The Coös Coalition for Young Children and Families Hosts Annual Convening

On Tuesday, March 11th, CEDC Business Development Manager, Angela Pence joined community leaders from throughout the county, such as the Coös County Directors Network and Coös Coalition for Young Children and Families, to discuss how to continue to combat the childcare crisis in the North Country.

Stakeholders from all over Coös County and upper Grafton County filled up the Bellevue Barn in Jefferson. The event started by celebrating the successes of childcare providers in our area, such as the Gorham Community Learning Center, who is continuing to expand and offer quality childcare in the Berlin/Gorham community. After celebrating the childcare providers in our area that have helped to fill the desperate need for childcare, the room was divided up into different regions. The goal was to address the issues facing specific regions regarding workforce development/retention and the important role of safe, quality childcare. 

The attendees broke out into work groups to tackle some of the issues. For reference, statistics have proven that having quality childcare available to working families drastically improves retention in the workforce which positively impacts the economy.

While each region expressed different needs and ultimately came to different solutions on how to meet those needs, a common denominator was a need for more staff to fill existing childcare facilities and the need for more childcare options. Each region set a goal on how to make this happen and will reconvene next year to discuss whether they were able to meet their goals.

The CEDC is excited to partner with all those working to push this initiative forward. Specifically, we are excited to be partnering with the Coos County Directors Network to help end the childcare crisis in the North Country.