Raising local awareness of state child care assistance programs and educating legislators about the need for child care programs are the current priorities of the Minot Child Care Committee.

The committee met Thursday for the first time since submitting a report to the Minot City Council last spring.

Mayor Tom Ross, joining the committee in an ad hoc capacity, brought the group back together after attending a national conference on child care with other North Dakota representatives in September.

“I think it’s important enough to have this discussion from the standing committee to continue this,” he said.

He listed a number of takeaways from the conference on the importance of early education and investment in preschool, including the need for competitive wages to create career opportunities in the field. He added that investments may take years to fully show returns, but early childhood care will contribute to quality of life and workforce development.

“We need to bring educators to the table when making decisions when it comes to childhood,” Ross said. “We have to trust the providers, bring them to the table and we have to listen to the parents.”

Examples of what can be done were illustrated at the conference, he said.

“What some states are doing is incredible,” he said, noting the free care for many families. “There are states that are finding ways and doing it and succeeding and finding that investing early provides a more available workforce.”

The child care committee’s work so far has caught the state’s attention, putting Minot in a position to potentially play a role in advancing the state’s child care narrative, Ross said.

“To me, that sends a message that we’re on the right track here in Minot, but we just can’t stop,” he said. “It’s been dormant for a while but I’d like to see it continue and I know we can do some positive things. We can drive the conversation here.”

Committee members indicated the need to visit local legislators to keep them informed about child care issues as the Legislature deals with funding issues starting in January.

One concern is the lack of use of certain state programs created in the last legislative session to help the child care industry, including subsidizing some costs for eligible families.

Committee member Amy Jenkins, who works in child care licensing, said the mentality in North Dakota against getting a slip may be part of the reason behind the low use. She added that the process can also be overwhelming, especially with all the hoops of online applications. With many state human services employees working from home, communication between state programs and the ability of providers and families to connect with the people they need to talk to is lost, she said.

“You can’t go in and talk to somebody. Everything is online. This is a barrier” Jenkins said. “I have providers that are literally not getting some of the state’s benefits because they don’t want to go online and deal with all of that.”

Care provider Stacey Boyko also spoke about cumbersome processes and the difficulty of getting information. Boyko said most of the families her daycare serves are interested in the state’s child care assistance program, but not all are eligible.

“The only thing I see is that I have a lot of middle-income families who would like to use it, and the income limits are still not set high enough. There are middle income families that I know could use and are being denied. she said. “Because more people qualify is, I think, the best place to start.”

Additionally, because the number of their families receiving assistance is a factor for providers in determining program benefits, the hassle of state aid often isn’t worth it for home daycare, Boyko said.

The Child Care Committee intends to continue to meet quarterly or more often when necessary. The committee has a vacancy to be filled by mayoral appointment with a person who operates a nursery.