Newsletter March 2022

“We believe Ready SWVA will be a model to be replicated in rural communities across the Commonwealth and beyond. But first, we need to succeed in addressing the problem here.” - Travis Staton

Ready SWVA initiative kicks off with public/private support

“The big goal of Ready SWVA is to build public-private partnerships to address child care issues that are preventing folks and families and individuals from re entering the workforce or remaining gainfully employed,” Staton explained.

United Way of Southwest Virginia (UWSWVA) announced Dec. 8 a new initiative to address the economic and social impacts of the child care crisis in the region. Ready SWVA will create five new child care centers with a minimum of 324 new child care slots across the UWSWVA coverage area, while also supporting the 206 existing centers that already work with UWSWVA. The eventual potential upside is the creation of 1,500 new child care slots in Southwest Virginia. At a Dec. 8, 2021 kick-off event at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, UWSWVA President and CEO Travis Staton told more than 150 leaders from Southwest Virginia’s public, private and social sectors, “Southwest Virginia employers have told us the region is losing the young, talented workforce in the labor ecosystem. A major barrier to retaining those talented young employees and potential employees is insufficient access to child care.

In addition, Ready SWVA will:

• Develop a regional cohort of professional, credentialed early childhood educators • Support regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies created by each planning district commission to attract new talent, young families and higher-paying jobs • Support entrepreneurs in Southwest Virginia by developing an emerging industry sector as a sustainable small business with support from a shared services alliance, and • Provide long-term outcomes of a healthy, appropriately educated and trained, financially stable workforce through high quality curriculum preparing young students for school success.

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