The Blowing Rock Academy officially opened its doors to infants and toddlers on Monday March 4, 2024. The Academy is a 1,750 square foot state of the art child care center that will serve the children of Town of Blowing Rock employees. The Academy is not open to the general public. The Academy can serve up to 30 total children from the ages of infant to school age, and is located at the former Ruritan/Town Community Club House building. The Academy is a revolutionary idea to have on-site affordable child care for the full-time and part-time employees of the Town.
The idea of the Academy began during the COVID pandemic when many of the area child care centers were forced to close leaving many Town employees without child care. The Town has had a long-standing history of providing both afterschool and summer camps to school age children so the idea of a child care center fell in line with current services. The idea started to become reality in late 2022 and became a discussion point at the Town’s annual retreat in 2023. After approval in March 2023, the work began to convert the former underutilized Community Club House into the state of art center. Over the course of several months as the building was being converted, the Town Staff began the process of becoming a NC licensed child care center. The Academy is now open five days a week from 6:30am-5:30pm and is open only to the employees of the Town. Each participating Town employee pays a market friendly rate to have the child care service benefit.
Quotes:
Shane Fox “The lack of affordable child care is not just a personal or family issue it is an economic issue. The ability to provide on-site child care to the employees of the Town of Blowing Rock is not only the right thing to do, it is a top retention and recruitment tool for the Town. The Academy opened with a total of 8 children currently attending with two more on the way. Those 10 children represent Police Officers, Fire Fighters, Public Works, Park and Recreation, Landscaping, Administration, and more. The employees that have children in the center represent a total of over $750K in salary and benefits and 10 positions within the town that would have to be recruited and filled in the employee decided to leave because of child care issues.”
See below for more data on the fact that the lack of affordable child care is an economic issue.
Here a few important facts, links, and stories on child care in Watauga County, in NC and in the US:
Watauga County:
- Approx. 2,000 children under five years old with less than 1,000 total child care slots in Watauga County
- Average cost per child care slot is almost $1,000 a month
In NC:
- Almost 50% of families in NC live in areas designated as “Child care deserts” with little to no access to quality child care
- In 2022 – over 400K Parents across NC say they’ve had to miss work because of a lack of child-care options
In US:
- ReadyNation’s updated study finds that the nation’s infant-toddler child care crisis now costs $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue every year. In NC that number was $3.5B
WBTV Story:
Most recently WBTV in Charlotte ran a story regarding child care issues and how more and more employers are beginning to look at on-site options.
- A recent survey conducted by the NC Chamber of Commerce showed that 77% of voters in NC believe child care is a problem.
- 26% of parents with children 5 and under left the workforce in the past year, and 37% refused a job opportunity, promotion, or job change because of lack of affordable child care. 60% of parents with children 5 and under said they had to miss work because of a problem with child care.
- 37% of parents with children 5 and under refused a job opportunity, promotion, or job change because it would increase child care expenses.
- 32% of parents with children 5 and under did not pursue job training or continuing education because of a lack of affordable child care.
https://www.wbtv.com/video/2024/03/08/employers-add-on-site-child-care/