GREAT UPDATE! 🧒💕
It’s been just over a year since we visited with Kassidy Gardner—a young Jackson County woman just starting her own childcare center in the rural area she grew up in.
Kassidy cares for 11 kids at Evergreen Learning Academy in Northfield and is looking to hire another teacher in the new year in order to enroll more children. The organization that helped her get started—the Jackson County Childcare Network—is a group of business leaders who recognized that they have a role to play in supporting their employees who have childcare needs.
Just before the pandemic, a random chat in the lobby of a Jackson County credit union led two managers—one the CEO of that credit union, and the other the general manager of a local electric utility—to the shared realization that their employees were struggling with childcare.
They started gathering with other business leaders to discuss the problem further, and to put ideas into action. The result was a non-profit, business-led task force called the Jackson County Child Care Network (JCCCN). Today, it includes people from all walks of life, all kinds of organizations, and from across the entire county.
JCCCN is recognized by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families as a successful example of businesses helping to find solutions in one of the state’s childcare deserts.
This year, the group was focused on finding existing space and converting them to places that childcare providers can use.
✏️/🎥 Salina Heller
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