Brittany Davis: Childcare is economic development. And as employers are consistently facing workforce issues, creating childcare solutions will allow more people to enter the workforce by creating these new home-based daycares. That’s also business development, which is economic development. You know, we’re creating these new small businesses. Our first cohort was very successful. We as the economic development agency probably invested around $6,000 for the first cohort, and we were able to create approximately 60 new childcare slots from that. So, it is a very relatively low investment for some really impactful results all across our region.

 

Amanda Ellis: That’s the voice of Brittany Davis, Executive Director of Naturally Lewis, in Lewis County, New York, describing the partnerships that are creating additional childcare slots for local families. In this episode, Brittany shares the strategies her community is implementing to increase childcare availability and small business activity through home based daycare businesses.

 

I’m Amanda Ellis, and you’re listening to Livability: Inside America’s Best Cities, a brand new podcast for chamber, economic development and talent attraction professionals. We bring you insights from America’s most promising places on how your community can be a better place to live, work, and play. To learn more about this podcast, visit livabilitymedia.com, where you can also sign up for Livability’s monthly Let’s Talk Talent, talent attraction newsletter. 

 

Now let’s jump in. 

 

Amanda Ellis: Well, Brittany, first of all, thank you so much for joining us today on the Livability podcast.

 

Brittany Davis: Thank you.

 

Amanda Ellis: We’re super excited to chat with you.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, excited to be here.

 

Amanda Ellis: We’re here today, of course, to talk about how you and your team at Naturally Lewis, which is your County’s economic development entity, are partnering with some other community organizations to increase childcare availability in your region.

 

Brittany Davis: Yep.

 

Amanda Ellis: Can you tell us a bit, just to kick off here, about the work you’re doing in general, in partnership, I think, with some of your neighboring counties to increase availability of childcare?

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah. And I’ll definitely give you the background of how we got to where we’re at today. So I would say within the past year, maybe January of 2021, Lewis and Jefferson counties, we’re located in Northern New York, we came together to really just address the childcare need in our region. There were a number of studies and reports completed, essentially deemed us a childcare desert, much like many of the other rural communities across the nation. And that basically means that our communities lack sufficient childcare, for the vast majority of families that need it. Additionally, 64% of New Yorkers, so in New York State, live in communities that qualify as childcare deserts as well. So at this point in time, in 2021, our County manager came to our economic development partner group here in Lewis County. So we have a number of local partners that we meet with on a local basis. And he came to us and said, “Okay, our County might be receiving $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. So these are essentially the stimulus funds that each municipality received last year.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yes.

 

Brittany Davis: If we had 5 million, how would we reinvest it in the community? We obviously can’t just let it sit in our account, we’re not going to use it for County government operations. We need to reinvest it in the community. And so with that, childcare was a top priority and something that we needed to address. At that point, we had no clue how we were going to address it, what we were going to do, but we just knew that we needed to do something. So that’s when we just put our brain together here within our County, and said, “All right, what are some short-term and some long-term solutions to address childcare?” And that’s essentially where this idea of getting more home-based childcare providers came into play. We said maybe this is a low-hanging fruit, maybe this is something that is more easily obtainable, we can see results quicker. And it’s very much a grassroots effort for our community.

 

So with that, we understand that the childcare model doesn’t work. If you look at a childcare facility, you simply cannot charge families enough money to adequately sustain operations. This is just a known fact, the childcare business model just doesn’t work, unless you’re a facility that has lots of subsidies from the local government or funding from outside resources, foundation funding. But in the case of Lewis County, we are a very rural community, we have 26,000 people in our entire County, and we have one childcare facility.

 

Amanda Ellis: Wow.

 

Brittany Davis: Yep. And I used to actually sit on their board a couple of years back. And I just remember being on the board, and we’re trying to just do all these fundraisers, just to try to bring in any extra money because again, it’s a failing business model. You cannot charge these families, that live in this rural community, astronomical amounts for childcare to sustain operations. So we just know that it’s a failing business model, we need to do something different. And we understood that trying to build a new facility, at that point, was not a short-term solution was not something that we should be focused on first and foremost. So again, we said, “All right, how do we get more home-based providers in our community?” This is where the rubber meets the road, we brought the right partners to the table. So we brought together local economic development agencies like ours, workforce development agencies, our local community college, the Small Business Development Center, and our local childcare support organization.

 

And together, within like a month, we came up with this program. And essentially, the program works to support students through the necessary, and often very daunting, channels to become a licensed daycare provider in New York State. And it also provided entrepreneurship training. It provides various incentives like a 3-three credit course to intro to education if they wanted to further their education at the community college. And the best part about this program was that it was fully supported by economic development agencies. And that was the first cohort in 2021. And now, these programs are being fully supported by Lewis and Jefferson counties in the American Rescue Plan Act funds that were provided. So that’s where we’re at today. Without the partnership between the two counties, without the partnership of the local college, and small business support, and the childcare support organizations, we would not have been able to create this program. As economic development agencies, we should not be in the business of running an educational program like this.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah.

 

Brittany Davis: So that’s where we want to support this endeavor, we want to support these efforts, we want to fund them. But again, we need the experts in education and small business and entrepreneurial support to come together to make this program a success, and to really be able to support these students through the entire process.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, what a win on so many levels.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: Boosting small business, a way to use that ARPA funding in a really productive and helpful way that was coming your direction, and solving childcare issues. That’s pretty amazing. And also pretty amazing, you said there was one center serving 26,000 people?

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, mm-hmm.

 

Amanda Ellis: And I mean, how many children could they accommodate?

 

Brittany Davis: I believe…

 

Amanda Ellis: Because there’s a lot of roles and restrictions about that too.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, I feel like I’ve learned so much about the childcare industry, because if you have a childcare facility, those regulations are completely different than the home-based childcare facilities. So at our local facility, it’s located in Lowville, New York, it’s called Hand In Hand Early Childhood Center, it’s a 501(c)(3), I would say, approximately 60 children. And they also run local after-school programs, and they consistently have a wait list of approximately 30 kids. But again, we’re a big County, we’re very rural, and this one childcare facility is located in the center of the County. So it really is only serving a certain amount of families that either live in that area or people that are driving into this part of the County, and can drop their children off at that facility.

 

If you’re located in the northern or southern end of the County, this facility is not serving those people. So by focusing on the home-based centers, we can target individuals in communities all across the County, all across the region, to open up home-based centers that can hold six to eight children, give or take, based on the regulations. Again, it was low-hanging fruit, it’s supporting business development, it’s solving a childcare need, and it’s being more inclusive. People who are located all across the region that are able to now be fully regulated by New York State and fully licensed by New York State to open these home-based centers.

 

Amanda Ellis: Well, and it sounds like your County, being more rural, is more spread out too with where people live. So having home-based providers could be more central to more separate groups of people than the one center that I’m sure was close to some people, but not everyone.

 

Brittany Davis: Absolutely, absolutely.

 

Amanda Ellis: So for some context, can you talk a little bit more about just your region in general? I know you’ve, you’ve done that a little bit so far, but size, major industries, where people work, just an overview.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah. So like I mentioned, we are a rural region in the north-central New York State, also known as Drum Country. So we have the North Country of New York State, but our region that we’re referring to today, it consists of three counties, Lewis, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence counties in the northern part of New York. Our region is bordered by some really awesome and unique assets. So Lake Ontario, the Thousand Islands, the St Lawrence River, the Tug Hill Plateau, and the Adirondack Mountains, are all surrounding our three counties, which just provides ample opportunities for outdoor recreation, we have a huge tourism industry because of where we’re located. People are coming to this region to ATV, to snowmobile, to boat, to fish, we have world-class fishing in our region, skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, hiking. I mean, this is what the northern part of New York is known for is outdoor recreation.

 

Additionally, in our region, we are home to Fort Drum in the 10th Mountain Division, which is the largest military installation in the Northeast, which employs roughly 16,000 military personnel, 4,000 civilian personnel, and supports over 6,000 indirect off-post jobs. So this is kind of what binds our three counties together, is Fort Drum. It’s the largest employer in New York State. It’s a huge part of our economy and our region. And we really like to focus on that because it is a potential for a future workforce. Of those military personnel that are located and stationed at Fort Drum, over 30% of them choose to stay in this region after they retire because of the great quality of life that we have.

 

So some of our major industries that we have here in our region include dairy agriculture, manufacturing, small business, and cottage industries and food production. So we have a range of very niche manufacturers and businesses surrounding those industries. So for example, Kraft Heinz is located in Lewis County. We make Philadelphia cream cheese and Polly-O string cheese.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yum.

 

Brittany Davis: Manufactured here. QubicaAMF bowling pins. So 97% of the world’s bowling pins are manufactured right here in Lewis County.

 

Amanda Ellis: What a fun fact.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, and the reason why they’re here is because of our proximity to hard maple. So we are in the woods, we have forests, we have lots of timber here, and that is exactly why Qubica is located here, because of that natural resource that is local.

 

Amanda Ellis: Huh, I didn’t actually know bowling pins were all made out of wood, I guess I never really thought about it until right now.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: I guess I thought they were plastic, I don’t know.

 

Brittany Davis: The outside is a plastic coating of some sort.

 

Amanda Ellis: The things you learn in this industry.

 

Brittany Davis: I know, it’s pretty cool. So yeah, I guess our assets, such as the Thousand Islands in the Tug Hill Plateau, they offer an abundance of recreational opportunities. And that really just creates that thriving tourism industry and that great quality of life for people that live here and work here. And just our unique, small communities, our quaint downtowns, that’s what makes our region extremely unique. I would differentiate ourselves from other areas of the US, where there’s a lot of commercialization. And for example, I visited Georgia a couple years ago to visit some family. And the one thing that I missed being down there, I was like, “This is a really nice place. There’s a lot of great things happening, but I missed the downtowns. I feel like there’s no downtowns here.” So in our region, we have really quaint and historic downtowns that just walkable, downtowns restaurants, and bars, and tap rooms, and wineries. And we have the beautiful four seasons in the North Country, and it just is a really great family-friendly region, great school systems. And I always say, if you’re looking to get back to nature, we’re the place to be.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah. I thought that would be some helpful context for some of the other tidbits you were sharing. So back to our childcare topic, how do you feel like working in the field of economic development, how is childcare related to that, and why is it something people in the industry should care about and be paying attention to?

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, the one thing I keep saying is childcare is economic development, childcare is workforce development. And as employers are consistently facing workforce issues, creating the childcare solutions will allow more people to enter the workforce. This is obviously an issue that was really brought to light from the pandemic. You had children who couldn’t attend schools, but parents that still needed to work. So where did they go? In our region, it’s very much there are generations of families that live in our region, just families that have been here for years and years and years. And a lot of reasons why people move back to the area is because they have a tie to the area, they have family in the area. So fortunately, in a lot of situations, families were able to rely on other family members to watch their children. However, if we’re looking to continue to attract new people to our region, we need to have this childcare infrastructure in place to be able to support that movement.

 

So in that sense, it’s economic development, workforce development, but also, by creating these new home-based day daycares, that’s also business development, which is economic development. We’re creating these new small businesses. And when we were going through the planning phases of creating and implementing this program, one of the biggest things that came out of that planning was that these home-based childcare providers, they don’t see themselves as businesses, they just often think like, “Oh, I’m just watching kids at home.” Well, no, you are a business. And so we want to make sure that you’re getting all of the skills and the training that you need to make sure that you are a viable business. And that includes marketing, and financial, and bookkeeping, and things like that. So all of the technical services, those were very helpful and are very helpful to those entrepreneurs who are looking to launch their home-based daycare.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah. So as far as how this worked, so people applied for a program they went through at your local community college, where they learned about both some of the business skills you’re talking about and maybe some additional childcare certifications, which they probably already had a lot of knowledge about, but is that an accurate way of describing kind of how it worked?

 

Brittany Davis: So the way the program works is they apply to get into the program. And obviously, we’re not going to turn anyone away. The only way that they might get turned away is if maybe their house, there’s something at their house that doesn’t allow them to have a home-based daycare, based on New York State regulations. So maybe you have a pond in the backyard, and New York State doesn’t obviously like that.

 

Amanda Ellis: Makes sense.

 

Brittany Davis: Or want to see a daycare facility with an open pond in the backyard.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah.

 

Brittany Davis: And there’s also background checks that they have to go through in order to become certified through the state. So those are really the only reasons why people might not be able to complete the program, is for those reasons. But they go through the application process with New York State to become certified, first and foremost. That’s the first thing we want them to do. They need to do a CPR and first aid course, they need to do a health and safety type course. And these are all requirements of New York State. But the issue with that is, if you’re trying to do it by yourself, it’s very daunting because it is a very, very thick booklet and a very thick application. So this program supports them through just that application and certification process with New York State.

 

Then, once they get their certification, that’s where we then start to provide some of the incentives of the program. We’re going to give you the entrepreneurship training, we’re going to provide you with the free 3-credit course to do the intro to education program, through the community college. There’s also grants available for them, for equipment and books and toys, and things like that. And of course, through our economic development agency, we provide other technical services and support services just to help them market their business. If they want to create a website, we can help them with that. If they want to get a logo, we can help them with that. Some photography to really promote what they’re doing. So first and foremost, it’s to get certified through New York State, and then the other incentives come into play after that.

 

Amanda Ellis: So how long would that whole process typically take for a participant?

 

Brittany Davis: It really is up to the applicant. They really can go as fast or as slow as they want to with that process. But obviously, I think the intent is to get them ready to go within four to six months.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, a short ramp-up period.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: So they can get out there.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: Most people that have participated, do they have already a background either in that industry, or maybe like you said, have been doing some childcare for family or something like that?

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah. From what I’ve seen, it’s kind of been all over the board. You have people who have been already watching kids, they just haven’t been licensed through New York State, and they now want to take that next step. You have people who are switching careers, you have people who do have an interest in education, and maybe moving on, in 5, 10 years, taking that intro to education course gives them three credits and maybe they want to do home-based daycare right now, and then eventually, in 5 or 10 years, they might take the two-year education course through the community college, and then the four-year bachelor’s degree in education. So we want to promote creating the home-based daycares, and obviously we want them to stay in it for as long as possible, but we also don’t want to deter them from furthering their education. So that’s the incentive of providing that free 3-credit course.

 

Amanda Ellis: Well, and it’s so much easier to do that once you’re started on the path. So that makes a lot of sense.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, it’s all about creating that workforce pipeline, essentially.

 

Amanda Ellis: So it sounds like if you started this, in 2021, I think you said you might have been through a couple cohorts at this point. So what kind of results have you seen in terms of how many people have gone through how many businesses have ended up getting launched, that sort of thing?

 

Brittany Davis: Yep. So our first cohort was very successful. I think there was over 20 people interested when we first launched the program. But after all was said and done, we ended up having approximately 10 new home-based providers in the region. And that created approximately 60 new childcare slots. So if you think about the cost associated with that, we, as the economic development agency, probably invested around $6,000 for the first cohort, just to get it started. And some of the administrative costs with the community college. And we were able to create approximately 60 new childcare slots from that. Now, if we were to build a new facility to create 60 new slots, this would, again, be easily a $500,000 to a million-dollar build, plus furnishings, plus salaries for employees, to create those 60 childcare slots. So it is a relatively low investment for some really impactful results all across our region.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, I love how you shared that cost comparison. That’s really insightful.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah. It’s when you put it side by side, it’s really eyeopening and it really justifies, this was definitely the right path to take. Tackling that low-hanging fruit and focusing on home-based providers to start, that is the best path we could have taken.

 

Amanda Ellis: Well, and it’s a lot more empowering, in a way, to have entrepreneurs kind of doing their own thing versus…

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: Working for someone else. So that’s awesome.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah, absolutely.

 

Amanda Ellis: Any specific success stories you might want to share?

 

Brittany Davis: I think the program in general is a success story. It is a result of collaboration and partnership, which is something that every economic development organization should be prioritizing. That is what community building is all about. You need to partner, you need to break down those silos, and you need to collaborate. We all want the same things for our community, so we just need to work together to do it. And this program is a result of doing just that. Put our heads together, we consolidated resources, we brought the right partners to the table. 

 

And like I had mentioned before, we, as an economic development agency, and our County government, could not and should not be running this program. So if it were not for those partners and that partnership, this program would not have been successful. So I think the program itself is just a success story. And then of course, you see these individuals who are now running their own businesses, and all their slots are full, they’re watching kids, and they’re developing their own businesses, but they’re also solving a very dire issue in the community, which is childcare.

 

Amanda Ellis: You’ve spoken a lot already to the importance of partnerships, which really makes sense in this context. Any other advice you might have for other communities looking to address this? Or just anything else you might want to add?

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah. My advice is always to start small, think grassroots, how can you grow and build from within? The solutions might be right in front of you, and may not cost as much as you would think. We use that phrase ‘start small’ in everything we do in our organization, even in working with our businesses. You have this really great idea, start small, start small. Collaborating and working together on sustainable solutions is key, and I think the most important part is to fund the programs. You need to fund the programs, you need to figure it out, find the funding, set your priorities and fund it.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yes. Well, thank you, Brittany. That was a lot of great info. So as we head toward wrapping up here, I always close out with one fun question for our guests. So, well, first of all, how long have you lived in the area, Lewis County?

 

Brittany Davis: I was born and raised in Lewis County, New York. I’ve spent a little time outside of Lewis County, in different parts of New York, spent a little time in Durango, Colorado, actually. And there is something very special about this place, and it sucked me back in, and of course it’s home. So I love living here and I love our community.

 

Amanda Ellis: So what is one bucket list item that someone visiting your region should be sure to do?

 

Brittany Davis: Oh, you need to…

 

Amanda Ellis: I didn’t think this would be the question to trip you up, of all of them.

 

Brittany Davis: There’s so many. So when I think of Lewis County, I think of our local foods, we have a huge local food scene. We have a lot of small entrepreneurs who are making goat cheese and cheese curd and famous Croghan Bologna. I will send you the link to what Croghan Bologna is, but it’s just this meat product that’s famous to Lewis County and the North Country, in New York. So I would say a bucket list item is to experience the Lewis County cuisine trail, to be able to experience and visit some of our small farms, and taste our local cuisine and our local foods.

 

Amanda Ellis: I don’t think I’ve ever had a real cheese curd. I’m in Tennessee, so…

 

Brittany Davis: Oh boy. Yep.

Amanda Ellis: I’ve had the ones that are almost more like fried cheese, but they sometimes will call it cheese curds.

 

Brittany Davis: Yeah.

 

Amanda Ellis: But I’ve heard about the squeaky thing, which is kind of weird to me, but I’ve never had one, so…

 

Brittany Davis: Yep, fresh cheese curd is very squeaky and delicious.

 

Amanda Ellis: All right. Well, now I want cheese. But aside from that, thank you so much, Brittany. That was awesome.

 

Brittany Davis: Thank you, Amanda. Really appreciate the opportunity.

 

Amanda Ellis: Thanks for listening to the Livability podcast where we take you inside America’s best cities. At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-size cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can learn more about us at livabilitymedia.com. 

 

Have an idea for an upcoming episode, email me at [email protected]. Until next time, from Livability, I’m Amanda Ellis sharing the stories of America’s most promising places.