Beckley, W.Va. (September 6, 2024) – In collaboration with the West Virginia Association of Regional Councils, and supported by the WV Economic Development Council, the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) is launching the West Virginia Child Care Economic Impact Survey to help provide an economic snapshot of the impacts that existing and prospective businesses see related to child care.
“The survey aims to gather valuable data to determine how the availability of childcare impacts workforce participation, employee retention, and overall business productivity,” said Jina Belcher, NRGRDA’s executive director. “Childcare is a growing priority for existing and new businesses throughout the Mountain State. We want to support the decisions being made by the Governor, state agencies and the Legislature with real-time data around the issue.”
Belcher said the information being collected in the West Virginia Child Care Economic Impact Survey will help identify the specific needs and concerns of businesses regarding childcare so everyone can work together to develop targeted solutions that support both the workforce and economic growth in West Virginia. “Child care funding is facing a looming cliff with pandemic-area funding ending soon,” she said. “These surveys will help assess and convey the extent to which West Virginia businesses encounter hurdles to child care and also highlight any concerns that prospective businesses looking to branch into the area may have.”
Belcher, a working mother, said the survey will be open until the start of legislative session. NRGRDA and the WV Association of Regional Councils are open to sharing data with state and federal agencies that can use it as part of their decision making.
“There are many facets to the child care dilemma facing West Virginia and the nation,” said Belcher. “We developed the survey instrument as a means for providing current, real-time data to policymakers in the forefront of making decisions that will have both short- and long-term impacts on business and economic development leaders, parents, and children.”
The survey can be accessed by visiting https://west-virginia-businesses-child-care-survey-region1.hub.arcgis.com/
NRGRDA’s website also features a page on child care and the survey: https://nrgrda.org/wv-childcare-economic-impact-survey/
Jack and Kathleen Taggart, owners of New River Farms Sawmill in Danese, made their home in West Virginia after Jack’s service in the United States Army to settle and start the business of their dreams.
Leaders of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) and its entrepreneurial program – the West Virginia Hive – are seeking the community’s input by the end of the year on several aspects of a new Food Business Incubation Hub in Fayette County.
Leading local non-profit organizations — Forward Southern West Virginia and New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) — are donating $10,000 each to help propel an education and training campaign, Project GRACE (Gathered Response to Address Child Exploitation), being coordinated by Just for Kids Child Advocacy Center serving Fayette and Raleigh counties.
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