The work-life balance can be an especially delicate one. Remove someone’s access to affordable child care or transportation, for example, and a cascade of consequences can follow, threatening a person’s ability to get to work and provide for their family. And like many aspects of life in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic can certainly exacerbate such challenges.
Regional stakeholders have worked together to launch an innovative resource that can help provide working families a little more security.
The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance and the Business Advisory Council for Early Childhood have created a community resource platform that connects local businesses with their community’s early childhood systems. In providing such resources, it gives local businesses the ability to better retain their employees, all the while connecting families with early childhood support and learning services.
The Saginaw Community Foundation and Consumers Energy sponsor the platform.
“It is important that we support our families with these needed resources as we navigate changing times and the adaptation of connectivity with our employers and educators,” says Matt Felan, president and CEO of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance.
“By helping meet employees and their families’ needs, we are also helping businesses in the region succeed by attracting, supporting, and retaining talent.”
The Business Advisory Council for Early Childhood site provides plenty of information and articles linking the importance of quality childcare with a healthy and successful work-life. The site acts on its information, providing links to parenting resources and early childhood programs and services.
At the heart of the site is the organizations’ partnership with Great Start Collaboratives, linking employers and employees with Great Start programs in Arenac, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Isabella, Midland, and Saginaw counties.
“The website will serve as a catalyst for collaboration and relationship building between businesses and Great Start directors, aimed at long-term human capital development which influences business development and growth,” says Beth Roszatycki, regional director of the Great Lakes Bay and Northeast Small Business Development Center, hosted by Saginaw Valley State University’s Scott L. Carmona College of Business.
Visit
Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance and the
Business Advisory Council for Early Childhood online to access the platform.
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