Many people don’t make the connection between having affordable, accessible child care and economic development.
Skip Henderson, the mayor of Columbus, was one of them.
“I never considered it a major hurdle,” Henderson said. “I don’t think we understood the impact of some of the difficulties people have in finding affordable daycare.”
Henderson came to realize the direct impact that child care has on the city’s economic development after Columbus was chosen as one of four cities to participate in a child care cohort, co-sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) and the Low Income Improvement Fund (LIIF) to explore how cities can better understand and address local child care challenges.
“Child care is an economic driver from multiple perspectives,” said Dr. Shelly Masur, Vice President of Advisory and State Policy for Early Care and Education at LIIF, who facilitated the cohort. “It allows families to work, and it employs caregivers. When we invest in this type of backbone infrastructure, we are investing in our communities.”
Research shows that dependable, affordable child care benefits everyone involved:
- Quality child care for children from birth to age five promotes brain development and social skills and sets children up for success in school and life.
- When their children are in a safe place, parents can work, earn an income and provide for their families, which improves their quality of life.
- Employers have an available, productive workforce with less absenteeism.
- Cities that can provide a skilled workforce become more attractive to businesses, which impacts the economy.
There are many things a city can do to help ensure parents have access to quality child care, including changing zoning laws and permitting processes for child care centers, offering incentives for new businesses and connecting parents with resources.
From April 2024 to April 2025, the four cohort cities, which also included Albany, Augusta, and Savannah met to learn about the importance of childcare and brainstorm ideas on how to overcome some of the challenges cities, business and parents face.
“One of the most valuable aspects of the cohort was the opportunity for cities to connect and learn from each other,” said Masur. “We intentionally included a diverse set of cities so each could hear what their colleagues were doing and consider how to adopt some of those strategies.”
Jennifer St. John, Senior Vice President of Impact at the United Way of Chattahoochee Valley, was invited to participate in the Columbus cohort and jumped at the chance. Her organization had already been working in the area of child care and affordability.
“Columbus is really good at cross-collaboration and bringing other voices to the table,” said St. John. “The United Way wants to be part of solutions in our community and be a part of those conversations. Access to quality early child care and education really helps to ensure children start school ready to learn and that parents participate in the workforce.”
Child Care Challenges in Columbus
A study conducted by the United Way of Chattahoochee Valley and LIIF entitled “Child Care as a Pathway for Workforce Stability: Insights from the Chattahoochee Valley” found that cost is the most significant barrier to childcare, with 65% of parents identifying it as the primary issue. LIIF reports that Georgia families pay an average of $11,000 per year for an infant in child care, making it the second largest expense behind housing. In addition, 63% of parents reported that unreliable child care negatively affects their ability to work. Availability, unreliable transportation, and lack of flexible care options are other major challenges.
The Columbus group had their work cut out for them.
In addition to Mayor Henderson and the United Way’s St. John, the Columbus group included Reather Hollowell, at the time the city’s Human Resources Director, as well as representatives from several departments such as parks and recreation, planning and zoning and the city manager’s office.
“One of the biggest challenges we found was a lack of information among people who operate childcare centers,” said Hollowell. “They are often unaware of what is needed to open a child care center, and they are unaware of how to successfully get through the red tape.”
During the process, the group brought other stakeholders into the discussion – representatives from Muscogee County Schools, the city’s parks and recreation department, Columbus Technical College, Columbus Family Connection, the Chamber of Commerce and many others – to see what they considered challenges to child care and steps they were already taking to meet those challenges.
“We didn’t want to duplicate efforts, so our focus was on what could we do as a local government to enhance childcare and make it accessible for people in the community,” Hollowell said. “There were a lot of perspectives there.”
Brainstorming Solutions
St. John said that because the group came from diverse backgrounds, they all came in with a different perspective and different expertise, which could help when coming up with solutions. It was also a learning process.
“I hadn’t thought about the levers of change, the things the city can do in terms of zoning, and how they can make the application process easier for providers,” she said. “It was easy to say, ‘let’s remove the barriers,” but being aware that those barriers existed wasn’t in the forefront.”
Mayor Henderson agrees. “We are looking at everything across the board and anything we can do to facilitate the process,” said Henderson.
These are some of the ideas suggested by the group:
- Develop an information flyer on “How to Open a Child Care Center” – that will posted on the Planning Department’s website, the City of Columbus homepage and social media sites to offer guidance on how to open new child care centers.
- Offer incentives to support residential and commercial developers who include space for child care centers in their plans.
- Engage with the Columbus Housing Authority to explore options for placing a child care center in public housing.
- Address transportation issues by mapping public transit routes/bus stops in relation to child care centers, public housing, and other key locations; look into transportation access and cost and service for people working all shifts; and explore options for those who need transportation outside of Columbus.
- Work with Columbus Technical College to design a curriculum that allows individuals to be certified and prepared to go into the workforce right away. The school also offers training for those who want to own childcare centers.
“If we can identify and address these top issues, then we know from a government perspective that this will impact availability and quality of childcare,” said Hollowell.
And if the members of the cohort did not understand the connection between having affordable and accessible daycare and the role it plays in economic development, they do now.
“We have to be able to find opportunities for parents so it makes good financial sense for them to leave their child with someone they trust so they can go to work and earn a living for their families to prosper,” Henderson said. “And we need to get people to work because we need a solid workforce in order to have a healthy community.”
