Addressing the workforce shortage

One of the biggest challenges all of Nebraska and most of the country faces is a workforce shortage. It is estimated there are 56,000 more listed jobs open right now than qualified employees available in Nebraska. This is true in McCook in certain areas. Many employers have told me, it is difficult to find enough employees with the right skill set or education for the job opportunities they have available.

McCook Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is working on a variety of initiatives to combat this and have launched two initiatives in January around workforce. The first is an Early Childhood Education expansion program and the second is a fiber to the home initiative.

One concern we’ve heard from multiple employers is when they have employees who have babies, it is tough to find childcare and it may require someone who wants to work to cut back their hours or take a temporary leave. A local Community 4 Kids committee has spent a year studying this and last week launched three initiatives to improve the situation.

The first program is the New Childcare Provider Smart Start program. The Smart Start will provide people interested in starting an in home or childcare center a scholarship to take an 8-week on-line class about how to run a childcare business. After the individual completes the program, they will be eligible for startup cash of $3,000 to help start their business if the individual commits to being open for multiple years. The deadline for interested individuals is February 21.

Second, is the Early Childhood Education scholarship. We have worked with McCook Community College to offer two full tuition and fees scholarships to students who are planning on studying Early Childhood Education and then stay in the area to work in the field or open their own childcare business.

Third, we are providing a monthly infant incentive to current providers to increase the number of infant spots available. There are ratios the state requires for childcare providers to make sure there is enough care for each child. The ratios for infants are considerably smaller than preschool age children. Financially, it doesn’t make sense for childcare centers to take a lot of infants with the staffing it requires.

These three initiatives should increase our community’s capacity to provide enough childcare for our infants. In the future, our committee is looking at how we can create a ‘Brain Friendly’ community for kids and continue to promote quality and access.

In December, the MEDC board also approved a fiber to the home incentive. In 1936, Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act, thanks in large part to Senator George Norris. 85 years ago, electricity was vital to rural prosperity. Today, we need fast on-line networks.

The Federal Communications Commission defines broadband internet as a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Almost all of the households in town can access internet this fast. Because of this, we don’t qualify for federal programs to improve high speed internet.

The MEDC feels we make McCook more attractive to professionals and people who can work from anywhere to extend fiber connections to our residential neighborhoods. This makes us more competitive when people are considering moving to McCook for opportunities.

The incentive we are offering is a low interest loan to help bring fiber to McCook. We have put together a local committee to review proposals and have a scoring system to factor in the packages and cost that would be available to the ability of the company to install and serve the network.

In rural areas, it can be cost prohibitive for companies to build a residential fiber network so we hope our incentive will help a company make the return on investment worthwhile for them to invest in a residential fiber network.

Workforce is a major challenge and there are a variety of factors that play into having a qualified workforce. At the MEDC, we are committed to explore different opportunities and programs to make McCook better for individuals in the workforce. We hope over the next year, we are able to increase the access to childcare and start increasing residential home internet options. If you have questions or comments, feel free to e-mail andy@mccookne.org or call 308-345-1200.