Knox County Area Development Foundation seeks workforce data
MOUNT VERNON, Feb. 17, 2022 – Local employers routinely encounter job applicants and new hires who voice concerns about the challenges of finding adequate child care. In a further attempt to understand the full scope of this issue for new parents in the workforce, the Knox County Area Development Foundation (ADF) has launched a public survey on the topic.
The ADF encourages anyone who lives or works in Mount Vernon or Knox County to participate in the Knox County Childcare Needs Assessment, which will be open until March 4.
“Since unemployment is so low, we need to identify new pipelines for the workforce, and those that have to stay at home because they cannot find child care opportunities to meet their needs could serve a vital role in meeting workforce demand,” said Jeff Gottke, ADF president, in a press release.
“Child care is not one size fits all. We are hoping to learn more about what ages of care, location, hours, and price points are needed; the answer is all of the above, but we can use this data to better deploy resources to meet the largest needs.”
Local leaders, including the ADF, don’t want residents to have to choose between focusing on their job or their family. The ADF will collect and process the data from this survey and share it with all interested parties, including the public, in an effort to insure that doesn’t happen.
The Knox County Child Care Needs Assessment is a confidential survey. Responses will not be attributed to an individual, but instead compiled into a data set to investigate general trends. For questions about the survey of for more information, contact the ADF at 740-393-3806.