The Missouri Women's Business Center this week launched a child care business cohort in an effort to address the state's child care shortage. This group meets on Zoom the second Thursday of each month from 6-7 p.m.
Each session will cover themes important to growing a child care business and starting a child care business, according to a news release from the center, a program of Central Missouri Community Action.
Participants will have access to one-on-one business coaching and educational workshops. The group's first meeting took place on Thursday, April 11th.
Nadia Lyakhmyatulov, a business education instructor at the Missouri Women's Business Center, said Thursday's cluster included an even number of home day cares and child care centers.
“We actually meet our clients where they are,” Lyakhmyatulov said. “In our daily coaching, the client brings an agenda and we work on it.”
Lyakhmyatulov said the childcare shortage has a downwind effect on the workforce, as mothers who cannot find childcare have even more difficulty finding work.
An area is classified as a childcare desert if only one in three children in the area has access to childcare facilities. According to a previous KOMU 8 report, 89 of Missouri's 114 counties meet child care desert criteria.
This means childcare is in low supply, especially for rural families.
Lyakhmyatulov said the current goal of the group of child care providers is to make its existence known. She said the group is working to partner with existing child care resources to provide a larger-scale solution.
For additional information or a link to Zoom, please email info@mowbc.org.
