Forsyth County business and education leaders to host conversations on the child care crisis

Leadership Winston-Salem is partnering with other local organizations to host a series of talks about the child care crisis.

The first panel discussion took place on Thursday at Forsyth Technical Community College.

Local elected officials, business leaders, educators and parents attended the event to learn more about the challenges facing the child care system. 

Theressa Stephens, the co-owner of Church Childcare in Walkertown was one of the panelists. She said high tuition costs and low teacher pay are the biggest issues for her as a provider. 

“I hear all the time that families are saying, ‘Hey, I'm paying a mortgage payment.’ You know, average cost, they may be paying $1,200 and we can't leave the families out, because it's expensive for them," Stephens said. "But when you really look at the numbers and a child’s in your care, maybe 55 hours a week. That comes down to about $5 an hour for child care.”

It’s not ideal to raise costs for parents. But Stephens says she has about a 50% retention rate for teachers due to low wages. Providing benefits is another challenge.

“Out of 26 years of being an entrepreneur, we started offering health insurance just two years ago because it was so expensive," she said. 

Reed VanderSlik is the CEO of ThriveMore, a senior living provider. He talked about how the crisis impacts his employees who need child care in order to work. 

“Their challenge is, you know, accessibility, of course, affordability. And what I think's interesting is, what doesn't come up is convenience," he said. "I mean, they will drive 20 minutes out of their way just to find a quality provider, someone they trust.”

To address that, VanderSlik says he’s partnering with local education nonprofit, Imprints Cares, to open a child care center on-site for employees. 

The next community conversation will take place in January and focus on how the crisis impacts the female workforce specifically. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.