Quick hits: Mail riders of the past; the future of meat; child care solution; Thoreau's cabin; PFAS-free water

A mail rider makes his way through a creek bed near
Jackson, Ky., in 1940. (Library of Congress photo)

Over hill and dale and on all kinds of trails, horseback postal routes required mail riders to face treacherous paths, wild weather, unpredictable wildlife and inaccurate maps. "Routes they took were originally Native American and traders’ paths and roads carved through the forests, river valleys and mountains," writes Todd Kozak for Lancaster Farming. "Post riders and their horses worked in all weather and on set schedules. . . . A map of post routes published by the post office in 1897 shows a myriad of routes and offices. By the early 1920s, most of them had vanished."

Human diets of the future might not be about going vegan, quitting bacon or eschewing beef. Instead, Bruce Friedrich, author of Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food and Our Future, presents "alternative meat" as the planet's best answer. "And to be clear, he’s not talking about gardenburgers or tofurkey," writes Sarah Isgur of The Dispatch. "We now have the ability to take real meat cells from an animal and replicate them. The product is actually meat, but it’s not from a dead animal. . . . Alternative meat can’t compete by being better for the environment or nicer for animals. For most people, he acknowledges, food is not an ethical decision. It has to taste as good and be as cheap. . . ."

At Little Break, parents can be on-site with their 
children and still get their work done. (Little Break photo)

For parents struggling to find affordable child care, a new model being used in Michigan offers a solution that combines parental work spaces with a child care center. "Users say its prices are a fraction of what other daycare centers charge," reports Anna Patton of Reasons to be Cheerful. "Little Break" is a nonprofit, non-licensed child care facility where "parents must remain on-site, and take care of feeding and diaper changes. Otherwise, they get on with work in an adjoining room, while paid staff. . . watch the children." An added perk of the model is that parents can be there to witness childhood milestones they would otherwise miss.

Tired of their current work lives, some mid-career professionals have left their jobs and trained in a trade. "At 27, Lauren O’Connor was living paycheck to paycheck as a Montessori teacher, making $29 an hour with no benefits," report Allison Pohle and Te-Ping Chen of The Wall Street Journal. "Today, the 33-year-old earns $45 an hour — brazing, welding and soldering pipes for a local contractor. Though she sees more women on job sites these days, it wasn’t that way at first. Proving herself to the guys was stressful, she says." Other trades career-changers took up were airline pilot, electrical apprentice and cardiovascular sonographer.

 Original title page of Walden featuring a 
picture drawn by Thoreau's sister Sophia.

Among more modern fans of Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book, Walden or Life in the Woods, a group is building "full-scale replicas" of the late transcendentalist's cabin, reports Dorie Chevlen of The New York Times. Thoreau's book, which centers on simple life and self-reliance, recounts how he built his little cabin all on his own, except when neighbors helped him raise the frame. Two brothers, Jasper and Satchel Sieniewicz, who worked together to build a replica, "can’t believe it was a one man job. . . . Even using a sawmill and power tools, it took them three summers of labor ... Thoreau was living in his cabin in under three months." Read how other Thoreau fans fared with their Walden cabins here. 

In the small community of Rothschild, Wis., the water is healthier because it's nearly PFAS free. PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," can cause devastating health issues for humans. The village used settlement dollars to build a new water treatment facility. "This facility is actively working to decrease the levels of PFAS in the community's drinking water," reports Dylan Eckhart of WAOW. The Rothschild plant "utilizes a granular activated carbon filtration system to remove PFAS. . . .PFAS contamination became a concern for Rothschild residents in 2022 when it was detected in a sample from village wells."

A 'Nursery to Nursing Home' campaign for a rural Wisconsin community could help the well-being of children, older adults

Members of Groundswell Collective advocate for their 
'Nursery to Nursing Home' campaign (Photo The Yonder)

In Walworth County, Wisconsin, a local community group called Groundswell Collective proposed to turn a vacant wing of the county’s nursing home into a combined childcare center and senior-living space, reports Madeline de Figueiredo for The Daily Yonder.

Like many rural communities, this county has faced challenges such as a lack of child care and senior care, as well as the loneliness and isolation that can come with living in a rural area with long winters.

Abriana Krause, who lives and works in the area as a childcare provider, told the Yonder, "In Walworth County, all 2,240 licensed childcare slots, spread across the 35 active centers listed on the DCF [Department of Children and Families] website, are already full. That leaves nearly 2,680 children without stable care." Similarly, Wisconsin is projected to need 33,000 long-term care beds by 2030.

To support their proposal, the Groundswell Collective has relied on research that shows the benefits of intergenerational care, such as "boosting the well-being of both children and older people, reducing isolation, improving cognitive and physical health for older people, and cultivating empathy and connection in young children," Figueiredo explains. Intergenerational care has also been linked to dispelling age stereotypes and a renewed sense of care that affects entire communities and fosters lasting relationships.

Research also shows that the benefits intergenerational spaces offer can "extend to the caregiving staff," Figueiredo reports. "Daily interaction with both children and older adults can enhance the work environment and make intergenerational centers more rewarding for staff." There’s hope that this initiative will help the county retain nursing staff.

After almost a year of the community organizing around the proposal, the Walworth County Board approved funding in November for a feasibility study on the intergenerational care center.

Rural communities develop child care models that can be reshaped to fit a community's unique needs

Medicine Lodge Daycare shares its building with
four other childcare providers.

As rural parents and government officials partner to address child care provider shortages, new business models that allow would-be home or niche child care providers to operate in non-residential buildings are catching on, reports Anne Vilen of The Daily Yonder. The innovative approaches are providing jobs, child care spots and in some cases, reinvigorating rural downtown spaces. 

The story of LeyAnn Gehlen-Wampler of Medicine Lodge, Kansas, serves as an example. After the birth of her first child, Gehlen-Wampler couldn't find a child care provider. She was considering opening her own child care center when "she met Julie Warner, an early childhood consultant for the city who had once been a family childcare provider herself," Vilen explains.

Gehlen-Wampler and Warner, along with city administrators, smart design and construction professionals, and a mix of grant funding, helped create a "cluster of small, fully equipped childcare businesses in a main street building," Vilen reports. "Although Gehlen-Wampler's Medicine Lodge Daycare occupies a commercial space in the heart of downtown, the building was renovated into five separate rooms with separate entrances and outside playgrounds ideal for five independent family childcare providers."

The child care complex has helped the town's economy too. Medicine Lodge city councilman Matt Forsyth told the Yonder, “What it means for downtown is huge. It keeps Main Street alive in a small town where most main streets are dying."

Now known as the "plex" model, creating more modular child care centers outside of a residential home can't be done in all states. Vilen writes, "Kansas is one of just seven states (the others are Alaska, Missouri, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada and Wisconsin) that allow family childcare providers to operate in non-residential settings such as schools, businesses, or hospitals."

Other rural areas are developing child care options similar to the complex structure but tailored to their specific needs. In Indiana, communities are participating in a "Micro-Facility Pilot program that launched in early 2025," Vilen adds. "Six existing child care centers applied to open smaller satellites in rural or small town libraries, schools, and shopping centers." 

Providers in Minnesota are experimenting with "child care pods," Vilen reports. "They allow children to bring their own lunches and snacks, support mixed-age groups, and draw on the resources of the larger micro-facility hub for staffing and administrative support."

States work on their own solutions to address shortages of rural child care providers

In-home child care businesses often don't provide 
caregivers with a livable wage. (Adobe Stock photo)

When it comes to accessing quality, affordable child care, rural parents face a unique set of challenges, among which finding a nearby child care provider can be the most difficult.

The reasons rural child care providers remain scarce include licensing fees and paperwork confusion, costly governmental ordinance requirements, rigid educational demands and an overall inability to make a livable wage. The list makes opening a home daycare an unrealistic small-business option.

In an effort to address the dearth of child care providers, "some states are implementing their own novel solutions to address the shortage," reports Anne Vilen for The Daily Yonder.

Child care operators in Junction City, Kansas, were limited by "contradictory state and city statutes," Vilen explains. "Ultimately, the city eliminated its local zoning fees and aligned local statutes with state licensing requirements."

Along with licensing fees and zoning stipulations, potential home child care owners must meet specific state educational benchmarks. "In rural Alaska, for example, where few communities have access to colleges and where many homes lack reliable internet, obtaining the credentials to get licensed can be especially onerous," Vilen writes.

To help child care workers meet their educational certifications, an Alaska task force developed a program that allowed caregivers "alternative pathways that recognize a provider’s experience," Vilen writes.

Even with other obstacles reduced or removed, making a livable wage with home child care remains elusive. Vilen reports, "In rural areas, where wages are already low, parents working in agriculture or manufacturing often cannot afford higher childcare fees."

Some rural communities also are "testing guaranteed-income programs that boost childcare wages," Vilen explains. "Kansas’s Baby Steps program provides quarterly stipends specifically to providers caring for infants."

Federal and state cuts to child care subsidies leave lower-income Americans with few options

Child care centers can be high-labor, low-profit businesses.
(Photo by McKinley Hess via Hechinger Report)

To prepare for federal budget cuts, some states have opted to slash their early learning programs. The overall reductions to child care subsidies have left lower-income parents struggling with higher co-payments and fewer slots, while child care providers face unexpected pay reductions and delayed payments.

"Colorado, Maryland and New Jersey recently stopped accepting new families into their child care assistance programs," reports Jackie Mader of The Hechinger Report, which covers education. Indiana and Arkansas announced lower reimbursement rates for child care providers serving lower-income households.

Many U.S. parents with infants and preschoolers already contend with the scarcity and high cost of child care nationwide, but the difficulties are harder on poorer Americans. Mader explains, "Experts warn this trend in some states of scaling back early childhood investments is widening an existing nationwide disparity in the availability of affordable, high-quality child care."

Reduced and delayed payments to child care providers could further shrink the number of child care slots, which already don't meet current needs. Mader reports, "Child care programs are expensive to run and, with limited public support, providers rely heavily on tuition from parents to pay their bills."

Daniel Hains, the chief policy officer at the D.C.-based National Association for the Education of Young Children, told Mader, "Almost every state is facing a very, very, very significant pullback of federal dollars. . . . It’s going to result in lower quality care for children, or it’s going to result in families pulling back from the workforce and facing greater economic insecurity."

Rural families worry that Head Start will die a 'slow death.' Many parents can't afford to work without it.

Head Start participants are disproportionately rural. 
(Photo by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report)

For six decades, the federally funded Head Start program has helped low-income rural parents stay in the workforce by providing free child care and early education programming. But suggested cuts by the Trump administration have some families worried the program is slated for "a slow death," reports Jackie Mader of The Guardian. The program was earmarked for elimination in an "early draft of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal."

Although Head Start programs are found in communities of all sizes, its participants are disproportionately rural. "Nearly 90% of rural counties in the United States have Head Start programs," Mader explains. "Almost half of the 716,000 children Head Start serves live in rural congressional districts, compared with just 22% in urban districts."

Head Start has survived so far, but its services and employees have been reduced through staffing and funding cuts that began this past spring. "In early February, many Head Start programs were caught up in a federal funding freeze. Then the Trump administration fired about 20% of the program’s federal staff," Mader reports. The loss of support forced some programs to close, while others cut staff to stay open.

Head Start reductions have left communities and parents feeling uncertain about the future. Most parents who participate can't afford to work if they have to pay for child care, and the program employs several local people and small businesses.

Even though the Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal doesn't reduce Head Start funding, it did not increase the program's funding to allow for inflation, which "effectively amounts to a cut," Mader adds.

Laurie Todd-Smith, who oversees Head Start at the Administration for Children and Families, has not pushed for an increase in Head Start funding. Instead, she suggested that programs look for ways to be more efficient by eliminating Head Start offerings that other state programs already provide.

Quick hits: Newspaper sitcom; free child care; inspiring cave cleanup; soybean field discovery; dark sky ruminating

Can a sitcom about journalism capture its 'grit, humanity, and relentless optimism'?

Keeping a local newspaper alive is one thing, but revitalizing one staffed with employees who list texting and tweeting as their most recent writing ventures is an entirely different story. Meet Peacock's new mockumentary, "The Paper," which depicts the life and times of the struggling Toledo Truth Teller newspaper and its quirky staff. "Members of the news community weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry," writes Gretchen A. Peck of E&P Magazine. "For publishers and editors. . . the [show] raises big questions: can a sitcom capture the grit, humanity, and relentless optimism of real journalism?" The trailer is here.

New Mexico will be the first state in the union to offer free child care to all its families, regardless of income. "The state has been working to lower child care care costs since 2019, when it created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department," reports Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. The new policy rollout in November will allow all families access to the state’s child care assistance program without meeting eligibility criteria and will remove any copay requirements. Families are expected to save an average of $12,000 per child.

Hidden River Cave's kaleidoscope-like Sunset
Dome is a popular tourist attraction.

What was once a heavily polluted cave in Horse Cave, Ky., is now a point of community pride and a tourism draw. "For generations, the cave was all but lost to the town on top of it. Miles of caverns and waterways brimmed with sewage that sent a putrid stench up from the depths and across downtown," reports Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times. "The restoration of Hidden River Cave is one of the most remarkable examples of a cave cleanup. . . . Last year, 30,000 people, more than 10 times the town’s population, toured the cave."

Some ranchers prefer the beaverslide for stacking hay.
(Photo by Linda Teahon, Offrange)

No need to purchase fancy machinery to stack hay bales -- a beaverslide is much cheaper and simpler to own. "The haystacking device consists of a wide, sliding fork at the base of a ramp and a cable pulley system rigged to the ramp’s underside," explains Katie Hill for Offrange. "Ranchers use a team of horses or a motorized vehicle to pull one of the cables perpendicular to the beaverslide, which in turn hoists the fork up the ramp, bringing a giant pile of hay up with it. . . .At the top of the ramp, the hay falls to the other side, forming three-story piles that can reach 25 tons in weight."

It hadn't been seen or touched by humans for 2,000 years, but this summer, artifact hunter Ben McGhee unearthed the discovery of a lifetime: "A hoard of 51 Native American blades buried in a Missouri soybean field," writes Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "Based on the location, and the lack of percussion flakes or hammer stones within immediate proximity, McGhee believes the cache was transported to its present location, close to the water’s edge, for trade access." Native Americans traded the blades, which could be more precisely carved into arrowheads.

Glacier National Park is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. Visitors can see the Milky Way from St. Mary’s Glacier, pictured here. (Photo by Ray Stinson, National Park Service)

In places where the cover of night is treasured, skies filled with stars, glowing planets and the Earth's solitary moon light the way. For many people, dark skies offer a window into thoughtfulness and mystery. "There is a feeling of possibility, timelessness, and, potentially, of fear, in the night sky," writes Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. Some rural places "claim the preservation of dark skies as a core value. They protect a visitor’s experience of wonder and mystery. . . There are 152 dark sky 'places' in the continental United States." Find dark skies here. 

Not enough child care spots pushes states to help care centers expand; some emphasis is on rural needs.

Helping child care centers expand means more
parents can stay on the job. (Adobe Stock photo)

The lack of available and affordable child care keeps many parents -- mostly women -- out of the U.S. workforce. The need for more spots has pushed state lawmakers to use novel strategies to help child care centers expand.

"Nationally, more than half of all Americans live in 'child care deserts,' and the need for child care is especially great among . . . low and middle-income families, families of color and families living in rural areas," reports Maggie Clark of Stateline. "A child care desert is a place where there are more than three children for every regulated child care spot."

The child care conundrum isn't just an issue for parents. The problem "costs the U.S. economy roughly $122 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity and revenue," Clark explains. "To create more child care slots and reduce prices, lawmakers are increasingly using economic development strategies to help child care businesses expand, similar to the support they’ve offered to attract and expand manufacturing facilities, technology startups or other types of businesses."

Advocates and lawmakers are particularly focused on addressing child care shortages in rural areas. Clark explains, "This year, Oregon is awarding its first batch of $50 million in grants and loans for new construction, expansion and renovation for child care businesses, with priority for child care providers in rural areas."

Lawmakers in Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and Vermont had "local and state zoning regulations reviewed," Clark reports. They also "set up help centers where child care business owners can get help with navigating permitting and other business rules so that they can expand their businesses and care for more children, which will help more parents stay in the workforce."

States that are working to support child care businesses with infrastructure offerings that other sectors receive "send a powerful message that child care businesses and the people who operate them are valuable to their communities and economies," Clark writes.

Erin Roche, Vermont director of First Children’s Finance, which is helping the state administer its child care infrastructure grant program, told Clark, "It’s a lot about changing our cultural values of thinking of [child care centers] as businesses, and not just something little that mostly women do on the side."

New report reveals that U.S. child care workers are 'paid less than animal caretakers and dressing room attendants'

Two out of five child care workers need public assistance
to support their families. (Adobe Stock photo)

Child care teachers make such small salaries that "two out of five need public assistance to support their families," reports Jackie Mader of The Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Child care employees are paid less than animal caretakers and dressing room attendants. . . .That’s a major finding of one of two new reports on the dismal treatment of child care workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are faring economically."

The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024 reveals abysmal and somewhat stagnated child care worker wages, which means "43% of families of early educators rely on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid," Mader writes. The report also shows that black child care teachers make about $8,000 less per year than their white peers. Overall, "wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other industries, including fast food and retail."

Another report, by Chris M. Herbst, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, suggests that many higher educated child care workers have already left the profession and others continue to leave due to low pay. Mader reports, "That’s led to a 'bit of a death spiral' in terms of how child care work is perceived and contributes to persistent low wages, he said in an interview." 

While education competencies aren't the only things that make a good teacher, "higher education levels may mean staff have a stronger background not only in English and math but also in topics like behavior modification and special education," Mader writes, "which are sometimes left out of certification programs for child care teachers."

Herbst’s full report is here.

'Child care is unaffordable for families and not profitable for businesses.' Some communities will vote on changes.

Some communities are asking voters to help pay for
child care. (Shutter Stock photo)

Are U.S. voters ready to help pay for child care services as a part of their community's labor and services infrastructure? Communities in Sonoma County, Calif., St. Paul, Minn., and most of Austin Texas are about to find out, reports Harriet Torry of The Wall Street Journal. The November voting initiatives highlight a problem for urban, metro and rural families -- child care is no longer affordable or not even available due to child care teacher shortages. 

In Austin, classrooms at Ebenezer Child Development Center sit empty because the center's owner, Jordan Maclay, "can’t find enough teachers who can work at the wages she is able to offer," Torry explains. "Maclay is hoping that voters next week will approve an amendment that would raise property taxes by 2.5 cents per $100 valuation throughout Travis County, which includes most of Austin. The state already helps some low-income families pay for daycare. The county money would add to that, with the goal of raising pay and creating new positions for daycare staffers." Voters in Sonoma County, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn., will consider similar ballot initiatives.

Federal lawmakers have tried to remedy the problem, but bills have been stymied, leaving states and counties to grapple with solutions. "Vermont created a new payroll tax, to increase staffing and capacity at daycares. And in Louisiana, taxes on sports betting, cannabis-derived products and casinos raise money for early childhood education," Torry writes. "Florida this year started offering tax breaks to businesses that provide child care for employees."

Child-care centers struggle to make a profit with a business model where oversight is high and ways to cut costs are few. Torry reports, "Daycares are labor intensive. They can’t, for example, hire remote workers. They are also closely regulated, which means they can’t skimp on the number of teachers. Other fixed costs are also high and hard to bring down: the rent or mortgage, insurance, food."

Cynthia Osborne, professor of early childhood education and policy at Vanderbilt University, told Torry, "Child care is unaffordable for families and not profitable for businesses, and child-care educators are the ones really struggling in the middle."

In the end, some parents can't afford to work. Torry adds, "A paucity of child care is a drag on the labor market. About 13% of young children in the U.S. had a family member who had to quit, change or refuse a job because of child care problems, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which examined Commerce and Labor Department data."

Vermont lawmakers found a way to support child care throughout the state. Its example could help other states.

Vermont's child care system is partially supported by
a new payroll tax. (Shutterstock photo)

Vermont lawmakers made dramatic changes to support child care businesses and family needs throughout the state. System advocates say the state's success could be a national model. "In a February 2023 survey of child care providers in the state, nearly 1 out of 5 said they feared they’d go out of business within the year," report Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene of Route Fifty. "That dramatic response fueled officials and state partners to find a solution."

The state's "new law increases the number of families that can receive financial assistance for child care by increasing eligibility from 350% of the federal poverty level to 575%." Barrett and Greene write. "The law also provides for higher reimbursement rates for child care businesses, with the expectation that increased funding will improve pay for hard-to-find staff. . . Most importantly, the law ensures that state funding continues in future years based on a dedicated new payroll tax that began July 1 and is projected to bring in $80 million in its first year."

The new eligibility and child care pay structure has already had positive results. "Six months after the law’s passage, the state’s 2024 survey of child care providers showed a dramatic reversal in their attitudes about the future," Route Fifty reports. "Just 5% said they’d expect to go out of business over the next two years, down from 20%. In the first three months after the law’s passage, more child care centers and home-based businesses opened than closed. That was the first time that had happened since the state started tracking this data in 2012."

Bipartisan support and advocacy for better funding and business options for child care within Vermont are a big reason why the legislation was successful. "This multiyear buildup has also meant that a healthy supply of both local and national evidence was brought to play in creating the law," Barrett and Greene add. "The motivation to find a solution was bolstered by extensive research on child development, which strongly demonstrates the link between high-quality experiences in the first years of life and future health, happiness and success."

Some inflated costs may be going down, but weary Americans can't control the prices of many necessities

When U.S. families sit down to do the budget, some costs
aren't negotiable. (Adobe Stock photo)

As U.S. inflation slowly tracks downward, some painful increases remain difficult for Americans to afford. "Prices for many of the things that are hard to do without are still posting eye-watering increases. Rent and electricity bills are up 10% or more over the past two years, and car-insurance costs are up nearly 40%, according to the Labor Department’s index," report Hariett Torry and Terell Wright of The Wall Street Journal. "Shoppers might be able to trade down from prime steak to cheaper cuts of meat at the supermarket, but they can’t really do the same thing with the water bill."

While some citizens have made grocery store swaps, some have cut "luxuries" such as eating out or trimming kids' extracurricular activities. Still, Americans have costs such as housing, insurance and child care that are at historical highs but are also necessities. "In the Consumer Price Index, shelter costs — a measure of rent and the equivalent cost to homeowners, as well as lodging away from home and household insurance — have risen more than 13% in two years," Torry and Wright explain. "Child care costs have risen 6.4% over the past two years. . . . Because daycare bills can be as big as rent or a mortgage, even a relatively small increase can feel like a lot."

Getting to work to make money often means car ownership and the overhead that goes with it. "The cost of transportation services, which includes vehicle insurance and repair, has jumped more than 18% in the past two years, according to the CPI," the Journal reports. "An increasing number of cash-strapped Americans are choosing to drive without car insurance."

Single mom Jasmine Moore's experiences mirror that of many American workers. "Moore missed a payment on her auto insurance about six months ago. Now her monthly bill has doubled," Torry and Wright add. "She canceled her son’s math tutoring sessions and instead tutors him herself. Instead of Publix, she opts for discount grocery stores and food pantries." Moore told the Journal, "I have middle-class pay, but I feel like I’m lower income.”

Oregon is using visiting nurses to help curb infant and new mother mortality rates; visits may have other benefits

Why babies do what they do is often a mystery.
(Photo by Chris Anderson, Unsplash)

Some of the most complicated human beings to deal with are the tiniest: babies. Often referred to as "bundles of joy" or "little miracles," babies can be cranky, impossible to calm and impervious to sleep.

With that backdrop, it's fair to say new parents have it tough, and many lack the resources they need to confidently care for a newborn, which can lead to stress, emergency department visits, and even neglect or abuse. To address these needs and provide a response to high infant and mother fatality rates, the state of Oregon implemented an evidence-based program called "Family Connects" that makes life with a newborn better for everyone, reports Cory Turner of NPR. "The program offers any family with a new baby up to three no-cost visits at home with a trained nurse."

After the birth of their first child, Matt and Amber Luman from rural Jefferson County, Oregon, chose to participate in Family Connects. Turner writes, "Matt and Amber seem genuinely relieved when [Nurse] Ibrahim arrives for her second home visit with them." After baby Esserley gets a thorough medical check, "comes the beating heart of any Family Connects visit: the chance for new parents to ask a registered nurse whatever they want. . . . Some share their confusion or frustration. Others are eager for advice or comfort in those early weeks of a baby’s life when new parents are most likely to feel exhausted and adrift."

Most new parents need all the help they
can get. (Photo by T. Heftiba, Unsplash)

The Oregon Health Authority based the state's program on a small, successful Family Connects model developed in Durham, N.C. "Research from its smaller rollout there found it was associated with a handful of significant benefits, including a big drop in the number of trips new parents were making to the emergency room," Turner reports. "A study of Family Connects in Durham found mothers in the program were 30% less likely to experience possible postpartum depression or anxiety."

Oregon policymakers used the Durham program model and expanded it to a statewide outreach. "Every nurse acts as a kind of human clearinghouse of local and regional support for caregivers," Turner explains. "If a family is struggling with housing or food insecurity or addiction, the nurse will connect them with local groups and agencies that can help. Mental health counseling, marriage counseling, child care while mom or dad finishes their degree online."

In Durham's smaller rollout, the program "suggested a real return on investment," Turner reports. "Rolling out Family Connects in Oregon has been a costly struggle." From the pandemic to the nursing shortage to trying to cover a state that can be widely rural, Oregon's program has been expensive. It remains to be seen if the "benefits of Family Connects will outweigh the costs."

In Montana, the cost of living and lack of affordable housing and child care contribute to growing workforce shortages

Rural Montana is a 'canary in the coal mine' for severe 
 labor shortages in needed sectors. (N. Fouriezos photo)

Across the country, the need for a younger workforce to fill a wide range of positions is reaching a critical point, but particularly for rural areas. Students and potential workers face a range of obstacles that prevent them from filing those roles, reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. In Montana, medical, academic and labor professionals are working to address these issues.

Lindsey Flather from Bitterroot Valley, Montana, is the kind of student Montana's new strategies aim to help. Fouriezos writes, "A working mother in her thirties, Flather decided to pursue a new career in health care. . . . And she is urgently needed. In Montana, 52 of 56 counties — including Ravalli County — are considered medically underserved, and nearly half of the state’s nurses say they plan on retiring or leaving the profession in the next five years."

Like many of her fellow students, Flather has faced long commutes for classes, a lack of child care options, and juggling to make work and school mend together. "At the same time, employers are desperate to get more people through these workforce pipelines," Fouriezos explains. "They, too, are challenged by geography, says Rebecca Conroy, the chief transformational officer at Bitterroot Health, a regional hospital in western Montana."

Yet even when needed professionals, such as medical assistants, graduate they often can't afford to live in the county where they are needed most. "The median rent in Hamilton, Bitterroot Valley's biggest town, is now $2,087, up 30% over the previous year," Fouriezos reports. "The lack of affordable housing makes it almost impossible to recruit out-of-towners, and the in-town workforce is drying up. The talent pipeline is thin, Conroy says. And the pressure is only growing."

"Employers like Conroy are the canaries in the coal mine of a growing talent shortage nationwide. So smoothing the route to jobs like medical assisting has become a key focus of Montana’s government and educational infrastructure," Fouriezos writes. "The state’s colleges recently partnered with the national nonprofit Education Design Lab to interview Conroy and local business leaders statewide about how they might create new educational opportunities, like a set of micro-credentials to allow people to build key skills in shorter courses over time."

Rural communities need to find affordable child care solutions to support sustainability and growth

The lack of child care stifles rural growth.
(Shutterstock photo)

The lack of child care has plagued many U.S. families, but the gap is more prevalent in rural America. "Data collected before the pandemic shows that more than half of Americans lived in neighborhoods classified as child care deserts, areas that have no child care providers or where there are more than three children in the community for every available licensed care slot," reports Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez of KFF Health News. "Other research shows parents and child care providers in rural areas face unique barriers. Access to quality child care programs and early education is linked to better educational and behavioral outcomes for kids." Programs also help parents connect with additional social services that support healthy families.

Without access to affordable child care, rural families will continue to face tough choices that "threaten the sustainability and longevity of rural communities," Rodriguez writes. "The dearth of child care exacerbates workforce shortages by forcing parents, including those who work in health care locally, to stay home as full-time caregivers, and by preventing younger workers and families from putting down roots there."

Affordable child care directly increases family incomes and supplies local businesses with a larger labor pool. Rodriguez adds, "A rural health advisory committee report shows that when center-based care is readily available in a community, the percentage of mothers who use that type of care and are employed doubles from 11% to 22%."

Pandemic-era grants helped rural child care providers stay afloat, but that money has dried up, leaving providers struggling to maintain pandemic-level wages. "The Biden administration requested congressional approval of $16 billion to extend the pandemic-era child care stabilization program," Rodriguez reports. "But it doesn't have enough support to continue the funding, despite nearly 80% of voters supporting increasing federal funding for states to expand their child care programs,"

Without federal dollars, state and local governments are working to support child care policy and funding. "In Alabama, lawmakers approved $42 million last year in the state budget for child care. The Missouri state legislature approved $160 million for child care," Rodriguez notes. "Voters in rural Warren, Minnesota, narrowly approved a half-percent sales tax to support a child care center struggling to stay open."

Rural America makes small job gains, but issues with child care and education may be preventing bigger gains

Graph shows a gap in recovery rates of rural and urban counties.
(The Daily Yonder graph, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data)

As rural American makes headway in post-pandemic labor numbers, larger problems still prevent a full recovery in some counties, reports Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. "Rural America added more than 200,000 jobs over the past year but is still below pre-pandemic employment levels, according to a Daily Yonder analysis. The failure to reach full recovery three and a half years after the start of the pandemic is related to larger trends, including an aging population, lack of childcare, and lower levels of formal education, according to an economist."

Overall, rural employment grew a percentage point in September, but still "has 64,000 fewer jobs this year than it did the same time in 2019, before the pandemic," Melotte writes. Elizabeth Davis, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, told Melotte, "Rural areas took a hit." Melotte notes, "Rural counties haven't fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, much less the drop in employment brought on by the pandemic, Davis said."

The Daily Yonder graphic, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data

At the beginning of the pandemic, rural employment was more stable than urban. "Rural counties were actually ahead of urban ones in employment recovery for the first year of the pandemic," Melotte reports. "After that, urban gains eclipsed rural gains in employment. . . . . .  Rural counties made up 95 of the top 100 counties with the most employment loss. . . . Only 43% of rural counties have returned to pre-pandemic or better employment numbers, while about two-thirds of urban counties have."

Rural resources and populations differ and those variances make labor comparisons within rural counties difficult, but the lack of child care could be a common problem. "There are a few demographic factors Davis said might be at play in employment recovery." She told Melotte: "We hear a lot of employers concerned about the lack of childcare because they can't find workers. They hear from their workers and their families that they can't find child care, so they can't work, or can't work full time."

Fewer than half of rural counties have as many jobs now as they did before the pandemic, according to a Yonder analysis, which includes an interactive map. Here's a screenshot:

Map by Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder via Datawrapper, adapted by The Rural Blog; click on it to enlarge.

Loss of federal money for child-care centers could hurt rural areas; should care be funded similar to K-12 education?

U.S. Child care is more expensive than 'any other
advanced country in the world.' (Shutterstock photo)

Many parents, especially in rural areas, are concerned about affordable child care options  after the $24 billion pandemic-era federal Child Care Stabilization Program expired on Sept. 30. That program is credited with helping many child-care businesses continue to operate and maintain lower prices. Parents could be forced to leave the workforce to stay home, and children may miss out on early learning, reports West Virginia Today.

Two West Virginia University scholars, Melissa Sherfinski, an associate professor of early childhood and elementary education, and William Franko, an associate professor of political science, say the situation is dire. One solution would be to change the status of child care from an affordable luxury to a necessary public good with permanent funding similar to K-12 education. 

A condensed version of their opinions is below.

Sherfinsk: “I am concerned about rural areas, including many places in West Virginia. These can be ‘child care deserts’ with only one child care center in commuting distance. If that center closes, there may be no viable options for local families. The effects of closures in rural communities may be particularly dire because families could be forced to move to places with child care opportunities.

"While young children are resilient, they need smooth transitions. The child care cliff has positioned millions of children in the U.S. to experience disruption with potentially negative effects on their behavior and learning.

“I also expect to see ripple effects for groups like college and university students with children. First-generation college students and students with high levels of financial need may lose their dreams of college matriculation due to rising child care costs and a lack of alternative child care spaces.

"And I foresee that in states like West Virginia where K-12 teachers receive relatively low pay, the increased cost of child care may cause teachers to leave the profession, especially combined with additional economic challenges such as expensive rent and home prices, and student loan repayments restarting.”

Franko: “The underlying problem with the child care industry is underfunding. Rather than treating child care as a public good, like we treat K-12 education, child care in the U.S. is more expensive than in any other advanced country in the world. This leaves many working families with difficult choices about whether to stay out of the workforce or to pay up to half of their income toward child care services.

"The solution is relatively straightforward. The industry needs a permanent source of public funding. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced legislation in April — the Child Care for Working Families Act — that would lower child care costs, increase access to centers and support child care workers. . . . Republican members of Congress focused on cutting government spending are unlikely to support a plan that would substantially improve child care funding, although some party members do acknowledge the problem."

Family-based residential addiction treatment centers are successful, but the model struggles to be viable

Despite successes, these centers struggle.
(Photo by Jordan Whitt, Unsplash)

Even with higher success rates, family-based residential addiction treatment centers remain the exception; centers in rural areas are rarer still, with waiting lists ranging from two to six weeks, reports Christina Saint Louis of KFF Health News. Recovering Hope Treatment Center in eastern Minnesota's Kanabec County is the state's only rural residential treatment center and "one of only five providers in the state that offer family-based residential treatment, allowing women to enter the program while pregnant or to bring one of their children younger than 5 with them for the duration of their stay."

Research supports the success of family-centered approaches to addiction treatment, but costs, lack of funding and staffing struggles prevent the model from becoming the standard of care. "And because of that complexity, families in rural areas are less likely to find such a residential treatment program in their communities," Saint Louis writes. "Meanwhile, maternal opioid-related diagnoses have increased nationwide. From 2010 to 2017, the rates of women with those diagnoses at delivery increased by 131%, and babies born with withdrawal symptoms increased by 82%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increases disproportionately affected rural areas."

Women receiving residential treatment tend to have Medicaid, which has lower provider reimbursement rates, contributing to centers limiting or reducing services to cut costs. Saint Louis adds, "Women in the center's residential program previously spent up to an average of 40 days in high-intensity care at the beginning of their treatment, but that time span is now closer to 30 days to contain costs due to those low reimbursement rates."

Family-based care allows children to stay at the center but adds child care and schooling limitations, according to Ashley Snyder, a licensed drug and alcohol counselor at Recovering Hope. Snyder told Saint Louis, "If you don't provide family services, the parents run the risk of losing their kids."

As an indicator of how tough establishing a residential addiction center is, North Dakota's state Department of Health and Human Services has been "trying to establish a family-based residential treatment option like Recovering Hope since 2020. The state has been without one since April 2019, when its lone provider shut down," Saint Louis reports. "The department has issued three requests for proposals seeking providers to offer a treatment model that allows children to live with a parent undergoing residential treatment but didn't receive any responses."

Child-care cost increases more than overall inflation, and some families struggle to 'take the hit'

Wall Street Journal graph, from Bureau of Labor data

Besides the stubbornly high food prices, an even greater financial stress looms over some families--child care expenses. "The national average price of daycare and preschool services rose 6% in July from a year before, the Labor Department reported recently. That was nearly double the overall inflation rate of 3.2%, which was down from its recent peak of 9.1% in June last year," reports Christian Robles of The Wall Street Journal. "Parents could see their child-care bills climb higher this fall as providers boost tuition to cover rising costs and federal pandemic aid ceases."

Parents or caregivers have few options for child care in the first place. Danielle Ganje, a communications director and mother of three, "said she is paying about $2,500 a month for child care this summer. That is at least 10% more than last summer and more than her monthly mortgage payment." She told Robles, "We don't have many other options, so we just have to take the hit."

Much of the increase is attributed to labor, food and utility costs. Robles reports, "Child-care workers earned an average of $19.95 an hour in June, up 4.6% from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department. Providers are also facing the end of child care stabilization grants, which began in 2021 and helped providers stay open during the pandemic. "By the end of last year, more than 220,000 child-care providers serving as many as 9.6 million children had received such funding, according to the Department of Health and Human Services."

"Nationwide, a lack of affordable child care has pushed many Americans, particularly women, out of the workforce, economists say. Providers can pass on only so much of their rising costs to parents before some cannot afford their services, Robles reports. Jeannie Farewell, owner of Tiny Tot Daycare, in rural Chambers, Neb, population 288, "said federal assistance totaling at least $7,200 covered some of her increased costs including for propane and bags of potatoes. She works 60 hours a week for about $10.50 an hour, Nebraska’s minimum wage. She has raised pr.ices to $3.50 from $3.00 an hour per child since May 2022, to cover rising costs."

Rural families struggle to find and afford child care; the profession struggles with low wages and is undervalued

Rural families from all walks of life struggle to find
adequate child care. (Shutterstock photo)

Finding a child-care provider in a rural town can be akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, reports Michael Johnson of Ag Week. "In greater Minnesota, there is a need for more than 42,000 child care spots, according to First Children's Finance, a national organization focused exclusively on a sustainable child care supply. . . . Most [child-care facilities] are not at capacity due to staffing shortages that don't allow them to have all the children they could have. With just 13% of Minnesota centers responding to a First Children's survey, results showed a shortage of 600 staff members. . . . Trisha Lien, a First Children's Finance business development director, said the reason behind the shortage is that staff are historically underpaid and undervalued."

For rural families, two incomes "are often needed to offset the instability of farm income. About 89% of U.S. farms are small, and households operating these farms typically rely on off-farm sources for the majority of their household income, according to a 2021 USDA Economic Research Service report," Johnson writes. "Lien explained that there is a drastic disparity between the metro area and rural Minnesota in how much centers can charge for child care. Lien explained that a rural child care provider might only charge a quarter of what a [metro] provider charges. Even so, what rural families are able to spend often isn't enough."

"According to American Progress, nearly two-thirds of rural families live in a child-care desert. Low-income families living in rural areas will end up spending 12.2% of their income on child care a year," reports Kate Robinson of KEVN-Fox in Rapid City, S.D. Billy Mawhiney, from the South Dakota Afterschool Network, told Robinson: "A lot of times families choose maybe one of the parents to stay home or work part-time, so that way after school they can have that flexibility. But we’re also seeing more remote work and more flexible work. . . I think all the business industry is really realizing that they have to be flexible in order to have workers."

Johnson writes, "Lien is finding some companies are hopping on board to help contract slots to pay for childcare for their employees. Others sponsor a child or donate funds to a local center, knowing that having that care in the community is a value to them. . . . An example of a company planning to provide childcare directly to their 1,800 employees is Hormel in Austin, Minnesota, makers of SPAM. The city of more than 24,000, is experiencing a shortage of approximately 531 full-time child care slots, impacting families' abilities to live and work. . . The company broke ground on May 3 for a community child care center."

Robinson reports, "Childcare remains one of the most underfunded programs in the country." Without meaningful change and resources, families with children will continue to struggle to find solutions. Lien told Johnson: "The last study showed that childcare providers in Minnesota, on average, make less than dog babysitters — dog walkers."