Jess Holland understands your worries when it comes to child care being affordable and available in Door County.

The new Childcare Community Coordinator at the United Way of Door County was in similar straits as many parents are with her two children, now ages three and ten. While she had good family friends available to watch her son until he was able to get into the former Barker Center, it was not until her parents were able to could move to the area that she had a solution for her daughter. In the meantime, Holland’s daughter was waitlisted at the Barker Center and she stretched out her Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) time farther than she or her employer wanted her to go. That experience got her involved in helping the United Way of Door County with their work addressing the area’s child care needs before taking the coordinator position earlier this month. Holland knows how lucky she was and understands many are not.

Holland is looking at how to address the area’s trilemma: families struggling to find and pay for childcare while providers are finding it hard to pay their staff. She is currently connecting with home-based providers to learn how they can be supported better.

Picture courtesy of the United Way of Door County