Childcare resources available for businesses and employees

Resources are available for parents in need of childcare as more businesses return to in-person work.

In a joint release from the PacMtn Workforce Development Council, which serves Grays Harbor, Pacific, and other counties, and the Thurston County Chamber, the groups have announced a toolkit for businesses and employees seeking childcare options.

As the ongoing childcare shortage impacts the state, this impacts working parents and their employers, as well as the business sector and economy as a whole. 

The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent safety measures enacted by Gov. Inslee since March, have only intensified and highlighted these issues across Washington.

As a response to this growing need the groups have developed a toolkit to share best practices and help business leaders support their employees to access affordable, high-quality childcare.

This toolkit, Coloring Outside the Lines: A Creative Guide for Business Participation in the Childcare Solution, underscores the importance of accessible childcare by providing both local and nationwide statistics and trends, along with multiple routes that business owners can take to address the issue. 

Additionally, Coloring Outside the Lines outlines a number of little-known or infrequently utilized perks for businesses to provide childcare support.

The toolkit also includes resources for more information about the childcare crisis as a whole and Thurston Chamber has posted a list of child care centers and in-home care providers across Grays Harbor, Pacific, Mason, Thurston, and Lewis counties 

Find that list here.

Coloring Outside the Lines is now available as a free downloadable PDF here.

Click here for a one-page Fact Sheet.

For more information about the Childcare Toolkit, contact Allie Bair at [email protected] or (360) 515-8457.