Making Childcare a Part of the Workforce Conversation

Working parents in rural and urban America struggle daily to ensure they have adequate care for their little ones and certainly safe care at an affordable price. Here at NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, we have spent countless hours talking about workforce issues that impact broadband deployment in rural America. During our annual Women in Telecom Fly-In to Washington, D.C.,  the discussion turned to what could be done to encourage more women to enter the rural broadband space as an attractive career path. I was astounded at the stories NTCA women were sharing about the inability to find care in their communities and the talent they had lost in the workforce, as parents had difficult choices to make or long distances to travel for care. We heard about everything from challenges with maternity benefits to nursing options to the challenge of pulling together summer programs for school age children. After hearing all of these stories, I was thrilled to be invited by NTIA and the U.S. Department of Commerce to a roundtable discussion on the intersection of broadband and daycare. Childcare is not a women's issue, it's an economic issue, and it impacts all of us. If we make access to affordable care a priority, we can continue to thrive as a country and certainly ensure that rural America is not left behind.