The Mount Vernon/Lisbon Unit of the Linn County League of Women Voters (LWV) supports seeking quality, affordable child care solutions in our community. The following reflection is the start of a series of reflections to be shared by our community members regarding this issue.
While my family moved to Mount Vernon two years ago, I still feel like a new kid on the block, as we are now out and about, finally meeting our neighbors and community members. One of the biggest surprises I am experiencing as I put down my roots is the quantity of families with young children that fill our community. My husband and I have three children, ages five, three and ten months, and everywhere I turn I am meeting full and growing families. With all the parks, festivals and activities geared toward small children, it is no wonder families seem to flock here. I am joy-filled every day as I pick up my son from kindergarten and wave at all the beautiful families I’ve met in such a short time. I feel I have found fast friends in some of the parents I have met in bringing my daughter to preschool; I have a hard time believing such a family-centered community exists and that I live in it! However, as my conversations deepen, I am astounded to learn of the serious lack of child care available in this area and the hardship it is causing for this community.
I am fortunate to be able to work from home and therefore have not required much external child care. Over these two years my children have happily attended LECC, Turtle Club, MV Community Preschool and Washington Elementary in varying capacities, but I have always had in my mind that I could keep them home if needed and that much of the schooling was for socialization for my children and an attempt to have uninterrupted time for myself (wishful thinking). However, I am discovering that this is not the case for so many of our neighbors who struggle to find child care outside of school hours or on snow days or even to find suitable child care in general without having to commute outside of MVL. I took off my rose-colored glasses and realized that even I barely squeaked through waitlists for schools that I now understand are unbelievably long. This is not OK! I want to put on a superhero cape and find a quick fix, but a short-term solution is not what this community needs. Fortunately, my dramatic daydream is backed up by real-life heroes in our community that are already well on track to make a huge difference for our families with young children, those who employ or work with or for them, and those who simply care about those families and the future of our community.
I attended the child care forum presented by the League of Women Voters (LWV) last July and ultimately joined the group to participate on the child care committee. What I found was a group of driven individuals dedicated to systemic change and enhancement of our MVL child care infrastructure; talk about meeting amazing people in our community! This group is working in conjunction with the Iowa Women’s Foundation, whose mission is to improve the lives of women and girls (https://iawf.org/) as well as community leaders to search for long-term solutions that will suit our community’s needs and values while balancing the reality of resources available. To all of our parents feeling out of balance, employers feeling the strain of losing employees to be home with “littles” and child care centers and schools feeling maxed out, I want you to know that you are being heard. Please reach out to me at [email protected] (subject: Sun Response) if you would like to share your thoughts or needs.
Sincerely,
Colette Nakielski
The LWV aims to be transparent as we make strides toward this cause, and we invite you to be a part of our progress. Please reach out to [email protected] if you would like to get involved, share your story or become part of the solution.