Good morning everyone. We are opening up the committee the whole work session on uh this day, Tuesday, July 17th at 10:30 a.m. Our agenda has a variety of things. We have the minutes from the previous month. Today we're going to have three
presentations. one on deferred compensation changes uh cyber uh briefing which we'll um dismiss for that discussion and then come back for childc care initiatives uh presentation. We also have in our packet the minutes from
the standing committee, airport advisory commission, budget and facilities advisory committee, building committee, highway advisory committee and personnel committee. So I will open the meeting now with our first presentation.
Alison, good morning. Good morning. Um I think this is my first cow session. Um, so what I have for you today, um, there's I want to present some, uh, changes that we're hoping to, uh,
implement with our deferred compensation, R457B plans that we offer as a benefit package for both our part-time and full-time staff. Um, this is something that the benefits and wellness committee has been
working on kind of tackling as an identified uh area of I don't know if concern is the right word to use for it but an area that could be improved in um the benefit
package again um as really one of the I would say a very important benefit that we offer. So, I wanted to present these changes to you as the board um in hopes that next week I will actually request action um and that is required uh first
as part of our deferred comp policy and because there are county funds involved given the up to 3% match that the county as the employer provides to staff that that change actually does have to be presented to the board. Um so in the
packet I provided or I attached the deferred compensation kind of presentation that we actually had received we as the benefits and wellness committee received from um Edward Jones in partnership with John Hancock. Um, so
kind of some context behind what we will look at shortly is currently our benefit uh option for deferred comp. Uh, we've got two providers. So we've got longstanding business with MSRS, Minnesota State Retirement Systems and
then but everything has an acronym, right? So MSRS and then Nationwide has also been one of our providers. Now, over the years, we've seen some significant enrollment
differences in the two plans. Um, and also more recently since I've stepped into this role, I've had employees reach out to me with concerns about customer service and um, other aspects of nationwide. um even in the work that I
do and the communications we have to have with Nationwide and I don't mean to be throwing anyone under the bus, but I think customer service is a huge part um and should be top-notch when we're working with our benefits um that even the customer service and ability to get information or be able to communicate
with our rep has been substantially subpar. Um so kind of taking a lot of factors into account. Thus that kind of spurred looking at what are the other options and knowing that we have a local option um and why are we not looking at
being able to utilize CLA in her role at Edward Jones. So in kind of compiling information of is this a change we want to make? Do we want to make changes? Do we want to keep MSRS, keep Nationwide, add a third? Do we want to do away with one of the providers? Um, we gathered
the information from uh kind of a comparison of our plans because ultimately I think besides customer service um we also want to look at well what is kind of maybe the monetary benefit of potentially switching plans um and I'm specifically looking at
keeping MSRS um but removing Nationwide as a provider and bringing on Edward Jones. So um in terms of kind of the information that we've compiled and was presented to us, the benefits and wellness committee and this is John Hancock because like many investment
firms like we have an administrator, we have our rep which would be Edward Jones. We would work directly with Claire Smith down in the local office but the recordkeeper the organization that's doing all the work kind of in the background is John Hancock which is why it says John Hancock. So still think
Edward Jones for the information. So, what we did is I had to gather our current financial package, our balance with nationwide. Um, and I was trying to locate the as of date, but it would have been sometime this spring. Um, is that
kind of total value of the $1.7 million there in that top line. And then they do kind of a breakdown. Further in the presentation, you'll see a bunch of different other tables. So they compare the current products through Nationwide and then they try to match them up with
a similar product with uh Edward Jones/Jon Hancock and then compare the the administrative fees because that's really where it breaks down to in terms of what is the cost, what would be the benefit for for uh switching providers.
So our current provider Edward Jones is on the left side, John Hancock as the record keeper with the administrative fees. uh is on the right hand side. So the very bottom the total plan costs these are yearly figures.
There's I mean a fairly substantial difference in terms of the annual administrative fee. So right now nationwide is the highest of the of our providers at 1.18%. which based on the uh the value of our
current employee package, um that would equate to a little over $20,000 each year. And that's money that's being taken out of our employees accounts to pay for that administration um rep fees and whatnot in the
background versus John Hancock or Edward Jones if you want to put it um between their administrative fees and then having like uh the rep fee like with CLA it would come to almost half of that at 65% and the 65% actually is also the
rate uh of the fees for MSRS. Yeah, if I may ask a question, Madam Chair and Allison, how long have we been with Nationwide? Um, I think, uh, it's been, well, the last policy reference we could find was
at least back to 2012. Okay. I don't believe we had nationwide when I first started. I think they came on later, but we've pretty much always had an SSRS. Okay. And part of that question is when you're looking at is just understanding
that when you establish a relationship with an entity like that, if you see incrementals once we've got you and then we see those incrementals. Um when you evaluate, we evaluate as you say it's it's could be cost or services provided, the benefit
back to us and customer service provided. And when you look at all those avenues, if you say, you know, customer service is is lacking. And a lot of times I always say trying to get the best product that I can at the most competitive price without any babysitting. And if babysitting gets to
the point that it it negates those others too, you make a change. But understanding also and evaluating moving forward is is saying if their cost we see incrementally is creeped up because the relationship has been comfortable and assumed and then you go into new. A lot of times you'll start
low because they want to get your business, but you might see that cost go up. And so if you look at the a new provider, John Hancock, and you look and say, uh, what has the history been with them, uh, it would give you an indication whether we would anticipate
increasing costs or whether that low rate half of what we're paying right now. How long can we continue that to continue? Did you have a question? I have a question, too. I'm sorry. Do you know um if that 1.18% includes the
voluntary half% increase for the people who have the like more oversight over their plans? Do you know what I'm talking about? Sure. Yeah. I don't know um who has elected that um because that's only come
up once. Okay. in um an employee request that's basically to like have it self directed like a self-directed account. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, it's like more oversight by supposedly by the financial advisors. Yeah. Yeah. Uh I'm honestly I'm not
sure. A lot of this terminology and lingo is still new. I'm not a financial adviser otherwise I wouldn't be here. So I rely on uh a lot of you know what the information kind of education provided by Claire and then Jonah who's
been the rep with John Hancock that we've been been working with. Um yeah um so anyways uh reduced cost which would match our MSRS um the savings of roughly what $9,000 in
essence is saved. it goes back into the accounts realistically of the employees that would be saving on the administrative fees. Like I said, the customer service aspect has been huge this year. So far, we've had two staff members um
uh cancel their accounts with nationwide and open an account with MSRS. Um so I think that that's been pretty telling as well. Um, so besides these figures, and I know there's other people waiting with longer uh presentations, but I just
wanted to provide kind of a breakdown of what our employee enrollment actually looks like. And I just did a like there's not a ton of figures, but I plotted it out. Um, so of our of our staff, we've got a total of 146 eligible
employees that could enroll into a deferred comp plan. again, part-time, full-time, um, elected individuals. That's the 146. We currently have 130 employees actively enrolled in a deferred compensation
plan. Um, I wish we could say it was 100 because I think this is a great benefit. I think it should be mandatory. That's just my opinion because this is fantastic. Um, but that's about an 89% enrollment. Um, I'd like to try to creep that up a little bit and maybe switching
to John Hancock or adding them. uh Edward Jones would be a way to kind of increase that final interest and cover the remaining employees that have not elected to enroll. Um of the 130 staff, we have 109 employees enrolled in a only
an MSRS account, which equates to 84% of those 130 staff that are enrolled. We've only got 17 in nationwide in nationwide only, which is 13%. And then we've got four employees who have a
contribution to nationwide MS and MSRS because you don't have to do either or. You could do a combination of whatever you wanted, however many accounts, which equates to about 3%. So given the the fee savings that would go back into
basically the pockets of the employees paired with already the very little enrollment that we already see in nationwide paired with the movement that we're seeing with people asking about how to exit nationwide and go to MSRS
that the uh there's overwhelming support by the benefits and wellness committee to uh bring forth next week the request to approve the changes and removing Nationwide and bringing on Edward Jones. And the nice thing with Ed Edward Jones
is that they would actually do all of the work in notifying Nationwide to basically do all of those changes for us. And it's pretty handsoff, which is nice. Yeah. How much work is it for you to do this? It will be no work
because there's a cost to that as well, right? When you have to do that kind of work. Yeah. That would be when you do the work. But if you when we do the work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But there wouldn't be there is no additional charge for them to do that. That's part of their service because now they're
getting business. Yep. Um and like I said, we've had uh really great communication with our MSRS rep, Susan, which is why I'm not touching MSRS. It's been a great entity to work with and we've got most of our enrollments in there. Um and then again
dealing with Claire Smith down at our local office. Like hands down she's fantastic. Jonah, who we've been talking to with with John Hancock, has also been very responsive. So, I'm very much eager to continue a working relationship with
them. And so, I just wanted to present this information to prepare you for what I hope to bring to the board meeting next week for actual approval. And then that timelinewise, I'm presenting it today. trying to get it done before August because there is a time frame
involved with them doing all of the work in the background to get us set up before open enrollment. Before open enrollment, yeah, not only before the first of the year, but to prepare and have that information available for open enrollment for staff again.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, has there been any conversation with Nationwide? No. Yeah, it it it seems like it would be advisable simply because we've had a a partnership relationship just letting
them know that that u uh given our our experience that uh from our staff whatever that we're looking to make a change and let them have an opportunity to speak to that issue which helps give us perspective and understand. I just
think it's it's it's an opportunity if uh if let's just say if we have somebody that wants to sell us something that it's always positive when somebody comes in new uh but learning from our relationship uh as to what informs that
decision is is an important thing and I I know um like in in insurance that you can have a long-standing relationship with an insurance company you just make the assumption that they're the best provider but every year as a matter of discipline and you get your insurance
quoted just to see where you're at and uh in the relationship that you're at to learn from it is like an exit interview. What can we learn and what's their response and their response will further inform that your decision might be the right one. Yeah, I'll reach out. Um there's been a
lot of steps in this too and we've talked about that at the committee meetings of you know this is the first time I've made a change to a benefit that's involved commissioner involvement because like when we change short-term disability there's no employer
contribution or payment for that. So it doesn't need to go to the board for approval. So, I'm also kind of learning in those steps. I've communicated with the 20 staff um well, in this case, 21 staff that have accounts with Nationwide to let them know that this presentation was occurring. This is our hope to make
this change and to let me know if they had any concerns or questions and there was it was crickets. There was no response. Um so, next I can reach out to be interesting just to see what their response is. Yeah. And then it just reinforces your assumptions.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Commissioner, I I think there's a lot of wisdom there and appreciate that that suggestion. Um and um if you just a quick Google
uh there are concerns with John Hancock. So that would be you know something I'd be concerned with too. What gives me a lot of confidence is um our local representation through Edward Jones. Um, I think there's a lot
of weight there just to have that local face to face instead of somebody on the phone and and so I find that really exciting and encouraging. Um, and then just hearing about the the staff feedback and um, and Allison Allison
staff too, but having to deal with that side of things, it just there was a lot of concerns raised. I do want to note too though Nationwide is partnered with AMC. So, I don't know what that means, if that's another avenue or resource,
but you know, they might be willing to I mean, it it sounds like the issues have been not um super acute. Uh it seems like it's been a little bit longer term uh as far as responsiveness and that sort of thing. So, um I always want to give a little
bit of grace um but then also don't want to get drugged along. So, Right. Um Right. Yeah. And I would be, you know, a little more uh forgetful if it was kind of a one-time thing, but in the fact that I've been in this role for um over a
year and a half, coming up on two years, and I have to send an email, send an email, send an email. Okay, did you get this email? Over and over again, countless times. Um kind of put me at my max. and then
hearing that also with that being the similar experience with our staff of attempting to try to reach anyone at that organization. So yeah. Okay, Commissioner G. Yeah, thank you, man. Um I I would say certainly the
uh to Commissioner Mill's point that the relationship is huge and and you just find big organizations are big organizations and you can get lost in in the minutia. But if you have a personal relationship that individual becomes your advocate. So if
I'm doing a spreadsheet and I'm scoring things based upon what's attractive that certainly is is one element. Um I think that uh the the relationship with AMC you say what informed that decision and
uh you could if if the customer service is is the big issue in this we're looking at a financial thing but we haven't talked to find out how competitive we get when we negotiate contracts so to speak. uh but I would say when it comes to our our uh health
insurance that if we're going to evaluate it based upon our experience then for consistency we have some big issues and so there are some things that drive our decisions that we can do something about and some that we can't do something about but
that one's a little more tied but yeah my hands are tied a little bit more on that one but yes absolutely anyway I'm I'm glad you're keeping MSRS because they're closly aligned with parah at the state. Absolutely. And so when you go to retire having
those things I can centralize from a certain level of experience and um those things are you can talk to one person you know go to one place and that there's a lot of um convenience and help understanding yeah just sort of your full retirement
package there. Yeah. So just it's just a and I' I've had them since I started state at the state back in uh 93. Yeah. So um and that's their focus is public employees. Yeah. And we've got not only deferred
comp with them but our healthcare savings plans as well. Um and again same rep for both of those products and which has been fantastic. Yeah, they they really are focused on, you know, so it's a it's a good thing to keep that.
Yeah, absolutely. So, in light of this coming to the agenda next week, if you'd have time to get a hold of Nationwide, if somebody will answer the phone or Yeah. email, are you ready? I'll then you can give us a little bit of background. Absolutely. I sure will. Okay. Thanks so much. Really appreciate
it. So, I'm just going to ask a question to Nancy and to Rowan. Do either of you have any time difficulties with being here for a while? No, I don't. And I would I'd love to just wait for Grace. I don't think she can be here till after 11.
Yeah, that's one. Okay, we'll go ahead then with cyber security briefing and Rowan is going to lead us into that. We have the other going into the yes we're going into the IT room due to the
sensitive nature of this information that's going to be presented uh and the discussion will take place in the closed session as allowed by under Minnesota statute 13D.05 subdivision 3. So now we will um adjourn
briefly and um go into the uh briefing with Rowan Watkins. Okay, thank you. We'll resume our meeting. Um, moving on to childc care presentation. Thank you. Yes.
Thanks to all of you board. Um, I'm Nancy Dunny for those who may not remember. Um, and right now I'm the children and family services supervisor at PHS. And I look forward to coming through this meeting all year long to be able to give y'all an update on how childc care is looking in Cook County.
So that's what we're going to be looking at today. I have a presentation that Jen is going to have for us. Um, and I was able to get lots of pictures from our providers here in town. So that brings joy to my heart, too. um 2024, the end of 2024, I guess I was here last July,
and into 2025. We've kind of been a holding steady this year. Um we have several new projects that are just out in the works. Um and so I'll tell you a little bit about them coming up, but it seems like everywhere else where we're just kind of holding steady for the
year. So Jenna, can you do I push this button? Excellent. There you go. All right. So, as a review, some of you have been here since the very beginning. You know, back in 2022 when Grace and I
came to the board and talked about the need um for child care in our community. Many of you had heard that from other employers, from the families that you knew. It wasn't something that was surprising for you um to be able to do, but here we are three years in. In one
way, that seems like it we just started and the other it seems like this is the way it's always been. We really are are blessed. um to have so many great initiatives here in Cook County. When I go and speak to other meetings, I'll have, you know, they'll be like, "Oh, Cook County is like a unicorn." Like they just got all kinds of stuff
happening up there. And it is, it is just an honor to be able to go, "Yeah, we do. We would love to share and help other people get some of the things that we need." So, but our goals, even though this is our third year, just remain the same. That we want to be able to support providers who work in this early care
and learning field. And we also want to be able to find some workable solutions for families. So I won't go into all of the history. Those of you who have been here know that um what we've kind of gone through. So I'm going to do last year I kind of came midway in July. So
give you the first half of the year of 2024. So I'm going to bring you the numbers and the stats for the entire year in case those numbers interest you. Um, so last year the total county investment in the wage enhancement program, if we just look at that part,
um, was a little over $224,000. We supported 25 providers. At the end of the year, we had 25 providers caring for about 85 children. Um, in 2024, we increased two licensed providers and gave 20 more child care spots in that
um, area as well. And we'll talk a little bit about how um how the number of license spots if you go in and look on the DCY site um and then compared to the number of children that are served and why sometimes there's a disconnect. We'll talk about that here in a little bit and we've spoken about that in years
past, but we've kind of um I don't know if I just skipped one. Nope, I didn't. Okay. Um, as most of you know, the greatest need in Cook County and Graham Portage for childcare spots really is in that infant and toddler age group, right? And
so, if I go back and I can look at it, I think that right now we have somewhere about 120 licensed spots, give or take five. Um, in Cook County and Graham Portage altogether, we're only serving 85 children. The reason that there's a gap
is because the gap was made up of kids who go to preschool at ISD 166. The gap is also maybe made up for school age care spots. So those are open spots that providers have. However, there isn't really a need for those spots or um in
our community right now for our families. They're being met somewhere else. So that's why there's a difference. If you guys ever can look to see why we're having um only 85 children served and we have 120 spots, we found over these last couple of years, actually it was
so would have started in 2022 that ISD 166 added an extra preschool class. I went to full day preschool. Um that was their um great solution to be able to help with the childare needs. They didn't want to be able to open a child care program in the school. That's a
lot. but they thought they could add that extra class. So that would take the three year olds out of our regular family child care homes. So those three-year-olds going leaves you with a lot of younger who can't who aren't age eligible to go to preschool. These younger kids and it really shifts how
providers care for children. um for family child care programs which actually in our community are going to be Maria Conland's Maria Carlson's cooperation station both Birch Grove programs are all licensed under Family
Child care and they each group only has three spots combined for infants and toddlers. They may be licensed for 10, 12, 14. Sometimes you get to have four spots, but essentially you have three spots usually one infant and two toddlers. That's all the spots that
program has. Um, so that's why we still need providers so that we can provide those infant and toddler spots, if that makes sense. Um, and it changes your program. You can imagine if I have a bunch of three, four, 5year-olds running around the things they like to do, and now I just have one year olds and
two-year-olds of things they like to do. These are very different things. So, a lot of providers needed an adjustment in maybe the equipment, the play, um the the toys that they had in their program. Um what their schedules needed to look like. We've been working through that together. Our team along with all of the
providers to serve these younger children. A couple of things have also happened. Um, and you may hear this from families that are um in in your areas that um several programs went to um only having full-time spots, which means that
they no longer would allow families to be able to have a part-time spot in their program. You needed to be full-time. You didn't have to bring your children every day, but you had to pay for your children to be there every day. Um and then some programs um actually reduced hours. Maria Common's program
used to be open 5 days a week. Now it's only open four days a week because we she doesn't have another provider to be able to to give her that break when she needs to go and do things for her family personally. So her solution was she was going to be closed on Friday so she
could do things with her family trying to find that balance. So we've had these different challenges as well helping to support families in our community then what do they do with their kids on Friday because your boss may not say that you don't have to work on Fridays even though you don't have childare. So again, very complicated issues that
we've just been working through one at a time. Grace, are those your kids? Yeah, those are my two. Yes, those are the twins who uh scored the lottery, me by getting them both into an infant toddler slot together
part-time because, you know, they look so much like the other the other. Yeah, they do. the resemblance and actually here um Maria Carlson
and Cooperation Station when they come back online are the only programs that will allow part-time care and know those are highly coveted spots. So, as always, um I asked our providers, this is Maria Carlson and Sasha some of her kids that she sent me. I asked some
of our providers to give me some feedback to share with you and this is what Maria sent to me via email. I have um several letters and emails that I made copies of and I'll leave those with you so you can have those as well to read them. I always love them. Um Maria
said, "The wage enhancement program has helped me feel seen and valued by you and the community for providing an important and valuable service to working families and the children served." So, please keep the momentum growing in a positive direction by continuing this important and much
appreciated program. Here's just a little snapshot of what we used for grant funding um to support child care at Cook County throughout 2024. And our deed grant last year was $250,000.
Those monies were sent all over in in little ways and big ways. The primary um programs that were supported through that were the starting of the Birch Grove seedlings program which is aimed at um serving infants and toddlers in Tafty. Um Northwoods Childare also um
received several grants from that. The YMCA um and I have Alex here um to maybe share a little bit to from his program and then step up childcare which is the official license name of Maria Conland's program as well. We worked through last
summer with the MDE um on a mixed delivery action lab which helped bring again Alex was a part of that too. Bring a bunch of us together who um are in this early care and learning field to try and design a way that we can better collaborate um for our part for our families um and our children as we
transition kids from maybe private care um over at to ISD 166. How can we look at the why and what they can help support uh in this same way and Head Start as well. So we worked through that and then developed some resources for families that they can easily access to
be able to find um different things that could support their family with young kids here. The Northland Foundation uh continued to give us our childcare mentorship grant which we use to pro pay stipens, do coaching and whatever program supports we can and then the familyfriend and neighbor grant as well
um that we had in 2024. Both of those grants have been renewed. um they were on the state funding cycle. So those are both just renewed from the Northland Foundation for 2025 which goes into 2026. So as of July 1st.
So those programs will continue as well. So I want to talk a little tiny bit about what some of those childcare initiatives were able to do this year. Cooperation Station, some of you may have listened to their interview on WTIP. That was just a day or two ago. Um I'm excited to be able to announce that
they are reopening their their planned reopening date is July 29th. Um we were able to through the DG grant um help the cooperation station remodel their upstairs that third level actually was just storage and office space. They remodeled that to could be used as a
living space for potentially a provider because we know that housing is a significant barrier for them to be able to recruit someone here to work. So, we were able to help pay for that as well as some different equipment changes that they needed for their program. The YMCA,
um, we were able to come alongside and help partner with them as they redid their playground. Alex, would you mind if I asked Alex if there was anything he'd like to share with us from the YMCA and his teachers? Oh, yeah. Um,
so I went around and asked uh our teachers kind of what they thought about um the wage enhancements. Hey, Alex, you can come. And actually, I'll start with Emily Marshall. Um, you may know Emily. She
was uh the executive director when the Cook County Y opened up. um still very connected with child care. Um she says, "Thank you for your past support in helping us recruit and re uh retain child care staff. That investment has
made a measurable and impactful difference. But the need hasn't gone away without continued stabilization funding. We risk losing qualified staff, reducing child care availability, or forcing tuition increases that many families simply cannot afford. Child care is not a family issue. It's a
workforce and economic issue. To keep highquality, reliable care in our community and keep families and businesses thriving, we need your continued support. So, that is from Emily. And then um the from uh one of our in
our infant uh room teacher uh she says um thank you for the uh the incentive. um it has drastically drastically um uh improved our lives. Uh and um
uh she says if the if there's not continued support, she sees first sees multiple programs shutting down um reducing child care uh within the county. Um they don't do it for the money, they do it because they love the children. Um but they still have to pay
their bills. Uh um Kim uh is our preschool teacher and she says she's extremely grateful to be able to move into the Cook County community. Uh she she had moved from Superior, Wisconsin, um where she was a
child care director there for 25 years. Um and she says, "I'm not sure I would be able to do it without the assistance of the extra um funding." So, she's very appreciative of the support um that everybody in this county uh receives. And then another one
of our our toddler teachers says um without the funding, she simply could not live in Cook County. It's an expensive place. Rent is high. Um she she says um I could probably make
more money waitressing, but I don't want to because I care for the community and for the families. Um, so that is what our teachers have to say. I just want to say thank you for the support that you guys are bringing um to child care within Cook County. Um,
we uh we we ended up going to full-time because it was a financial decision that we had to make. Um, you know, the part-time slots, if someone's not there on Monday and Tuesday, then we don't get paid on Monday and Tuesday, and that's how we keep our doors open. So,
yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Alice. And I think that is an important thing to know that people didn't change to say we were going to only have full-time spots because that that was easier for them. It really is just the financial
the the profit margin in child care is so minute that any kind of little bump can just that has to be done. So I he's not the only certainly the why isn't because that's very common and a very common trend. Most child care centers
require you to be full-time. That's that's just you want to have your child there, that's when it's going to be. Especially if you have an infant and toddler spot because they can't afford to have like one or two days for those spots to be open, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Any questions for Alex? Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate your patience. Absolutely. We were hiding here getting some work done. things. So, in addition to what we um helped with that playground and the fencing and the removal of the old
fencing, those things all cost dollars. So, it's nice to be able to have D dollars and say, "Yep, we can help. If your funding ran short or it's cost more than you thought, we can help come alongside of a grant they already had to do that playground renovation." And we also were able to help one of his staff people through early childhood
certification get that training that she needed as well. um in Northwoods uh in cooperation with First Congregational Church. That's where that child care is located if you didn't know. And their playground has been there since probably I was born maybe. So, we were able to
kind of help bring some of that back up to the licensing code helped them to do that. Um because Northwoods uses their playground as their own playground, but again, it's also open to the community. kids come and play there who were around in our neighborhood as well as long and
um as well as that the the deck that goes into Northwoods, we are making that handicap compliant. So, they're redoing that so that it'll be easier for uh people to be able to come up in wheelchairs or walkers or whatever they might need into that entrance. Birch Grove Seedlings. Um it's a program
that's open just right across the hallway from the Saplings program, but according to how we license, they are actually two separate programs uh run by Birch Grove. And so it's fulfilled a need for those younger childcare spots in Toy. I'm so glad. I can't imagine
having a young child driving them to Grand driving back to Toy, you know, every day for work if that's what you needed to do. But so glad to be able to do that. And then our outreach. Um many of you if you come from this is the east end into Grand Marray,
you'll see like we have a big billboard that has um from our Cook County Northstars. There's been advertisements in our papers and runs WTIP and NPR. So um uh spreading the word that we are also still looking for childcare providers and also hoping to connect
families to the different programs that they may need for their children. One area, well that's my dad, my dad and my niece. And um anyway, one area that we're seeing a lot of growth in, but it's slow because we're working
relationship by relationship is this growth of family friend and neighbor providers. I was fortunate to be able to go and talk on WTIP about what a family friend and neighbor provider is. Um, and that's just um the people your um a child's grandparent, their relatives,
those are providing care for your children. Um, and actually they estimate somewhere between 50 and 60% of all child care in greater Minnesota is provided by family, friend, and neighbor providers because it really isn't um it's not financially feasible many times
to have a child care center and we are losing family childcare providers in Minnesota um and 2024 at a rate of a little over 27% of family childcare providers. We're losing every single year in the state of Minnesota. Wow. which we are not in Cook County though,
which we are not in Cook County, which is just an amazing achievement I think um looking and when I go and and I'm in licenser meetings um all around our region and they'll be like we have this many new ones and we lost this many and I don't have to say we didn't lose any and we still have them um including
cooperation station that's opening but one thing that we are able to do this is in cooperation with the Northland Foundation is that familyfriend and neighbor providers here in Cook County um we have a renewable $500 grant that they just fill out the form and then Northland sends them a check. They can
use that for anything that they may need. We also support um family, friend, neighbor providers, so they need car seats, so they cribs in their house, whatever it might be. We have grant funding for that. Um why should you have to switch car seats from mom's car to grandma's car? Just get them both car seats. We have a different funding for
that. So I really appreciate being able to do that. DCF also has a onetime $500 grant for family, friend, and neighbor providers. So, this is just getting the word out. Um, we is both family, friend, and neighbor. Another word for them
officially is a legal non-licensed provider that you may have seen. That's what it's called in statute. Um, if they do those things that we ask legal non-licensed providers to do, which is really take CPR and do a a basic safety course, um, we allow them to receive
wage enhancement funding as well. Um, so that's what we have to support this group of growing providers. It was really when I spoke at WTIP and when we finished up um I had two people in their office ask me if tell me about their
child care situation and ask if there this either they one had an inhome nanny and then one um essentially was um had a relative watching their kids and I said yes send them to me. Here's my card. Have them send me an email. we'll get them signed up and they can be um have
all of these different things that can be helpful to them. So, just getting that word out that we have supports for that as well. So, talking about Cooperation Station, um they have been closed for almost 11 months and they're scheduled to reopen
on July 29th. The reason that they have been closed is they've been unable to find that primary care provider um to be able to um to fulfill that. So when you lose your primary care provider, theirs moved to the cities with their husband relocated for a job. We've just been
searching for that replacement. Um they have a letter of support that shares a little bit about their struggle and about how much they appreciate the initiatives that we have. So I will leave that with you when we are finished. So these are the different things that we do outside of um some that are grant
funded but that we do to help in the community. We do the mentorship grant and training um to both Northland Foundation and the Deep Grant. We do mentorship meetings once a month and we're able to provide stipens to providers. So, we meet for an hour and we send them a $100 check. Well, we
really send it once a quarter, so we send them a $300 check if they're there because we value the time that they set aside in their evening when their program is closed to be able to be with us. And we have grant dollars to fund that. We provided licensing and technical assistance. In January, we
hired a new licenser and childcare coordinator. So, she's really able to work with our providers like I did with all the changes that are happening at BC Way up for childcare in the licensing regulations going online. Everything has to be online now. We have all kinds of
concrete supports for providers. Maria Colin needed a new refrigerator. Hers went out. Um, uh, last year we helped Maria Carlson with her washer when that went out. So those sort of things when you have this this much of a profit margin and you need a $1,000 refrigerator suddenly like that's a
problem. So us able to have those funds for them to know they can call and we can help connect them to those concrete supports is really really a blessing to them. And then we are constantly advocating to our representatives to the state. I was fortunate to be able to go
and speak to the state legislative um uh family committees um on with um Senator Hostile this past spring. I guess that would have been um and uh working with um the kids count on us group which is the same one that had um representative
Scraba um Aaron Murphy and Grant Hell that all came to speak to us about child care last year as well. So, our innovation that we have in Cook County continues to be noticed. I've really been fortunate to be able I went
to speak at the regional conference for first children's finance about our RSIP team that we had in 2022 and sharing a little bit about how we are working on our different initiatives in our county. Um, I get requests all the time from other counties to speak to their boards
to come and talk to the programs. Um, and we have since I've also spoken to the the National Association of Counties last year, um, right now I'm working with the state of Colorado, you know, which is where I'm from, um, on, uh, being able to give some of the information that we have that has worked
for our providers, um, in collaboration with the state of Colorado, working with their programs, um, through that National Association of County Connection that we had um, and because they have some there on the um, western slope as well that we're working with. So all it's not just here what we're
doing in our little county those 5600 people um is spreading and we're able to represent Cook County all over um the place and it is really really fortunate for us I think. So let's look and see what wage enhancement is this year. This is 2025. Um for those who don't know
currently we started back in 2023 with $5.7 an hour. Now we're up to $6.11 an hour for each of our provider works caring for children in 2025. So far that's been a county investment of a little over $84,000.
We've continued to retain 26 providers. Um and upcoming projects at 1:00 I'm in a half an hour. I'm going to grade expectations to talk to their board. They're interested in starting a childcare program and their extra space they have there. Um, we and I didn't put
on the slide, but we starting July 1st, we have another deep grant that's a $385,000 grant we have to support childcare between now and and the end of December. Um, so I'm excited about Great Expectations thoughts and also spoke with Gary Lance yesterday about the
heights stage two about putting a childcare center as we've been working um together since the beginning. he's on our childcare solutions subcommittee um and working out the details of how we can help get that childcare program that will be situated right inside the
housing development as well. So um Leah Leonard, she also has a um a letter here. She's actually a county employee. Um, and uh, and I wanted to put this little quote here from her in her letter where she said, "Earning a livable wage in our community is
difficult and that she believes the people we entrust with our children should not have to struggle financially, especially when they're providing such an essential service." Um, again, here's just a little bit of an overview of some of the things that we did. I already spoke to those things. We
have um consistently heard from deed from the department of education that we work with the department of health CCF and the Northland Foundation that all of our grant applications are so much stronger because we have these three years that we've been working to support child care and so we're really fortunate
to be able to have those things. So it's always a balance, right? We want to try to build sustainability. So, here is what we're looking at for now. In the future, according to our latest study, we need 98 more childcare spots in Cook
County. I'm pretty sure 96 of those are for infants in college. But, um, the cost of care for providers, we went over a lot of that last year. It's higher for these younger age groups. You can imagine if you just use a little number, let's say you needed to
make $500 a week, three of your spots are filled with Simpson toddlers. you were missing your preschoolers or school age kids, you have less children to be able to meet whatever it is that you need to have to make your business break even every week. So the cost of care is
much higher for family child care and for child care center. They always um kind of the rule in this business is that you do not make any money in a childcare center on your infant or your toddler rooms because the ratio for teachers is so high to to students. So
you only can have four infants um for every teacher in an infant room. You can have seven toddlers for every teacher, which sounds delightful. Um and you can have 10 preschoolers. So again, um that cost of care per providers is higher with this younger age group we're
serving. And right now in Cook County, the average cost of care for families is $226 per week per child, which is a little over $11,000 a year of child care for a family to pay. So again, higher cost of
care for families and that cost of care for providers. Um, so that is the end of what I have to share with you and and as Alex had said, I want to just express my gratitude for your continued support as I go
throughout the community and talk about childcare initiatives. Everything that I hear is just so positive and supportive right now and then hopefully won't be by tomorrow. Um, but may next month's board meeting in August, I'd like to just be able to submit um, some extra
documentation. We are working on a follow-up survey to what First Children's Finance originally did with the ARS team which is the rural childcare innovation program. It was a grant that we had in 2022 the beginning of 2021 beginning of 2022
which kind of helped kick off all of this talk around childare. Um so we are following up with that same study and I would love to be able to give you the results. we probably won't have them till the end of the month. And so we're asking employers, what's your thoughts now on how childare has it improved? Is it the same? Where do we need to
improve? We're asking parents the same providers the same and being able to compare that to what the results were back in 2021, early 22 when we did that study. So I will um with your permission submit those results to you and they should be back in time for the August
board meeting. Um, Grace, is there anything you want to add as a mom of two young children right now that are in child care, another one that's in preschool? Just can't right now in the summer. Yeah, he'll be in kindergarten, but in the summer, yeah, all three of them are
in daycare two days a week. M um and we, you know, as a county benefit, we have like a pre-tax dependent care account and we basically spend the whole amount in the summer to cover care in the summer and we still have part-time care
for the three kids. But the fact that we have spots for three kids part-time is amazing. I mean there's a lot of work to be done but back in 2021 I mean that I think I remember
in 2021 having two providers close within three months during the pandemic and that was so hard. So the fact that we haven't had that turnover in providers has been hugely important for families.
Well, I think we all express our gratitude to you and to Grace. I remember joining the committee three years ago and watching and seeing the progress that we've made here. More to be done, but it goes by little steps. There's no big leaps here by little
steps and being able to open a place in Birch Grove and Dofty and all of that. So, just gratitude. Yeah, you know, I think we had a lot of conversations um in this community about infrastructure, but I think it you really have to say
that for a thriving community, part of infrastructure, schools and daycarees, um if you want to attract young families, if we want to keep that balance in our community, um you have to have this and that's a that's as important as water systems.
So really appreciate the work you guys done. It's amazing and the possibilities of new areas opening up also. So we don't want to keep you. We have another exciting meeting with that going. So there's 176
filled spots currently and we need nine or what? There's 85 kids in 85 kids right now. And then we need that was last month. Okay. I just gave you the most one. Um we need 98 more um for that. Yeah. to to be where it um and
it's something it's a it's something they they actually first find it does and they do it for all the different cities and I certainly have the latest one link and send that to you um that you could take a look to see where those numbers come from and they use market and house and use AI weird stuff maybe
but to come up with that number but um yeah they're definitely um speaking of Lee I work really closely with her she writes our checks on PHS and she has found care for her is just one but sometimes when the child care with the families that we just have in our
department when childcare becomes an issue that stress that it provides that puts on that parent who's here trying to do their job now childcare is a stress and I think sometimes our jobs are stressful too so where does it come to a point for a parent that's like you know this is just too much like trying to
figure out the child care and be at work it's not worth that and so we lose valuable people in our workforce because of that so finding ways to be able to however we kind of piece it together. We piece it together so that um we can have those valuable people on our teams and
our offices every day. It'd be interesting to have um a profile. I don't know that the report shows it, but the demographic of the people that use child care. So if if we had that element, then you then you see who you who you are
serving. Yeah. So it it'd be beneficial to know that uh when you look at a county and the demographic in our profile and you see the population the age demographic uh you can see um that I think we've
moved into the number one spot of the 87 counties with those that are uh retirement age or older. And so if we look at young families, for years we've been talking about wanting to encourage young families, families that have been generational that'll continue to stay
here, but we we say that, but we haven't created the infrastructure, so to speak to enable that to happen. And it's multiaceted. It's not just the child care, the education, and it it is the the income opportunity, the cost of
living, all of those things. But when we're looking at things to inform those things that we support and we get behind, the more that we can understand the demographic, the better it is. So, well, so the reason I was asking about
just what we've got now was on the slide and I didn't write it down, but um was because our from my perspective, our first goal was to really try to stabilize the provider aspect of it. And so you'll know better than me if it if it has stabilized or has stabilized
enough or clearly there's still a need so maybe not but then on the other side is helping the families pay for that and so just trying to figure out touched that quite right no first the stabilizing we have
not seen program closures so I think using that as a metric I mean cooperation station somewhat of an anomaly but they're the fact that they're reopening is is positive. But I I do think that we've stabilized the I don't know how you feel about it, but
just looking at looking at closures though, is that using that closure data as a metric? I feel like that does show for sure we've stabilized things. Yeah. What where is that balance then do you think between u like um just the the the
provider versus the parents, right? What's hard with the parents is I think where we're getting to now is this challenge with infant and toddler spots. And like Nancy said, there's just an inherent financial challenge because of the ratios to care for children under the age of two.
And that's that's just kind of the reality of the situ. I think we're doing good things that help that are helping, but the fact that that continues to be the unmet need makes sense to me given just the amount of time and energy it takes to care for those kids. Mhm. Given that ISD has a thriving preschool
program, that makes a lot of sense. But as for the parent and the cost side of things, it gets to be it gets to be a different conversation that I feel like would need some different additional approaches because that that is still a challenge. Um it's a huge
challenge and well, it speaks to Commissioner Gamble's point about the demographic. I will say just anecdotally when you know I've had kids in daycare now for six years in Cook County. Um and when I go into a
daycare and I've had my kids at the Y now Maria Carlson's cooperation station the other families who are there are largely county employees, forest service staff, school employees, um clinic and hospital employees. So um not
entirely but that is the primary demographic using I would say that that would be the assumption uh but it's it's understanding that so that you can have you know conversations that are well informed in addressing real issues. I I would say that the
requirements that come in care relative to you know infants uh certainly part of the again those requirements that are set up and established force you to be able to do what you have to do which
adds a a cost element. I'll just off the cuff use an example that the boundary waters you could go into the boundary waters with a group of individuals and two guides and you could make it financially feasible because you could have part enough participants when they
went to you could only have a total of nine it put a restriction. So that means that that program might be jeopardized by the fact depending upon where you're coming from to transport those people to get to the boundary waters. it's no longer feasible unless you push that
price up which then makes it accessible to fewer people. The other thing I would say when we look at the percentage of closures if it's 27% whatever we have to understand that in context why are they closing? If it's closing because it's not profitable or you can't keep the
doors open or if it's closing because our population is decreasing in that area we don't see the refueling so to speak of that age group. Understanding these things in context helps us to respond in a way that meets need. So
that I feel like there's some research on why the programs are closing. There are like we keep track of um like how many of them are retiring. So that's different. People are going to get older and be like I'm not chasing a bunch of little kids. So they're going to retire. So in my mind that doesn't really count. I mean we people are going to be retired
right on all of our jobs. But if they're leaving, if people are leaving the profession because of the barriers, because it's become too complicated, the work is too hard, whatever those things are, those are things we can address and be able to, you know, to be able to um
find a solution for so that hopefully those people can remain in their spots. Um but there is there is research I do track that um so we can look that across county and across Minnesota to be able and part of it can be I mean it's becoming too encumbered. It does. In other words, that there's the
requirements and and what our focus is. We can lose sight of our focus is the heart of the matter is is serving and mentoring and encouraging and nurturing kids and and if if the the paperwork, it's similar in public health service where
we we just find there's a lot of things that are uncovered. the people that we attract are people who have a heart towards people and and when we find that minutia is not heart you know driven it it's it's driven by I got to do this and do this
and do the paperwork there's so many examples I could give in this regard but the point is is that that if we if we look at this and try to understand that then then we try to create structures in which we can be successful in what we're trying to do which is provide a healthy
growing environment retirement for young kids and uh if if the if the fact is that we don't have people or workforce to be able to fill those position because of retirement whatever that's one aspect of it but if we don't have
the the need in other markets for child care because our population in that age group is decreasing that is an issue so I'm just saying it's multiaceted but the more that we devote ourselves to understand that the better we can inform our our direction. So, yeah.
So, again, thank you Nancy and Grace for your input and Alex also. Thank you. And we'll look forward to another get together. Okay. Absolutely. If you have more questions, feel free to email me or give me a call. I'm happy. I'm happy to talk about kiddos. I think so.
Say these guys are the 18. These are both rock stars. Oh, here. Thanks. Well, thank you all. I can just leave these here and I just I didn't staple them, but there's like a set. Um there's a dozen of them there. So, okay. Thank you.
You're welcome. Thank you, J. Thank you, Commissioners. And there beh I'm going to do this on Friday. So I'm not going to do it. You can wait till your thumb or even