When the community of Wausa (population 698) began partnering with us in July 2024, they were eager to find the root of their child care issue, hoping to tackle it head on. Families were being turned away from the center in town, and they already knew child care capacity was an issue in rural areas nationwide—so imagine their surprise when they dug into the data and learned they actually did have enough spots for every kiddo in town.
“It turned out, they just didn’t have enough staff to open those spots up,” said Melissa Polinoski, the C4K advisor working with the Wausa team. “But the center didn’t have enough revenue to hire anyone, either.”
If this sounds familiar to you, you’re probably already aware of child care’s famous Catch-22: most families can’t afford to pay any more than they already are, and most programs can’t afford not to increase prices.
The Wausa team had some brainstorming to do, and Polinoski got to work introducing them to helpful research and sharing strategies she’s seen work in other places. “She helped us understand and communicate how much a family with two kids spends on child care, and how that might push one parent to leave the workforce,” said Darren Vanness, agronomy project lead with Vylor, Inc. and C4K co-lead in Wausa.
Opting out of the workforce works fine for some families, but for many, it means significantly lowering their quality and standard of living—last we checked, thriving on one income hasn’t been financially feasible since about the time Neil Armstrong took one giant leap for mankind. Having to make that decision can be devastating for families, and the Wausa team wanted to help them avoid it, if they could.
After some thoughtful planning, they decided to take a crack at something new: the Wausa Child Care Advantage Program, a strategic initiative aimed at engaging local businesses to invest in early childhood programming. "They had listening sessions and surveys with businesses to talk about how they needed to be able to open up these spots,” said Polinoski.
“We had a hard time getting it off the ground at first,” admitted Joni Burns, paraprofessional at Wausa Public Schools and C4K co-lead. “Some businesses worried that offering child care to employees who are parents would lead to other employees expecting an equivalent benefit.”
“But we didn’t get stuck,” said Vanness. “C4K taught us that we just needed to find the right solutions for our specific community. We decided to let the program evolve into more of a communication plan, where we keep our business leaders informed on the problem, what Wausa C4K is doing to help, and how they can be a part of the solution.”
The revised plan has helped the team build more support, producing a high-quality video that helped them jumpstart their fundraising efforts. “Informing them about the Nebraska Child Care Tax Credit has really helped us, too,” said Burns. “We’ve raised around $67,000 so far.”
“That money was able to keep the center’s doors open, because it helped with that $15 an hour minimum wage increase,” said Polinoski.
“And we’re still going strong,” added Vanness. “We have a quarterly newsletter, and an annual roundtable where they can contribute to the discussion in person.”
“It’s important to talk to them face to face,” said Burns. “We really have to educate the whole community about the child care needs of our young families, because times have changed. The responsibility of raising good citizens is big, and it really takes a village.”
A village indeed. The Wausa team wants to talk to as many communities as they can to keep getting better. They even presented at the C4K Community Webinar last year to talk about what they’re doing, and met with other communities, too. “It was interesting to share feedback with a larger community like South Sioux City and find that we are in the same place with the same challenges,” said Vanness. “It turns out we’re all in this together, and we can learn from each other.”
Little by little, Wausa is making progress. In the meantime, Polinoski continues to bring the Wausa team to the table to share their experiences and connect them to other C4K opportunities aimed at quality enhancements. This year, they were one of the few lucky recipients of C4K’s Excellent Outdoor Learning Environment grants. They’re using the funds to create a mobile nature play space that can be shared across town in child care programs, the park, and community events. All of this work translates to more goodwill and relationship-building across town, which will keep their work plan more active and achievable.
"The team in Wausa cares so much, and the town is such a special place—they make everyone feel so welcome,” said Polinoski. “They really are just a great example of collective impact."
Keep on truckin’, Wausa—we can’t wait to see more of your progress!