This is in business.

I'm Ken Buer.

Thank you for joining us.

We're at the Pioneer Log Home maintained by the Esco Historical Society right in downtown Esco.

This is the old farmhouse for the Kangas family because it was on Kangas Road.

And back in the farm days when everyone lived on the farm, child care, which is our topic tonight, wasn't a problem.

It is a problem today.

But back in the day, you lived on the farm, which meant you worked at the farm until you couldn't, and you started working at the farm as soon as you could, and family stayed together, and the young ones were taken care of by the old folks.

Well, that worked great on the farm, but we're not on the farm anymore.

Along comes the industrial revolution.

And all of a sudden, because of the industrial revolution and because of union and better wages and conditions, all of a sudden one wage earner could take care of a family, which meant that the other parent could stay home and raise and take care of the children.

And that was the beginning of the nuclear family.

Well, when that evolved one more time and two incomes were needed or you had more single parent families, that child care issue became even more critical.

That's why we're talking about this evening.

There are two major problems with child care.

One is affordability and the other is availability and that's what we're talking about on in business.

Economically, we're a long ways from this log cabin in Esco, Minnesota.

Today's economy makes child care a critical issue and affordability is one of the reasons.

According to childcare aware, the average cost for child care in Duth and northern Minnesota ranges from $199 a week to $282 a week depending upon the age of the child.

Obviously, the higher amount is for a younger child.

That's part of the problem.

The other part is availability.

That means families have to find other alternatives.

40% go to relatives or other family members, usually grandparents.

But that's really not sustainable.

What we need is a sustainable way into the future.

And at Child Care, it's critical because they are the future.

So that's what we're going to tackle tonight.

We'll talk to an Iron Range employer who has a plan and is starting a work round for child care for their employees that could spread across the Iron Range.

We have experts at our discussion that are from here in Duth that are going to talk about funding for child care.

We have a child care provider and we also have an expert on other ways to move into the future to solve this problem.

It's coming up on In business along with an orange cone construction zone.

Welcome to In Business.

I'm Ken Beller.

Thank you for joining us.

Child care has become one of the biggest challenges facing working families and employers across the region.

Costs are high, availability is limited, and for many businesses, the lack of child care has made it harder to hire and retain workers.

To see how this is playing out on the Iron Range, we visited an employer who's felt these challenges firsthand.

We're at Northridge Community Credit Union in Virginia.

We're visiting with Liz Pa.

Liz is the vice president of administration at Northridge Community Credit Union and we're taking a business look at child care and your organization has some challenges.

We do.

Um we've lost approximately 24% of our workforce in the last just over two years um to those choosing to be stay-at-home moms or just not able to find child care in general.

And what kind of an impact does that have?

Obviously, employee turnover is something that no business looks forward to, but 24% that's that's major.

Yeah, that's um a really large chunk of our workforce and it it's really hard to find really good employees, you know, that's important.

And then training them, getting them up to speed and waiting for the next one to get pregnant.

As this happens and people choose a family life over a business life, um obviously there's a transition as you say, you're constantly training and bringing in new people and it's difficult to hire.

What could be done about this?

Oh, that's really that's what I'm working on.

I'm really working on a um flexible flexible benefit options for employees and one of those that I want to add into there is a childare option.

So, I've been looking really hard into the community.

Um, I've partnered up with Royal Pathways and Iron Range Tikes and they have a two-tier business model and um, it's really investing in human capital for a business.

So, we're investing in their model and hoping to stabilize the childcare industry and in turn I can offer that benefit to our employees.

So, this would be a company sponsored benefit working with this organization across the Iron Range.

How does it work?

It's really interesting.

Um I'm still waiting for it to unfold, but from my understanding I'm the first employer who has um decided that I'm going to jump in head first and it is working with a company called Tutras and it's putting everything in a platform sort of like a Facebook platform for childcare and then businesses can go on that platform and buy into that look for daycare slots and things like that and offer that to their employees.

My hope is that we just really get to offer those slots to our employees or some type of benefit so they can use for child care because we all know the slots are hard to find and when you find them, they're super costly.

So, how do we, you know, how do we help our employees with that so we can retain employees?

Northridge Credit Union jumped on this right away.

Why did you decide that this was someplace you had to go and how does it make you feel to be a leader in this?

Um, as a mom, I remember the feeling of um, being pregnant and calling around to childcare centers and I actually got laughed at.

It's like, "Oh, you should have called two years ago and there's a wait list."

And it's absolutely terrifying.

Um, I've seen our employees go through the same situation for the last several years.

And I just want to be part of that solution.

I want you to be able to keep that career if you want to.

It's your choice.

I want it to be the parents choice.

and that now that you are doing that you feel good about it.

I'm starting I'm dipping my toes in it.

Um my hope is that in a couple years it is a full benefit and yes my hope is that we all feel good about it the community.

Thank you Liz Pop.

This is in business a weekly news and discussion program focused on businesses and the people and issues that run them.

Thank you for joining us.

This week, our topic is child care and how it has become a critical issue for the success of large and small employers across our region.

It also impacts employees making a decision between being able to work to support their families or staying home with their families.

Our guests this evening are Laura Mullen.

Laura is the chair of Duth's 1200 Fund.

The 1200 fund is a city affiliated nonprofit that started in 1985 to foster the long-term viability and diversity of Deluth's economy by providing gap financing and funding options for local businesses.

Over time, the 1200 fund has additionally evolved to include an emphasis on supporting child care in our region as it directly impacts our workforce and loose business's ability to thrive.

Courtney Grryer is a northern Minnesota child care provider, trainer, consultant, and community organizer.

She is the executive director and owner of Minnie's Childare and Preschool Center in Esco.

She is a strong advocate for improving the current child care system.

Zayn Bale is the senior vice president of programs and development for the Northland Foundation.

Through a variety of programs and grants, the Northland Foundation works to increase and sustain the quality of child care in our region.

Thank you all for being here this evening.

It's great to see you.

We have assembled a wealth of expertise and opinions and we're going to discuss in the future of child care right now.

It's mentioned that the two hurdles for business and employees are access and affordability.

I'd like to start with you Zayn Bale from the Northland Foundation.

What is the role of your organization to partner with child care programs and uh across the region?

But let's start with this.

I did quote from uh Childc Careware Minnesota.

Uh what is that organization and what do they do?

Sure.

Sure.

Well, thanks so much, Ken.

I really appreciate being here and with this great um panel that you have today.

And uh again, the Northland Foundation is really working to increase and sustain childcare.

And we do that in a variety of ways.

We do that with funding, technical assistance, uh planning, and partnership building.

And those elements really help us um support our child care programs that are so vital to comm to to our communities and businesses and families.

And we operate a number of programs to support childare.

And one of those programs is childcare aware.

And that is a statewide program in Minnesota.

It is funded by the state, the department of children, youth, and families.

And it covers all parts of the state.

And we serve the northeast region with this program which does three things.

One, it is designed to help families find child care and access child care.

Two, it provides support for quality programming and that's through coaching and professional development and going out to really support support child care programs to support children in their learning.

And third, we help navigate the child care business startup and sustainability work through child care startup and retention navigators.

And we know childcare quality is so important because those first five years of life are just uh one-time opportunity and that economic impact of that early investment just continues on and on.

Laura, the 1200 fund is also involved in this.

What are some of the things that uh your organization does to support child care improvement?

Yes.

Well, absolutely.

We take the business side of this, but um businesses, small businesses in Duth can't function if there's not a workforce available.

And child care is a big piece of that.

Um we want to have businesses come to Duth and all of the above.

But if there aren't child care slots, just like if there isn't housing, that is a huge problem.

It impedes the the economic impact of duth.

So the 1200 fund came along.

Um even though our primary focus is gap financing for business, we have done multiple um initiatives that support child care in this way.

Um we've worked with the Northland Foundation and Zale many times.

Um we did the jump into child care project um which is helping the workforce uh get training for child care.

Um and that was a grant of $30,000 a few years ago and then a $300,000 grant to them as well for the childare workforce pilot project.

Most recently last year under um the emphasis of one of our past board members um Tara Swenson who's a former city counselor um she really wanted to make an impact um just to support the child care facilities that exist.

So, we did the Tiny Steps collaboration grant um where we gave out 151,000 to 21 different child care um centers in the city just to help them finance anything that was causing trouble, a new dryer or um a new window or whatever they needed.

But it was meant to just be this gap, this this place while the bigger broader picture of of what's going on and the gaps that are happening within child care could be taken on by a larger community.

One of your recent uh partnerships was with Essentia and the YMCA for a very large grant.

What is that going to do?

That's uh that's one of our ongoing um 1,200 fund programs, which is the childare collaboration grant.

And what that's doing is um they are transferring their facility and it's just going to help make a state-of-the-art new child care facility.

Um but beyond that, there's there's larger broader problems within the child care system.

So, we're here to, you know, be the voice of business in this, but it's a huge problem and it affects um I own multiple small businesses and it affects it on the daily is having child care issues.

Courtney Griner, we heard that uh obviously this is an issue for retaining employees, recruiting employees.

It's a business issue as Laura just said.

Um we're in a tough situation in your estimation.

Are we close to a breaking point?

How close are we?

Uh I think that we've been at a breaking point for years and the reality is is providers have been hiding that for fear of you know families being nervous and and a lot of like the the outcome of saying our businesses are broken and uh the care really has been subsidized in many many ways for years on the backs of employees who are making low wages, lack retirement, lack um health healthare care, all of those things, personal savings of providers, foundations, um it's being subsidized currently and the reality is it's been broken.

So, um and then you've got all of these other things happening that really are pushing us over the edge.

And the fear is if we lose any funding, we will close our doors.

providers across the Northland, not, you know, not just my own center, but providers across the Northland and across the state will really struggle with any loss of funding.

So, funding is obviously critical.

Uh, what other parts of your business um are edgy and uh what are the solutions?

So there's a lot of regulations and as we continue to add more and more things uh the burden of administrative tasks just continue to pile up and it starts to really create a a system that just doesn't work.

Okay, it maintains it's like adding to an already broken system and we cannot maintain the way things are currently going and so that part is broken.

We can't find the workforce because we aren't paying enough.

Um, and we can't charge families anymore because they can't afford it.

These are young families starting their f, you know, starting families, buying, wanting to buy houses, new in their careers.

And so charging this college tuition at, you know, when they're brand new babies, they don't have 18 years to save.

And so really taking that approach of the more we invest in these young families, the better off the return on investment really is.

And uh we something has to change.

We're broken and the challenges are numerous regulatory, financial, um buildings falling apart, all of these pieces.

Uh Zayn and Laura, let's start with you Zayn.

What do you think your foundation could do or is doing to address some of what uh Courtney just said?

Well, we're we're really working um on a on a two-prong approach.

We're working in the current system, as Courtney uh very clearly articulated is a broken business model.

But what we we need child care now.

We have children growing today and they're our future.

And so we have to invest.

And so we're doing things like um working with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and other partners to bring funding up to help grow and sustain child care.

We're offering um highquality business consulting through our small business development program and our childcare navigator program.

We're offering free professional development across the region doing programs like jump into child care that is providing CPR child development training.

So we're really trying to keep the current system stabilized.

at the same time looking ahead for those longer term solutions and those innovations and hoping that there is just going to be a a a we need a bigger investment in child care and and that's what needs to happen just helping the system for the long term.

Laura, care to piggyback on that?

I mean the it's hard to say.

It's a societal problem a massive one.

I have a 13-year-old, but for I paid $10,000 a year for the five years before she entered school, and I only had one child because of that.

I couldn't afford to.

Um, I think it's affecting families.

Um, and I just think it needs to be a bigger, broader, and governmental discussion.

This is in business.

Our guests this evening are Laura Mullen and uh also uh Courtney Grryer and Zayn Bale.

30,000 people in Minnesota are dependent upon child care support from the federal government.

Recently the Trump administration put that on hold, cut off that funding, but a current court case put a pause to that.

What happens and what's the insecurity like, Courtney, for these low-income people that are counting on that?

Even the idea of that funding stopping is detrimental to businesses who currently don't have um large profit margins if any.

And uh families cannot afford that's why they get assistance to be able to access care.

They can't afford it.

And so what that will do honestly is either close doors or only families who can afford private pay 10 to 15 to $20,000 a year for children will have access to care.

And that goes back to the accessibility.

I would piggyback off that and just say and then u when there's no child care, the workforce can't show up to work.

They call into my business unable to come.

It's a trickle down effect that affects all level of the economy and it's it's devastating to our community.

Courtney, you spent uh this week touring area lawmakers around and showing them uh the inside of what you do and uh talking about the future.

Uh what was your message to these elected officials?

Um I think well there were lots of messages honestly again the broken system child care is infrastructure and how important it is to really shift the narrative around without it our economies will collapse.

our community cannot survive without this and shifting again that the way we talk about early educators and how important that time is between birth and five.

So, we talked a lot about that and one of the really amazing things not only for myself but for for these lawmakers is seeing the diverse care that is in the Northland and what's available to families and children and get letting them really be deeply engaged in the daily work of child care providers and early educators um so that they can go off and make uh legislative changes to really support our systems.

So that's what they learned from you.

What did you learn from them?

What did I learn from them?

Well, they learned way more from us than we know.

Um I learned from I mean it is a there's no money, right?

And that's that tends to be the response to we need investment and and what the reality is that's that's what is said often, but that's not true.

We just have to prioritize and value the children of our communities and those who care for them.

And so that I think I've learned that through them and that we do have to keep talking and not sugarcoating the system, not um pretending we're okay because that's not true and it's not sustainable.

So really naming the broken system, naming that childcare's infrastructure and continuing to have these conversations.

Zayn, Laura, real quickly, a last word.

Where do you see the future going?

Well, my hope is like Courtney said, it's we see child care as critical infrastructure and that we figure out how to prioritize that investment and that we continue to support the different types of business models, the family child care, the centers, you know, families that have grandparents taking care of their children.

We need that mixed delivery system and to support our our our whole region, our whole our rural communities that might not be able to have a center and that we make that investment so that we in 10 years from now are talking about a thriving uh child care world and not worrying about um these short-term fixes that there's this long-term investment and plan and it's prioritized.

Laura, you get the last word.

I absolutely agree with what Z said.

I mean all in all it's just this is a a huge societal problem.

Um as a mother I lived it and as a business owner I live it in the other way when people are calling in because of child care issues.

All of the above it needs to be addressed just like we have um from kindergarten through age 12 we have public education um the vital years from birth to age uh five.

We should start considering it in that way.

Laura Mullen, Courtney Grryer, and Zayn Bale, thank you very much for joining us and for being part of the conversation this evening.

Before we head to tonight's final story, here's a quick look at some top business news from across the region.

Minnesota has soft launched the new secure choice retirement program.

It's a statemandated benefit for employers with five or more employees.

Businesses will be required to offer retirement savings options through automatic payroll deductions unless they already have a plan in place.

A helium appraisal well near Babbot has been confirmed to contain among the highest levels of helium 3 ever recorded on Earth.

The rare isotope has potential uses in national security, quantum computing, and future fusion energy.

The Twin Port shipping season ended with lower cargo volumes amid mine idlings, trade deficits and shifts, and closures of major terminals.

Port officials say that new markets like wind energy could help offset losses in the year ahead.

House Republicans have voted to lift a 20-year ban on mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

The measure now heads to the US Senate and has sparked strong debate over jobs and environmental protection.

And now for our final segment, an orange cone construction zone.

We've traveled to Minnesota's glorious iron range and we brought our orange cone with us because this is another orange cone construction zone.

We're in beautiful downtown Hibby right here on Howard Street.

The main drag.

Now, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and our main drag was the uh oh high school truent officer.

We're on Howard Street in the 400 block.

These vacant buildings behind me and that empty parking lot will be transformed over the next couple of years into a four-story mixeduse building.

The Hibbing Economic Development Authority got a little start money from the IRR, but they're redeveloping this on their own as a city project.

Four stories, mixeduse, one to threebedroom apartments for workforce and for middle-income families.

mixed use on the bottom and a $24.3 million project for those 56 units of housing that will transform the downtown of Hibby.

Because this is an Orange Cone construction zone scheduled for completion in September of 2027.

We're in downtown Virginia for another Orange Cone construction zone.

Taken together, downtown Virginia along Chestnut here on the main drag has gone through an incredible renovation project and has been doing what all downtowns want to do, which is rehabilitation.

And one by one, the businesses along Chestnut have been doing just that over the last couple of years.

Individual projects range from 70,000 to 120, some to 150,000.

But when you add it all together, you see a revitalization of Chestnut in downtown Virginia.

Some of the projects, the Arrowhead Bar at 412 just down the block.

Northeast Technical Services, they did an expansion and a remodel.

The Mako Theater got some work done.

Rocks, the Jewelers, they did a renovation and it's a new location for them.

Five and Go at Chestnut is a brand new business from 2024.

321 Graphics is at, go figure, 321 Chestnut.

And the Sugar Shack is right across the street from where we are now.

Taken together, these projects are renovating downtown Virginia because it's an orange cone construction zone.

On this week's Orange Cone Construction Zone, we took you across Minnesota's Iron Range.

We started in Hibbing with a project that's just getting underway to revitalize its downtown.

Then we took you to the Queen City of Virginia where the downtown is going through a revitalization as well.

We showed you some businesses that are in progress and some that have been completed by private business.

We finished our tour here in Chisum.

And behind me, the expanded and improved Chisum High School.

Now, the original school that is still standing was built in 1915.

This new project, which has been underway for a while, is now just wrapping up and students are starting to move in.

It is an expansion with larger classrooms, more common spaces, much more resources for teachers and students, and a gymnasium that'll be home to the Blue Streaks.

Now, this cost $24.7 million.

It's been underway for years.

The work is now mostly completed.

Students are moving in.

It was an orange cone construction zone, and now it's the new Chisum High School.

I'm Ken Builder.

Thanks for watching In Business.

If you missed any parts of tonight's show, you can always watch it at pbsnorth.org or listen on Mondays at 5:30 on the North 1033.

Thanks again for watching and until next time, let's take care of each other.