CPO seeks employers to partner for child care pilot

Amanda Coleman: First families could be served in April.

Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc. put out a call for employers willing to partner on a new approach to paying for child care.

CPO serves as the local intermediary for Child Care Works, a pilot program in Missouri aimed at making child care more affordable for working parents.

“We would like to hear from employers and child care providers,” said Amanda Coleman, vice president of early childhood and family development for CPO, in an interview.

Through the program, the employer, the employee and the state split the cost of child care.

“The employer would be agreeing to offer this as a benefit to the employee, who is eligible. State funding has been allocated to support the program for this year and next year, as it stands right now in the budget,” Coleman said. The third portion would be paid for by the family.

The pilot is supported by $2.5 million in state funding. Local support, to put the program in place, includes funding from Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc.

Missouri launched Child Care Works in November, but it is not yet widely available. Coleman said Springfield has been planning for a couple of years to prepare for the pilot.

Coleman said access to child care is directly connected to workforce stability and economic growth.

Families with children ages 12 and under who cannot otherwise access state-subsidized child care – with household incomes between 185% and 450% of the federal poverty level – are eligible for the pilot program. For example, income level for a family of four must be above $61,050 and below $148,500 to qualify.

Eligible child care programs must be licensed and approved to accept the state subsidy.

The pilot is separate from the Missouri Child Care Subsidy Program administered through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Childhood.

CPO is reaching out to employers who might be interested in participating.

“It will help them with recruitment and retention and productivity,” Coleman said.

She said the pilot program was approved to serve 50 Springfield-area children during the first year. If funding is renewed, CPO hopes the program will grow to serve 150 children by the third year.

“We have a couple employers that we’re working with. We’re just working through identifying the employees that are eligible for the program,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll have that completed and we’ll start serving families in April.”