The continued economic development of Johnson County is hampered by a problem starting with our youngest residents.
There are slightly more than 11,000 children between the ages of zero and 5 living in the county. According to the Brighter Futures Indiana Data Center, 68% of their parents are working. But the county only has about 4,600 available seats for child care.
To keep the community attractive and the county’s economy growing, it’s essential to make sure those families have access to care.
“A lot of times, we don’t even know it’s a need, because parents are just staying home because of the cost and availability — all things that hinder individuals staying in the workforce,” said Kim Kasting, president and CEO of the Johnson County Community Foundation. “It’s definitely a workforce and economic challenge.”
As concerns about access, affordability and quality of early childhood care mounts, a new community coalition is bringing local residents and leaders together to address the issue. Earlier this year, the Johnson County Community Foundation has launched the Bright Beginnings Early Care and Education Coalition.
The goal is to look at the critical shortfall in early childcare seats while searching for balance in supporting families, providers and employers.
“It’s an issue everyone can agree on that we should care about,” Kasting said. “It’s just getting all of the right people at the table and having open conversations — how can we support the providers, what are the resources out there for them, how can we help our community members.”
The idea for the coalition stemmed from the application process for a Lilly Endowment grant the Johnson County Community Foundation was pursuing. Though the foundation was ultimately turned down for the grant, the application process uncovered glaring gaps in access to childcare.
State research bears that out. Insufficient child care capacity costs Indiana’s economy $4.2 billion annually, of which $1.17 billion is tax revenue, according to a report issued last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Earlier this year, Early Learning Indiana, an early childhood education organization, released their Closing the Gap report for 2024. The organization has tracked the availability and affordability of child care capacity statewide since 2021 in the annual report.
One of the statistics the report provides is county’s access index, a statistical analysis of families’ abilities to access high-quality care across the state. Johnson County’s access index score was 51.71, while Indiana’s as a whole was 63.8. The county only has the capacity to serve 4,596 children, or about 32% of kids ages zero to 5 in the county.
“Then we start looking at what’s the quality of care that’s happening before age 5, because there’s a lot of data out there that so much development happens then,” Kasting said. “If they’re not in a quality care situation, it’s just delaying their growth and development.”
The Bright Beginnings Early Care and Education Coalition aims to improve those numbers. In 2024, the Johnson County Community Foundation collaborated with Transform Consulting Group to help identify early care and education needs and opportunities in the county.
“We had this information, and thought we needed to do something. There are a lot of coalitions like this across the state; Johnson County doesn’t have one, there’s no organization that has the capacity to take that on,” Kasting said.”Part of the job of the community foundation is to provide leadership at times on key community issues, and we decided to take this on.”
Partnering with the Johnson County Public Library, the community foundation created the coalition. Care providers and other individuals involved in early childhood care and education are also participating as the group has started meeting monthly this year to work on the issue.
The plan is to spend 2025 establishing goals, tasks, and objectives to support providers, families seeking care, and businesses navigating the complexities of early childhood care and education, Kasting said.
“We’re still really focused on finding out the needs, taking a good look at what’s out there,” she said. “Right now we’re just making a lot of connections, and making sure we engage the right people.”
To get involved with the coalition, community members can contact the foundation at 317-738-2213 or email Kasting directly at kimm@jccf.org.