HIGH POINT, N.C. — As the childcare industry continues to struggle with staffing, KinderMission Academy in High Point hopes it can attract more people to the early childhood education field through a Tuesday job fair.
"Usually when you go to a job fair we are competing against much bigger companies," said KinderMission Academy director Betsy Rodriguez. "People think: 'do I want to work in a child care facility?' We don’t just take care of children, we are educating children to be future leaders."
The job fair is Tuesday, March 22 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Rehobeth United Methodist Church at 4475 Rehobeth Church Rd. in Greensboro.
Rodriguez said the job fair is the first of its kind in the area. About 16 child care providers will be there to answer questions and discuss open positions.
"It was a big risk at first," Rodriguez said. "We were concerned about what if we take other teachers? But the goal is not to take existing teachers the goal is specifically to find new teachers: someone who wants to learn about early childhood educators, understand how much fun it is, and how rewarding it is."
The event is free for participants. Attending childcare facilities paid a fee that will benefit the KinderMission Foundations internship program. Students from Ragsdale High School's child care credential course are able to come to KinderMission Academy and intern. About 12 students intern per semester and Rodriguez said three have become full staff members.
The KinderMission Foundation was founded in 2019 to provide scholarships for families who cannot afford the full tuition amount.
While staffing has always been an issue for childcare centers, the pandemic only made it worse.
"People were scared of getting COVID and, rightfully so, but what we did here for our center specifically (is) we were able to provide teachers with a weekly COVID test just to give them peace of mind but many centers couldn’t do that," Rodriguez said.
In 2021, $805 million was made available for childcare providers across North Carolina through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
"We are able to provide raises and bonuses for teachers so this is a way for us to be able to maintain the teachers that we do have but then also attract quality teachers as well," Rodriguez said.
Leaders with the North Carolina Early Education Coalition said the grant money made a difference.
"For the first time childcare providers are able to compete with many of the other industries that have historically pulled their employees such as Target, Amazon, Walmart," said Jenna Nelson, the executive director of the N.C. Early Education Coalition.
However, Nelson said the grants end in 2023, so the industry will need help from the state to avoid some bad outcomes.
"Without federal relief, (...we are) hoping that the state will invest some dollars in childcare because that cliff is coming and none of us think it will actually go back to the way it was," said Nelson. "We just think that the industry will crumble and working families and their children will really have a tough choice to make."