In the lead-up to the upcoming legislative session, the Chamber has been leaning in hard on advocacy aimed at increasing childcare access and affordability in alignment with state workforce needs.
Employers across Indiana today consistently cite childcare and housing as their top external barriers to attracting and retaining employees, and there’s a growing consensus that these challenges rank alongside roads, bridges and broadband as the infrastructure issues of our time. In response, the Chamber has been working closely with a growing coalition of advocates to accelerate childcare progress on multiple fronts. In the past two weeks alone, we achieved meaningful milestones with the launch of Indiana’s new Employer-Sponsored Childcare Fund and a newly adopted set of childcare policy recommendations championed by the Chamber that will be considered during the 2024 legislative session.
Launched in partnership by the Indiana Chamber and the Family and Social Services Administration, the $25 million Employer-Sponsored Childcare Fund is designed to support Indiana employers and communities in providing or expanding childcare benefits to the workforce. Grant funding can be used to support employees’ childcare needs in a variety of ways, including sponsoring dependent care assistance plans, providing on-site or near-site childcare or offering childcare tuition benefits. Grants of up to $750,000 will be awarded. See the full list of allowable uses and details.
- A business or corporation employing 20 or more Indiana-based employees
- A group of employers with a total of 20 or more Indiana-based employees
- 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) community-based nonprofit organization (i.e., community foundations, chambers of commerce, United Way agencies, coalitions, etc.) applying on behalf of a group of local employers with a combined total of 20 or more Indiana-based employees
Visit the Employer-Sponsored Childcare Fund web page to learn more, review FAQs, register for an upcoming informational webinar series and to apply. Applications are now open and will close on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Last week, the Interim Study Committee on Public Health, Behavioral Health and Human Services, chaired by Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso), adopted a set of Chamber-backed policy recommendations that would accelerate key childcare reforms that include:
- Streamlining state childcare regulations
- Increasing support for childcare workers
- Expanding childcare access in hard-to-serve areas
- Ensuring greater transparency regarding the utilization and sufficiency of state childcare subsidies and their intersection with economic and workforce development strategies
