks are going out this month, he said, to full-time workers who achieved the program’s criteria.

“If we can get to our goal of $150,000 pledged for each year, then we could pay bonuses to the part-time workers,” Bailey said. “The part-time workers are a big piece of the childcare workforce. We don’t want to overlook them.”

He said he hoped to have data on the effectiveness of the bonus program in July as the daycare centers will submit reports with details on what employee turnover looked like in the six months before the program started and what it looks like now.

“We’ll track that over the next three and half years so that if it works, we’ll have the data to show employers that this is a worthwhile investment,” he said.

Bailey said he believes that employers are recognizing the importance of childcare to their workforces.

“They’ve figured out that this is impacting their bottom line and I think that’s why they are responding,” he said.

He said he’d heard from multiple employers who told of offering a job to someone, only to have the candidate turn down the job because they can’t find childcare.

“Then there are employees who have to call in because there is not a steady supply of childcare,” he said. “The employers see that in the absenteeism.”

Bailey said the program now has been rolled out to the smaller and medium-sized employers in the county.

“We’re asking employers who can tell this is impacting their ability to grow their businesses to contribute to Enhance Hamilton County Foundation funds,” he said.

Last week the Enhance Hamilton County Foundation announced a fund was opened to accept donations to support childcare services throughout Hamilton County. According to the Foundation, the Hamilton County Childcare Initiative Fund will initially support the recruitment and retainment bonus program being established by the Hamilton County Childcare Coalition along with Building Families to assist child care centers with attracting and retaining employees.

Donations to the Hamilton County Childcare Initiative Fund can be made by check or online through the Foundation’s website at enhancehamiltoncounty.org. Donors can mail a check, noting the name of the fund, to Enhance Hamilton County Foundation, 501 Bank Street, Webster City, IA 50595. For more information on donating to the Hamilton County Childcare Initiative Fund, contact Darcy Swon by calling 515-835-0437 or via email at dswon@enhancehamiltoncounty.org.

Bailey’s message to those families looking for childcare resources?

“Help is on the way,” he said. “It’s a solvable problem. We have lots of space open, we just don’t have enough workers to operate at full capacity.”

He said Blairsburg’s Mighty Trojan Daycare is operating at 35 percent of licensed capacity, Webster City Daycare is at 60 percent of capacity. Stratford Early Childcare Center is also operating at 60 percent capacity, according to Bailey.

“Riverview (Early Childcare Center) is doing a little better. They are closer to 80 percent capacity,” he said. “But there are over a hundred spaces unused right now in Hamilton County.”

Bailey said the heart of the problem is the centers have trouble hiring anyone based on wages of $8.50 per hour.

“You know, a lot of times people will say why not just raise the rates? The ability of families to pay more is really limited,” according to Bailey.

“Infant care in Hamilton County centers is almost the same as the cost of tuition and fees at the University of Northern Iowa for a year,” he said. “Last year, UNI was about $500 more expensive than infant care in Hamilton County.”

Of course, students attending college can get scholarships, Pell Grants or student loans.

“There’s nothing like that out there for working families seeking childcare,” he said.