Child Care Solutions for Businesses

Jamie Bright Author

04/11/2025 Added

1 Plays

Description

Breanna Eisenreich from Busy Bees Childcare in Gordon discusses how Gordon Memorial Hospital opened their own childcare facility to help attract and retain staff. Recorded 4/9/2025.

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[00:00:00.000]you
[00:00:00.500]hello good morning how are you paula
[00:00:28.100]well i'm good how are you good how's your not so little guy it's good
[00:00:35.740]it it they go so fast you know yes
[00:00:45.520]bless his heart he is just precious though yes
[00:00:51.200]oh my little grandson's five and it's or he'll be five and i keep telling him i said
[00:00:57.940]we're not going to celebrate your birthday because i want you to stay little
[00:01:00.940]what did he say to that grammy i want to drive a car and i'm like
[00:01:06.540]oh we are way far away from driving a car dude but
[00:01:09.700]they just grow up so fast and it's just hard you know
[00:01:15.060]oh
[00:01:20.500]how did your event go yesterday connect did you do connecting the dots yesterday
[00:01:24.720]i didn't help with it uh okay
[00:01:27.780]i haven't heard how it went
[00:01:30.400]hopefully i'm sure it went well though they do a good job on that it's pretty pretty good so
[00:01:39.080]i think so
[00:01:40.480]you double check and make sure our presenter is that
[00:01:51.960]okay
[00:01:57.620]i don't feel prepared today so joe just stopped in to talk to me
[00:02:23.060]so i uh i've been on a different project for a little while
[00:02:27.600]well misty curtis said she wasn't invited so somehow she must have denied one like if you
[00:02:39.160]decline one you drop so i yeah good but i told her i said i just let you know just in case but
[00:02:46.920]i just forwarded it to her but i thought i've done that before you accidentally just say no
[00:02:51.840]i can't make one and i deleted them then the whole thing
[00:02:54.560]sorry
[00:02:57.440]yeah we have a pretty small group so far
[00:03:14.800]but i know misty's doing it the whole canvas by herself so she might be in and out okay
[00:03:27.280]well i thought i sent the speaker the zoom link too but maybe not so let's send that to her
[00:03:57.120]well i thought i sent the speaker the zoom link too but maybe not so let's send that to her
[00:04:00.240]oh there she is
[00:04:03.040]morning hello how are you good how are you brianna i'm good
[00:04:26.960]we've got a fairly small group so far but a few people still joining okay
[00:04:34.000]i was all excited to walk over to the uh center this morning and then brie said uh
[00:04:56.800]don't walk over
[00:04:57.760]probably easier just to join that well it's raining here virtually is it raining
[00:05:08.000]it's sunny down here
[00:05:11.520]okay i think we'll go ahead and start introductions and if people continue to join i
[00:05:26.640]will let them in um i'm jamie bright i'm the rural prosperity nebraska educator in the southern pan
[00:05:33.120]handle and this morning we are going to hear from brianna and is val also talking or is it just you
[00:05:41.440]brianna um i didn't i'm not talking okay
[00:05:46.880]just wasn't sure but brianna is going to talk to us about um busy bee's child care in
[00:05:56.480]gordon they're associated with the hospital there and talk a little bit about how they provide
[00:06:03.680]child care for hospital employees as well as others in the community and then um this is kind
[00:06:12.160]of part of our six regions one nebraska project on the western side uh tasha and i have been trying
[00:06:18.400]to work on some child care information for businesses so we visited brianna and also the c
[00:06:26.320]in hay springs that's associated with the nursing home she wasn't able to join us today but if i can
[00:06:32.400]get my notes pulled up i can also give some information from them about how they operate
[00:06:37.600]because they have a few things that are different than the one in gordon just to give other
[00:06:42.640]employers ideas of how they can offer child care as a benefit to their employees and help increase
[00:06:50.080]the capacity in our rural communities and provide some of those missing pieces to make sure that
[00:06:56.160]we have everything we need for our workforce so uh we have i think a small enough group to go around
[00:07:04.160]the room um paula why don't you introduce yourself good morning i'm paula abbott and i'm with western
[00:07:12.000]nebraska community college and i'm the sydney campus director thanks paula uh castellan
[00:07:18.500]i'm castellan vinterbrook i'm the executive director at the alliance chamber of commerce
[00:07:24.080]thanks castellan
[00:07:26.000]misty
[00:07:26.900]hello i'm misty curtis and i am the western nebraska campus director here in alliance
[00:07:33.680]thank you misty i'm stacy i'm stacy pafford and i'm the director of administrative services
[00:07:40.920]at phelps county development corporation thank you stacy marla i'm marla marks and i work for
[00:07:48.940]usda rural development and i'm out of the western part of the nebraska panhandle and some of the
[00:07:55.840]east and as we go east i have a little bit of that territory as well thanks marlon sally hi i'm
[00:08:04.200]sally sad and i'm the director of business services at phelps county development corporation
[00:08:09.700]thanks sally valerie
[00:08:12.400]i'm valerie beal i am the president of the gordon community development corporation
[00:08:22.060]thanks valerie emily
[00:08:25.680]i'm emily whirl i live in north platte and i work with six regions one nebraska
[00:08:32.800]the mid plains community college region thanks emily michelle
[00:08:37.300]i am michelle coolidge i am the director of bb associates and so that floats but then i am also
[00:08:49.020]on contract as the city administrator for the city of bridgeport thanks michelle sean
[00:08:55.520]hi i'm sean caskey like jamie i'm a rural prosperity county-based educator i'm here
[00:09:01.240]in broken bow today but my video is not working so good to see you all no problem denise
[00:09:08.900]denise wilkinson northeast region for six regions one nebraska thanks denise shauna
[00:09:19.860]i'm shauna mashick and i'm with chapel community develop
[00:09:25.360]and chapel chamber thanks shauna and christy good morning christy mcclellan state of nebraska
[00:09:34.680]department of economic development i have the pleasure of working in the western 31 counties
[00:09:39.860]so dawson county north south and west not cherry not because i don't like cherry just because they
[00:09:46.140]didn't give me it's odd to leave it out but you never know what the state decides to do when
[00:09:53.880]they're splitting things up
[00:09:55.200]did i miss anyone
[00:09:59.380]okay i will let brianna go ahead and tell us a little bit about what they do
[00:10:07.500]okay um my name is jamie said i'm brianna eisenrich i am the director for busy bees
[00:10:16.400]child care center in gordon um we are just closing in on this summer will be um the end
[00:10:23.840]of our second year of operation and we're going to be closing in on the end of our second year of
[00:10:25.040]operation so we're we're pretty new um for those of you who don't know um where gordon is it is uh
[00:10:33.540]it's in the panhandle i always just tell people it's between shattern and valentine um that seems
[00:10:39.780]to be a good description for people who might not be familiar with the panhandle um gordon is a very
[00:10:46.480]small rural town like a lot of places in nebraska um i'm gonna date myself here i graduated high
[00:10:54.880]school from gordon in 2003 and um at that point i believe gordon's population was um around 1800
[00:11:03.340]and i think today it's closer to 1600 um we do have a grade school a high school a clinic hospital
[00:11:11.020]a nursing home a packing plant um we have two banks a drugstore and then we do have other small
[00:11:19.920]various businesses um in town um a
[00:11:24.720]little bit about myself and kind of how i tie into this uh like i said i graduated from school here
[00:11:31.440]so i was born and raised here i did attend shadron state college um and i did get my bachelor's degree
[00:11:37.500]in family consumer science and child development um as part of that degree i did an internship
[00:11:44.420]at a daycare center in casper wyoming um so that center that i worked at you know when i was in
[00:11:52.680]college um is
[00:11:54.560]is vastly different than like busy bees today um it served i would say a larger demographic of
[00:12:01.300]children and we you know were it was a larger center for sure um after living in casper for
[00:12:09.560]eight years i believe it was my husband and i moved back here when our children were very small
[00:12:14.560]um and having two children close in age is kind of what spurred me to open my own
[00:12:20.820]um in-home daycare so i did that for just
[00:12:24.400]under eight years um before busy bees kind of came to fruition um i think it was in 2018 or 2019
[00:12:33.620]i was contacted by um our hospital ceo at the time just um with ideas about if the hospital
[00:12:43.900]were to do a center um what were some suggestions that i could give um what exactly would we need to
[00:12:50.860]um open things like that um like
[00:12:54.240]i said that was right right before covid and when covid hit that idea kind of um really got put on
[00:13:02.160]hold um and then if you fast forward kind of to um the spring of of 2023 um there i think at that
[00:13:13.460]point um there were three in-home providers um in town one one that is not included in that number
[00:13:22.180]was um getting ready to close
[00:13:24.080]and she actually had quite a few hospital employees um in her in home um so that was
[00:13:31.600]that was becoming a concern for the hospital you know um where would these children go um because
[00:13:39.020]not all of them were starting school and many of them still needed care um so i i really um
[00:13:47.040]at that point i would definitely credit um our hospital ceo and cfo with
[00:13:53.920]kind of getting the idea of a center up and running um they really did put um a lot of work
[00:14:01.300]into that um i think it was in may when that was really kind of tossed around and then by mid-june
[00:14:08.940]um it was then really decided that this was going to happen this was going to come to fruition
[00:14:15.700]and it was it was going to work um i would say one thing that uh gordon memorial really had in
[00:14:23.160]their favor
[00:14:23.760]was the space i feel like a lot of places would like to do this but um you know the question
[00:14:30.420]really arises where where do we put this space um you know is it something that's done privately
[00:14:37.600]is it something that's done you know as a sector or you know is it housed right in um right in our
[00:14:44.360]facility so um to give a little backstory um in that area our center is housed in what was
[00:14:53.600]an assisted living portion of our nursing home um it had not been used as an assisted living
[00:15:00.960]area for quite a few years um so the biggest um i wouldn't say challenge but what required the
[00:15:09.560]most work in getting our center up and running was kind of demoing those those quote-unquote
[00:15:15.380]patient rooms and making them into classrooms um the space is attached to our nursing
[00:15:23.440]home but it's not it's not like the door is utilized between us or anything it's basically
[00:15:29.200]attached by a hallway so we're not actually housed within the hospital we're not actually housed you
[00:15:35.520]know um connected to the clinic or anything like that um so we have our own separate entrance um
[00:15:42.400]you know as far as that goes um we utilize the gordon our gordon memorial maintenance crew did
[00:15:52.680]all of the work and we're not actually housed within the hospital we're not actually housed
[00:15:53.280]in renovating our our space um and i really encourage um on our facebook page on our busy
[00:16:01.060]bees facebook page there are a lot of um before and after pictures and it's truly amazing what
[00:16:08.400]they did with that space in such a short amount of time um i think work began on that the end of june
[00:16:15.780]and we were open and approved by licensing um the end of july so
[00:16:23.120]that was just like an incredibly quick turnaround and i truly truly cannot give enough credit um
[00:16:29.040]to our maintenance department for all the work they did um it wasn't it wasn't like you know
[00:16:35.060]we had to knock down walls and things like that but we did completely renovate the kitchen um so
[00:16:40.960]that it would it would suit our needs better um all rooms were recarpeted the large space out
[00:16:47.360]front was was um had new flooring put in um everything was painted
[00:16:52.960]you know um and just just a lot of work put into transforming rooms from you know what
[00:17:01.380]what would have housed like a hospital bed into what now space was ready um for children
[00:17:08.140]um we had to like i said we had to pass our state inspection we had to
[00:17:14.660]pass a health health inspection as well um and so there are definite definite differences in
[00:17:22.800]licensing a center versus licensing an in-home and there's a lot more that uh goes into a center
[00:17:29.540]and that's not to say that it can't be done it's just there's a lot more details to cover
[00:17:34.800]um i would say too you know for for facilities that are looking at doing at this
[00:17:41.060]um for us one thing that was hard was um not retaining teachers but but hiring staff um
[00:17:52.640]you know it's again it's a small town um and so finding staff that is qualified
[00:17:57.460]um because there are different qualifications for staff that work in a center as well
[00:18:03.040]um for instance if if somebody possesses a teaching certificate they automatically
[00:18:09.740]you know qualify as a classified teacher for you that's by the state standards
[00:18:14.460]if they do not there are different um qualifications that they um can absolutely attain
[00:18:22.480]and they can they are then qualified as what is called an unclassified teacher um for myself
[00:18:29.440]the way that i am able to um you know be be classified as the director that has to do with
[00:18:36.720]the degree that i hold um so right now we have six unclassified teachers um but they're they all
[00:18:45.080]qualify by the state standards to do so um and the way that they are able to do so is either through
[00:18:52.320]credits or documented experience um my my most uh i guess i should say my teacher with the most
[00:19:01.060]experience she also did in home care for i think she did it close to nine years so you have to have
[00:19:08.220]ten thousand documented hours if you don't have college credits um to be an unclassified teacher
[00:19:14.900]which she possesses um i do have another teacher that does have her um
[00:19:22.160]i don't remember if it is her cda or um her associates in child development so that also
[00:19:29.620]qualifies her as well so there's there's different ways to to get your staff qualified um and we've
[00:19:36.460]been incredibly fortunate the staff that we've hired um in the last two years we've only lost
[00:19:42.400]one staff member and that was because she moved away um so i i feel incredibly fortunate in that
[00:19:52.000]um as far as like retaining our own staff we i should mention too we do also have um
[00:19:59.460]we do have a an aid um i i'm always happy you know to have extra help um and the only thing
[00:20:08.660]is that uh for a center an aid does not count towards your staff to child ratio um but we we
[00:20:15.600]certainly appreciate having you know another another person on hand um to help us
[00:20:21.840]um i would say you know if if facilities are looking at doing something like this
[00:20:28.720]just even getting the word out that you're thinking about it um could turn over a lot
[00:20:34.180]of possibilities for you that you might not know are out there um you know like for us we were so
[00:20:39.820]fortunate to have that space already so to not have to find the space was good um but you never
[00:20:45.980]know what is out there you know as far as um i wouldn't say like empty buildings but
[00:20:51.680]various spaces that might be available um if you just ask and get kind of get it out there
[00:20:58.360]i think that um there's more sometimes than what you might realize um
[00:21:04.520]i think um another thing that definitely works in our favor is we although we are a small town
[00:21:16.740]i think being so close to a college town like shadron has helped us as well um
[00:21:21.520]to kind of recruit recruit staff members or recruit people who
[00:21:25.880]may have gone there um that that's been in our favor too um i should say you know
[00:21:33.820]the benefits for our hospital employees and kind of touch on that a little bit um so busy bees
[00:21:42.740]is primarily for hospital and clinic employees um they do get a very um an incredible
[00:21:51.360]wonderful deal on a subsidized rate that is just ran through their payroll
[00:21:56.100]um so our hospital employees never have to worry um about a bill or actually exchanging money
[00:22:01.940]um we do also have some private pay people um who are community members that they are not
[00:22:09.220]affiliated with the hospital but they have care through us as well um and so they don't get a
[00:22:15.480]subsidized rate but our um pricing for them i feel like falls in line and is
[00:22:21.200]competitive with with other in-home providers um here in gordon um does anybody have any questions
[00:22:28.460]kind of up to this point about anything i do how full are you um do you notice that in that
[00:22:36.560]small of a town that it's hard to get or are you already full nope that is an excellent question
[00:22:43.060]um when we initially knew that this was going to happen um we started taking a quote-unquote like
[00:22:51.040]applications and getting people on a wait list um so we do have due to the physical size of our
[00:22:57.860]center we are able we're licensed for 45 um but like i said in the beginning it was really hard to
[00:23:06.060]um get enough staff to really house more than around 25 to 30 children um and as of right now
[00:23:15.900]where we are standing um we are back to having for a while we had a wait list especially
[00:23:20.880]for infants because of the lower um infant to staff ratio that the state allows um so
[00:23:27.860]right now we are full and we are back to having a wait list for infants um so um getting full
[00:23:35.540]was not a problem i would say that for us it was more um being able to hire staff so
[00:23:41.420]that we could take on more children at one point um but right now we are what i would
[00:23:46.220]definitely say is fully staffed um and like i said we are
[00:23:50.720]back to having a wait list for infants so we kind of got hit uh hit with quite a few
[00:23:56.960]infants at once that we're just we're just now um getting into that enrollment and that
[00:24:03.180]um i look for our infant wait list to be out at least a year if not maybe closer to 14
[00:24:09.560]to 18 months
[00:24:10.560]can i ask a question oh yes absolutely nope nope no go ahead did you get any outside funding
[00:24:20.560]assistance plans sponsorships because how do you make the the staff payroll and utilities
[00:24:26.940]right you're giving that cut rate right um so the way that that and i i should really preface this
[00:24:35.100]saying that that is something that our um hospital ceo um and cfo know a lot more about than i do
[00:24:43.100]like i don't i don't do directly um like the budgeting and things like that our hospital
[00:24:48.400]cfo does that but
[00:24:50.400]in order to get the um center up and going we did receive a grant from the state for um it was
[00:24:58.040]like in may of 2023 and that was a very sizable grant um the main stipulation with it was it had
[00:25:06.840]to be used on specific things and at that point i believe it had to be spent by august 1st which
[00:25:13.980]when you're talking about um the things that the center needed you know everything from kind of the
[00:25:20.240]of the kitchen to the updated appliances and um toys for rooms things like that um we also did do
[00:25:29.000]we also did put in a small playground at the center so that was part of what our funding was
[00:25:33.680]used for um but the the financial part of that really um that really the credit for that and
[00:25:42.940]making that work really goes to um our cfo who handles that and that has to do with
[00:25:50.080]um i guess the most simple way that i've been kind of communicated with about that is that um
[00:25:58.900]it's kind of viewed as i guess a benefit so therefore financially um
[00:26:07.820]i'm trying to think of how to put this
[00:26:11.640]she worded it really well when i was there um the cost savings in retention of employees
[00:26:19.920]helps offset any losses that may happen in the costs on the child care side
[00:26:25.360]so they still feel like it's worth it yep and i i should add to that too since the center has
[00:26:32.520]opened there has been a 98 percent um employee retention um in employees staying and and not
[00:26:39.540]you know having to leave due to due to child care are there any other questions um
[00:26:49.760]up to up to this point
[00:26:51.560]i don't necessarily have a question but i just did want to share that western nebraska community
[00:26:59.720]college does have an early childhood program so if anybody's looking for coursework um we
[00:27:06.580]would be able to support in that way thank you
[00:27:10.600]brian i have a question so how do you deal with
[00:27:19.600]sick kids i mean is there anything that you i mean because you're affiliated with the hospital
[00:27:25.220]is there anything that you're able to do there or not i'm so glad you asked that um and this kind
[00:27:31.440]of goes back to when i had my own in-home care center um we do we do have a very fairly stringent
[00:27:38.880]illness policy um my reasoning behind that is that we have so many little people and um so many
[00:27:46.440]staff members that um we
[00:27:49.440]you know it's it's outlined in it's outlined in our manual but it's also something that i touch on
[00:27:55.040]probably at least once a month um just as a friendly reminder you know in these certain
[00:28:00.080]instances please don't send your child to daycare um and you know some of our some of our hospital
[00:28:06.320]employees um do have the ability to work from home so i feel like for some people it's not an issue
[00:28:13.120]and then i always you know try to be really forthcoming with when you start daycare whether
[00:28:19.280]it's at a center or in home you really need to be cognizant of having backup care just in case so we
[00:28:27.200]it's, you know, that kind of can be tricky sometimes, but I also really, I really try to
[00:28:35.640]do our best, you know, with thinking of, like, infants who, although they might be in the infant
[00:28:41.600]room, germs spread so easily that I just, I prefer that, you know, people adhere to our illness policy.
[00:28:55.520]I should have mentioned, too, in the beginning, we serve children from age six weeks until,
[00:29:02.860]I think it's until age 12 or 13, so in the summertime, we do bring on an additional staff
[00:29:09.520]member, and she is, she's in charge of, like, a school, like, a summer age program for us,
[00:29:16.660]and she is going into elementary education, so that really kind of piggybacks off of what she's
[00:29:23.680]looking at doing, and I feel like that is, that's a good fit for us for what we need, kind of,
[00:29:30.260]with keeping our school age group together in the summertime.
[00:29:34.060]Are your employee, your staff, are they employees of the hospital receiving all benefits?
[00:29:42.120]Yes, they are eligible for benefits. It's wonderful, yeah. They are eligible for benefits,
[00:29:48.880]anything over 32 hours a week. They are eligible for
[00:29:53.580]benefits. For instance, like right now, I do, we have a staff member who her son attends the
[00:30:02.540]center. So she gets the same rate as, you know, somebody who is working at the hospital physically
[00:30:09.660]or somebody who's at the nursing home. And then also, right now, we are planning on
[00:30:17.800]two of our staff members who they are expecting. And so when they are done
[00:30:23.480]with their maternity leave, which will be, you know, that's covered under their benefits. When
[00:30:28.240]they're done with that, they will rejoin us along with their new babies. So excited for that.
[00:30:35.020]Brianna, do the staff members in the center get free care for a child or are they just still at
[00:30:46.360]that same reduced rate for the rest of the hospital employees? That's an excellent question. They're at the
[00:30:53.380]same rate as the hospital employees. So, yep. It's still, it was really low of me. Did I have
[00:31:01.280]this right? It's only $40 a week for hospital employees. Yep. Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Yep.
[00:31:07.400]Does anybody have any other questions or anything that
[00:31:18.560]I didn't touch on that you're still curious about or that I wasn't super
[00:31:23.280]clear about? This is Christy, and my husband and I live south of Big Springs. And I will tell you,
[00:31:31.080]my children have finished grad school, thankfully, and are, you know, well on their way. So
[00:31:35.720]not concerned about the daycare. In Big Springs, Nebraska, my husband's a member of the
[00:31:41.380]Methodist Church. And years ago, so the girls were born in like 93 and 95. So they went to
[00:31:47.760]a little bit of preschool, a little bit of daycare, a little bit of off school care.
[00:31:53.180]And in a daycare, they opened at the Methodist Church. Then it went away. Then it came back.
[00:31:57.340]Then it went away. Then the church spent some money on rehab. Then it came back. So there's
[00:32:03.300]certainly been some turmoil with it. I can tell you this. We attended a fundraiser for it last
[00:32:08.320]Saturday. I will tell you that most of the people in the community see it as very, very important.
[00:32:13.140]But I remember when it opened the first time, there was some significant pushback from some
[00:32:18.200]at-home providers in town feeling like,
[00:32:23.080]the church and the people that were starting this were stealing their jobs.
[00:32:27.720]Especially if the hospital is subsidizing some of the
[00:32:32.020]care. Has there been pushback from other businesses within the community?
[00:32:36.820]I wouldn't say from other businesses. I would say,
[00:32:41.420]as you had mentioned, other in-home providers. I will say that one
[00:32:47.260]area that I feel like Gordon Memorial has kept that as fair as they can,
[00:32:52.980]is that we do not, while we subsidize hospital employee care, we do not take state subsidy.
[00:32:59.780]So, you know, in our reasoning, I guess that for the people who are already up and running,
[00:33:06.600]a state subsidy rate is, I think if you look into it, depending on income, for an in-home
[00:33:14.080]provider who does provide state subsidy care, which, you know, that, again, that ranges,
[00:33:22.880]depending on the parent's pay, that subsidized care is still less than the hospital employee
[00:33:31.020]rate. So I feel like the hospital, you know, did try to keep it fair in that realm. You know,
[00:33:38.840]as I said, people who are at the center right now are either paying the day rate for, you know,
[00:33:46.680]the public attendance, or they are the hospital employees. But we purposely, we are not
[00:33:52.780]part of the state subsidy program in hopes that that would keep it most fair for everybody,
[00:33:58.820]all the other providers in town. Did that answer that okay?
[00:34:06.820]It did. It was 100. Yep, I was finishing writing my notes. I'm very, I'm sorry. I should have said
[00:34:13.820]thank you before I finished writing my notes. No, no, no, you're fine. I didn't know.
[00:34:17.300]For, I think like if you're not, you know, even if you're not super,
[00:34:22.680]well-versed in child care, some of those terms, it doesn't mean much sometimes. So
[00:34:27.580]I guess if I needed to elaborate on that, I certainly can.
[00:34:31.520]No, it was very helpful. I'm just going to ask one quick question. Do you mind if I refer your
[00:34:38.340]name and this recording, Jamie usually sends out a recording, to one of the central Nebraska
[00:34:46.420]representatives that I get to work with, Kelly, who's worked for DED for a number of years,
[00:34:52.580]is very actively involved with her communities and trying to help put pieces of the puzzle
[00:34:58.440]together based on childcare. And I know she's done a number of trainings. I just think she'd
[00:35:02.620]be interested in your, your information, right? Any, any insights? I think she usually tries to
[00:35:08.780]do a training a year. So, so if you don't mind, I'm going to, I'm going to share your information.
[00:35:14.740]It was, it was very helpful. So thank you. Yes. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. And, you know, I, I,
[00:35:20.280]I wish, I guess to kind of add to that answer, you know, as I said, I did in-home care right before
[00:35:27.580]the center came to fruition. And so I can understand where an in-home provider would be
[00:35:32.640]coming from. However, I, I love how, I love getting to do daycare and be involved with that outside of
[00:35:42.200]my own home, outside of, you know, our own space, like for my own little family of four. But, but I,
[00:35:49.360]I can, I can absolutely understand both sides. But I, like I said, I do feel like the hospital
[00:35:54.460]did do a very good job of trying to keep it, keep it fair by not offering state subsidy.
[00:36:01.260]May I also add a little bit to that from the Gordon perspective? I, I agree with Brianna.
[00:36:09.240]They have did an outstanding job with Busy Bees. And talking to the, the private providers,
[00:36:18.440]I don't feel, I, I don't sense any jealousy with the Busy Bee daycare. There are people who need a
[00:36:27.160]center to take their kids to, and then there are people who want private care as well.
[00:36:32.000]We actually have more need in the community. There's actually a few businesses who would like
[00:36:39.380]to see more daycare in the community because as wonderful as Busy Bees is, we just still lack for
[00:36:47.520]daycare in our community. Wouldn't you agree with that, Brie? I absolutely would, Valerie. And I
[00:36:53.740]think, you know, I still get, you know, we still get calls from people asking to be put on a
[00:36:59.460]waitlist, even if it is, you know, the difficult thing about a waitlist is you can't just narrow
[00:37:04.520]it down and say, September 1st of 2025, I'll have an opening for you. I wish it worked that way,
[00:37:11.560]but sometimes, you know, with some of our families, they have children who,
[00:37:17.360]who head to kindergarten, but they still want to retain their spot for snow days, no school days,
[00:37:24.780]early outs, things like that. And, you know, you can't really blame them if they don't have
[00:37:31.140]another place for a young child to go. I, I sincerely do think that if somebody, if another
[00:37:37.960]in-home provider wanted to open in Gordon, I do think they would be full sooner than they realized.
[00:37:45.460]So I don't feel...
[00:37:47.320]I don't feel like we've taken, you know, taken away from, from in-home providers.
[00:37:51.340]I agree entirely. And we, we do have some specialty businesses in town that require
[00:37:59.480]different hours than the private care daycare places provide or that Busy Bee provides too.
[00:38:08.840]But it's been a huge enhancement to our town. What Gordon Memorial Hospital has done,
[00:38:15.680]it was very insightful. And...
[00:38:17.200]We're very grateful to have the facility in town.
[00:38:20.600]I may add a few things that are different about the Hayes Springs Center, if that's okay?
[00:38:31.240]Absolutely.
[00:38:32.520]So the Hayes Springs Center has been owned by the nursing home for 13 years.
[00:38:38.040]They've been open quite a long time. They are the only licensed child care facility in town.
[00:38:46.040]They have a capacity of 50. I don't remember if they were completely full or not.
[00:38:54.040]They did say it took their board a while to really accept the financial loss as an employee benefit.
[00:39:02.440]The first couple of years, the board was expecting it to be profitable, and they finally were able to convince them that it's probably not going to be profitable, but it's benefiting you nevertheless.
[00:39:13.360]And they've kept it open that long.
[00:39:15.800]So.
[00:39:16.040]Apparently the board is happy with what they've been doing.
[00:39:22.040]They charge by the hour instead of by the day, which is a little bit different.
[00:39:28.280]They do $1.50 an hour care for employees while they're on the clock, but then if they're not working, they have the regular private pay rate.
[00:39:45.800]They do kind of a two-week out schedule, so they change their staffing depending on how many kids they think they'll have each day.
[00:39:59.800]Also, the Hayspring School is closed on Fridays, and high school students are able to come in and work, so that helps fill some of that staffing issue on Fridays when they have more kids there.
[00:40:13.560]They have the high school students to help with their ratios.
[00:40:15.560]Though again, I don't know how that works for you. They might just be aides. They might not actually, if they don't have the education, they might not be able to count towards that ratio.
[00:40:29.560]And they're open slightly extended hours. They're open 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.
[00:40:37.560]They also did receive some grant funding through some of the ARPA funds in the past years.
[00:40:45.320]And help with furniture and toys in a little playground area.
[00:40:53.320]They also charge their employees through payroll.
[00:40:59.320]And I think that was it. Otherwise, it's pretty similar.
[00:41:09.320]Any other questions for Bri or general conversation?
[00:41:15.080]What are some of the models you've seen with child care in the workplace?
[00:41:21.080]I would just offer, and I know very little about it, but Morrill County Community Hospital also did start child care as part of their services for staffing.
[00:41:33.080]It's relatively new, and I know part of the delay in them getting up and running was staff.
[00:41:39.080]It was getting people to do that, and there was a little bit of pushback.
[00:41:43.080]I think there still is a little bit of conversation.
[00:41:44.840]About some of that, and one of the in-home providers did end up closing, I think, for other reasons.
[00:41:50.840]But so again, I have no information on how their financial model is and how they do that.
[00:41:56.840]But those that are interested in looking at that might reach out to that hospital as well or ask, and I can help connect that.
[00:42:05.840]But there they do have that that's relatively new. Thank you, Michelle.
[00:42:10.840]Who's the best contact there for that? I would just start with Robin.
[00:42:14.600]Stewart. I would say hospitals and medical facilities in general probably have one of the hardest times with their own staffing,
[00:42:30.600]so that may be why they're the first to jump on board with something like this.
[00:42:41.600]Denise, do you want to talk at all about.
[00:42:44.360]The co-op model that's happening in the Northeast.
[00:42:52.360]If she's still listening.
[00:42:54.360]I am.
[00:42:58.360]I am not familiar with the co-op.
[00:43:01.360]I don't think that's me.
[00:43:04.360]I didn't know if it was associated at all with six regions.
[00:43:10.360]It's.
[00:43:12.120]Oh, there's a business.
[00:43:14.120]Oh, I'm forgetting who it is, but.
[00:43:16.120]Is it Dacos?
[00:43:17.120]Yes.
[00:43:18.120]Dacos.
[00:43:19.120]Yes.
[00:43:20.120]Okay.
[00:43:21.120]They wanted childcare for their employees and they worked with a few other large businesses in the area to put together childcare facility.
[00:43:31.120]Well, I think they're still working on it.
[00:43:33.120]I don't know if it's open yet.
[00:43:36.120]And they're doing it as sort of a co-op model where they all buy into the business and depending how much money they put in there.
[00:43:43.880]They get a certain number of childcare spots for their employees.
[00:43:47.880]I don't know if it's on site at any of those employers or if it's in a separate location.
[00:43:55.880]I know there are a couple of different ways you can go about it.
[00:43:58.880]But that's another option if an employer doesn't think they have the capacity to do it completely on their own.
[00:44:06.880]They can work with other employers in the area and partner on something like that.
[00:44:13.640]Marla, do you know any more about that? Do you remember the details?
[00:44:20.640]I think you've covered most of it, Jamie.
[00:44:24.640]The biggest part was, you know, that is a benefit.
[00:44:28.640]And so if you would leave the company, you lose your spot.
[00:44:34.640]And then they have that spot available.
[00:44:36.640]And I know that's been a concern for some of the employees, you know, is, you know, how do we arrange that?
[00:44:43.400]And how do we do all of those, you know, well, if I move here, do I have that spot?
[00:44:49.400]No, I don't have that spot.
[00:44:50.400]Now what do I do for daycare or childcare?
[00:44:57.400]And I thought at one time they talked about maybe either remodeling a building or building a new building.
[00:45:05.400]I was thinking that was going to happen in Norfolk is my understanding.
[00:45:10.400]I haven't heard any details about it lately.
[00:45:13.160]Yeah, I haven't either.
[00:45:15.160]I thought maybe I would have caught up, you know, is that in two weeks when we're down in North Platte, I thought maybe that might be a topic of conversation.
[00:45:25.160]But that's what I was hoping I might find some more information about it.
[00:45:32.160]For those of you who are interested, we are going to talk about childcare.
[00:45:36.160]I'll talk a little bit about some of what we're doing in western Nebraska with six regions, one Nebraska.
[00:45:42.920]And then Dina Beck is also going to talk about what they're doing in South Central, whatever section she's in with six regions.
[00:45:54.920]Shauna, did you have a question? I was just going to let you guys know what Chapel does.
[00:46:01.920]Actually, our school took over our daycare preschool after VOA pulled out kind of in our western region.
[00:46:12.680]So they opened up. We have an infant room, a toddler room and then preschool for the kids, too.
[00:46:20.360]And it it all goes through our school, actually. And we found that to be super beneficial for our teachers as well.
[00:46:30.260]You know, similar to hospitals. And we I think a huge benefit for anybody willing to work in the daycare preschool is our school offers
[00:46:42.440]pre family health care. So for I mean, 100 percent for teachers, staff, paras, whatever it may be.
[00:46:51.780]So I think that's similar to a perk, you know, like the hospital maybe maybe fills.
[00:46:57.880]We definitely don't necessarily benefit from it at all.
[00:47:01.820]And it's it's kind of hard because we're also under Rule 11 right now, which definitely puts steps on a lot of things.
[00:47:10.200]So but we're trying.
[00:47:12.200]Trying to kind of figure out maybe going away a little a little from Rule 11, you know, still license, still accept state funding.
[00:47:22.480]But I think Rule 11 is probably our hardest task right now.
[00:47:28.480]So I just thought I'd fill you in a little in on Chapel and we are at capacity as well.
[00:47:35.480]So child care always seems to be a need.
[00:47:40.780]Are there any in-home providers?
[00:47:41.960]Providers in Chapel, Shana?
[00:47:43.260]There aren't.
[00:47:45.320]Oddly enough, we've had like a lot of twins lately born in Chapel.
[00:47:53.120]And so they kind of, there's kind of like a mom group, you know, that when this teacher's
[00:47:59.980]working, they watch their twins for them.
[00:48:02.480]And so they kind of just have more of a friend group available for that.
[00:48:09.200]But we don't have, we used to have in-home daycare.
[00:48:11.720]And we don't have any in-home daycare anymore, so.
[00:48:14.560]Thank you for that.
[00:48:19.520]Brianna, did you have anything else you wanted to share?
[00:48:29.360]You know, I can't think of anything off the top of my head.
[00:48:37.740]I guess, I guess the last,
[00:48:41.480]kind of question and answer did kind of remind me,
[00:48:47.300]you know, if, if a facility does have,
[00:48:49.520]which most places do have like a private accountant or something like that,
[00:48:54.360]definitely visiting with them about ways that you can make it work for your
[00:48:59.980]business is, is a good step to take forward. You know, as far as,
[00:49:05.080]like you had brought back up, you know, kind of,
[00:49:09.440]there are obviously certain,
[00:49:11.240]certain benefits that don't look the same on,
[00:49:15.520]on paper per se money-wise,
[00:49:17.840]but that then wind up being a benefit in a different way.
[00:49:21.880]But I know that like the hospital's accountant was a huge help to our CFO
[00:49:28.400]when they were initially getting going on this and still, you know,
[00:49:31.400]touching base a lot with, with how to work it. He's,
[00:49:35.840]he's been a huge help for her too. So.
[00:49:41.000]One other thing I should mention,
[00:49:45.020]I don't remember if we've talked about this in real rendezvous before
[00:49:48.640]for employers who want to contribute to childcare facilities.
[00:49:56.780]Nebraska currently has a tax credit.
[00:49:59.700]They can get a tax write-off for contributions.
[00:50:02.700]Last year they ran out of funds because enough people applied for it.
[00:50:08.720]This year, they still have some,
[00:50:10.760]you have through 2025 to make the contribution
[00:50:15.480]and then apply it to next year's taxes.
[00:50:18.640]You can look for information there.
[00:50:22.300]There is, for anyone interested,
[00:50:25.440]also a tax credit for parents whose children are in childcare,
[00:50:30.920]but that has all been used up for the year.
[00:50:33.820]There should be more opening up again next year.
[00:50:40.520]Any other questions or discussion?
[00:50:45.200]And I did find the link for the Norfolk Childcare Collaborative
[00:50:54.460]and put that in the chat if anyone's interested
[00:50:56.940]in looking at that more.
[00:50:58.440]Thank you for sharing that.
[00:51:01.940]I didn't mean to be uninformed,
[00:51:05.380]but our action team did not choose childcare,
[00:51:08.440]so we've been concentrating on
[00:51:10.280]other areas.
[00:51:11.120]So this is a great opportunity
[00:51:14.120]for the Norfolk people though.
[00:51:16.160]- It is.
[00:51:16.980]And there, it'll be a new thing for the state.
[00:51:21.920]I know our Cooperative Development folks
[00:51:24.360]really had to look at other states
[00:51:25.820]to see what models were out there
[00:51:27.760]and see how they could make it work.
[00:51:29.740]So I think everyone's really looking forward
[00:51:32.260]to seeing them open and see if they can replicate it
[00:51:35.140]in other places.
[00:51:36.300]There was a group looking at it in Scotts Bluff,
[00:51:39.340]but I think they've
[00:51:40.040]kind of dropped that.
[00:51:40.840]I haven't heard anything more about it.
[00:51:42.540]Does anyone have announcements?
[00:51:49.680]Marla, do you have grants opening back up
[00:51:53.020]or are things still kind of frozen for now?
[00:51:55.380]- It's kind of in up.
[00:51:59.620]Yeah, it's kind of up in the air right at the moment.
[00:52:01.620]We do have our VAPG, our Value Added Producer Grant.
[00:52:04.900]That's due next week on the 17th.
[00:52:07.940]And other than that, I don't
[00:52:09.800]think our quarterly deadlines for revolving loan funds
[00:52:15.300]are still available for communities.
[00:52:17.680]So that's about it for right now.
[00:52:19.720]Anyone else have announcements?
[00:52:24.820]I did put the CEC conference link in the chat.
[00:52:34.140]We're still taking registrations.
[00:52:37.240]I think the price goes up on--
[00:52:39.560]Thursday?
[00:52:40.800]No, Friday.
[00:52:42.000]So if you want to register, you should register today
[00:52:44.240]or tomorrow.
[00:52:46.280]That is in North Platte, April 23rd and 24th.
[00:52:49.760]We'll talk about a variety of community development topics.
[00:52:52.440]And I know I'll see some of you there, because I know--
[00:52:59.240]oh, Emily dropped off.
[00:53:00.320]But she's speaking and has been part of this.
[00:53:03.440]And Marla will be speaking.
[00:53:09.320]Maybe.
[00:53:10.220]Maybe.
[00:53:11.420]I'm getting permission to do that.
[00:53:14.700]Yeah.
[00:53:15.740]So I'm hoping.
[00:53:17.900]Another thing, too, since I talked about food,
[00:53:21.980]I know with VAPG, a lot of times that's food-related.
[00:53:25.160]I know that Ben had sent a message about a food cottage
[00:53:30.140]training that's coming up for any of the communities that
[00:53:33.860]are looking for--
[00:53:36.680]if you have a need for that, that's coming--
[00:53:39.080]I don't remember what day that was.
[00:53:41.860]Oh, let me see if I can find it.
[00:53:45.980]Do you have it up?
[00:53:47.620]June 4th, and it's an online, and it is $25.
[00:53:53.940]So if you have someone who's looking for that training,
[00:53:58.020]that could be a possibility.
[00:53:59.740]And I know that-- are they still doing the Recipe to Reality
[00:54:05.240]trainings as well, if someone's doing--
[00:54:08.840]looking at something for food?
[00:54:10.760]I know we've talked child care today,
[00:54:13.200]but in our rural communities, we have those people that
[00:54:17.400]are doing those local food things that might potentially
[00:54:21.800]be an option of things that are going on as well.
[00:54:25.720]I haven't seen anything recently about that, Marla.
[00:54:29.300]OK.
[00:54:29.800]Let me-- I'm trying to get the link
[00:54:38.600]for the cottage food one.
[00:54:40.360]I don't think I've sent this one out.
[00:54:41.940]I've sent it out in the past to this group, but--
[00:54:44.240]I mean, we're always looking at options
[00:54:50.480]of what's going on in our rural communities
[00:54:52.640]and our entrepreneurs.
[00:54:53.880]The one thing I would say about the recipe reality,
[00:55:01.900]if there are multiple communities out
[00:55:04.380]on this end of the state or in chunks that
[00:55:08.360]have an interest in that, definitely
[00:55:10.220]co-op and try to collaborate in doing that.
[00:55:13.180]It's not the cheapest training to put on.
[00:55:18.860]So trying to find--
[00:55:20.540]if you can split with maybe the community college or some
[00:55:24.020]of the folks to do that, even though it ends up
[00:55:26.180]coming through UNL, it saves the travel down that direction.
[00:55:31.040]But it's like a good $5,000, $7,500 to host the training.
[00:55:35.700]And for individual organizations to do
[00:55:38.120]that, even if you're charging people to take the training,
[00:55:41.960]it just takes a number of attendees to make it fly.
[00:55:45.920]So any partnering on that and funding obviously is helpful.
[00:55:51.680]So if you are hearing about people in your community that
[00:55:55.120]would like to do that, definitely
[00:55:56.680]run it up the flagpole and see if we can't find
[00:55:58.880]a location that might be centrally located,
[00:56:01.340]like maybe Bridgeport, that would
[00:56:05.420]be able to do that, because it is good,
[00:56:07.880]valuable training that would do that.
[00:56:09.660]It just is a little prohibitive sometimes.
[00:56:14.440]If you have people who are willing to travel to Lincoln,
[00:56:16.640]it looks like they have two coming up.
[00:56:18.700]But yes, if we can get a large enough group together,
[00:56:21.400]it might be worth holding one this direction.
[00:56:23.300]OK, thank you all for joining us.
[00:56:31.480]Thank you, Brianna.
[00:56:32.520]We really appreciate you sharing the story of Busy Bees, and it
[00:56:37.640]sounds like a really great program.
[00:56:38.880]I will send out the recording later
[00:56:43.860]in case you want to pass it on to anyone else.
[00:56:46.780]Have a good day.
[00:56:48.200]Thanks, Jamie, for organizing.
[00:56:50.240]You bet.
[00:56:51.820]Thank you.
[00:56:53.040]Thank you.

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Child Care Solutions for Businesses

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