Bloomington Chamber of Commerce
  • Membership
    • Business Directory
    • Become a Member
    • Benefits of Membership >
      • Interested in Membership
    • Levels of Membership
    • Member Portal & Materials >
      • Member Login
    • Chamber App
    • Connect Bloomington
    • Member Resources
  • Events & News
    • Signature Events >
      • Community Awards Nominations
      • Educator of the Year Nominations
    • Chamber Events Calendar
    • Sponsorship
    • Member News
    • Multimedia Gallery
    • Chamber News
  • Initiatives & Resources
    • Bloomington Women in Leadership >
      • BWIL Steering Committee
    • The Success School
    • Young Professionals Bloomington >
      • YPB Community Resource Page
      • YPB Steering Committee
    • Business Resources
    • Job Board
    • Community Calendar
  • Advocacy
    • Advocacy Matters Updates
    • Legislative Agenda
    • Local Government
    • Advocacy Resources
  • About Us
    • Contact Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Press & Media
Member Login | Join Us!
Member Login | Join Us!

Chamber News
Press Releases & News Updates

It's Your Business: Universal child care great way to use federal funds

7/8/2021

0 Comments

 
NOTE: This "It's Your Business" column by Chamber CEO Erin Predmore was published in the July 8, 2021 Bloomington Herald-Times.
Picture
By now you’ve likely heard about the amazing opportunity our community has with the availability of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. More than $50 million collectively will be coming to the county, going to Monroe County government (about $29 million), the city of Bloomington (about $22 million) and Ellettsville (about $1.5 million).
Our local government leaders are soliciting input for how to allocate these funds, which are intended to help post-pandemic recovery. I’d like to contribute a suggestion that would make a meaningful, long-term impact on our community: universal child care.
We know the importance of child care in ensuring that our labor force is strong – and if we didn’t know it before, we certainly learned it during the pandemic. Parents struggled to manage their jobs while tending to children who needed attention during the workday.

What’s more, some parents are delaying their return to the workforce because of child care expenses. Depending on your circumstances, child care costs can equal or exceed what you earn, creating a financial disincentive to return to work. This is exacerbating the labor shortage that many businesses are experiencing.
In Indiana, low-income families can get child care vouchers through the Child Care and Development Fund, a federal program. But if you earn even slightly more than their requirements, you don’t have access to that assistance.

High-quality child care has proven to be a marker for successful educational attainment. It ensures that children are ready on the first day of school, because they’ve already learned social skills such as getting along with their peers, paying attention to the teacher, standing in line and sitting quietly. Those may seem like small things, but they’re a crucial foundation for long-term K-12 success.

So how would universal child care work here? Monroe County, the city of Bloomington and Ellettsville could collaborate by contributing a portion of their ARPA funds to a pilot program, so that affordable child care would be available to any Monroe County family. The goal would be to develop a sustainable program that would become a signature part of our community.

Our government entities could partner with nonprofits such as the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, which already supports child care access through its Monroe Smart Start initiative (monroesmartstart.org). The foundation recently received a $100,000 grant from Early Learning Indiana to create a regional shared service hub to support local child care providers.

Sliding scale fees could be used to ensure that families pay what they can. A rule of thumb is that child care should cost no more than 10% of a family’s income.

A universal child care program would put Monroe County on the map. It would support working families. It would help businesses attract and retain the talent they need.

By providing such an important foundational opportunity for all children, regardless of their family’s income, universal child care would demonstrate that in Monroe County, we live our values.
​
Erin Predmore is president and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Chamber News

    This blog contains press releases, other news updates from the Chamber, news articles and radio interviews featuring interviews with the Chamber and team members,  and much more!

    All press releases have been sent out to community organizations and news agencies. Downloadable version of these press releases are available at the end of each blog post.

    ​
    For media inquires, please contact Director of Communications & Events, Kaytee Lorentzen.

    ​Categories

    Categories

    All
    Advocacy Matters
    Annual Meeting & Community Awards
    Appointments And Staff Updates
    Best Places To Work
    Bloomington Women In Leadership
    Board Of Directors
    Business After Hours
    Business Outlook
    Chamber Insider Update
    Chamber In The News
    Community Conversations
    Connect Bloomington
    Convention Center
    Diversity Equity And Inclusion (DEI)
    Educator Of The Year
    Elect Connect
    Equity
    Event
    Federal Focus
    Futurecast
    Glass In The Afternoon
    Golf Scramble
    Guest Column
    Health & Business
    Hometown Hero
    Honors & Awards
    ICEA
    It's Your Business
    Legislative Preview
    Local Government
    News Articles
    Partnership
    Podcast Interviews
    PPE
    Press Release
    PrimeTime Business Expo
    Public Transit
    Radio Interviews
    Showcase Bloomington
    SMART Business Summit
    Success School
    Ten Under 40
    Valor Awards
    Video
    Women Excel Bloomington
    Young Professionals Bloomington

    Archives

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020

    RSS Feed

    Sign Up For News
Contact Our Team | Business Directory

Our Chamber

​The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce provides leadership through member engagement, business advocacy and civic partnerships to strengthen our community and business environment.

Main Contact

421 W 6th Street, Suite A | Bloomington, IN 47404
[email protected]
(812) 336-6381

Office Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 9:00am - 500:pm
Friday: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Trust Center
​
Media Center
Speaking Requests

There is a no refund policy for events.  If you need to reassign your ticket to another person we will be happy to update our attendance list. Thank you.

Chamber Info

About Us
Board of Directors
Contact Our Team

Chamber Resources

Business Directory
Chamber Events Calendar
Member News
Chamber News
Membership Application
Member Login
Business Resources
Picture
Copyright The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. All Rights Reserved.
  • Membership
    • Business Directory
    • Become a Member
    • Benefits of Membership >
      • Interested in Membership
    • Levels of Membership
    • Member Portal & Materials >
      • Member Login
    • Chamber App
    • Connect Bloomington
    • Member Resources
  • Events & News
    • Signature Events >
      • Community Awards Nominations
      • Educator of the Year Nominations
    • Chamber Events Calendar
    • Sponsorship
    • Member News
    • Multimedia Gallery
    • Chamber News
  • Initiatives & Resources
    • Bloomington Women in Leadership >
      • BWIL Steering Committee
    • The Success School
    • Young Professionals Bloomington >
      • YPB Community Resource Page
      • YPB Steering Committee
    • Business Resources
    • Job Board
    • Community Calendar
  • Advocacy
    • Advocacy Matters Updates
    • Legislative Agenda
    • Local Government
    • Advocacy Resources
  • About Us
    • Contact Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Press & Media