Shane and Jackee Austerman with their children, Isaiah and Elizabeth. Contributed photo. Shane and Jackee Austerman’s children, Isaiah, 15, and Elizabeth, 12, were born with phenylketonuria, or PKU, a rare genetic disorder where the body is unable to produce an enzyme that breaks down the amino acid phenylalanine. Their diagnoses Read more…
The Iowa Women’s Foundation is dedicated to combating six major barriers to women’s financial self-sufficiency — transportation, housing, child care, education and training, employment, and mentoring. A statewide tour in 2016 revealed child care to be the barrier most pressing to Iowa families. “If you don’t have child care, you can’t Read more…
A report released Tuesday by the Iowa Women’s Foundation and Common Sense Institute Iowa (CSI Iowa) analyzed the results of a new child care pilot program and projected the program’s future economic impacts if expanded statewide. The Childcare Solutions Funds pilot program raised $5.3 million in combined public-private funding, which Read more…
Infant-at-work policies improve retention, preserve institutional knowledge It was time for Erin Moran to go back to work, with her baby daughter in tow as part of her workplace’s infant-at-work program.The start was not auspicious.“She had horrible gas, and acid reflux, and was screaming, and I thought, ‘Oh, no, I’m Read more…
Iowa is in the midst of a marathon, providers and experts said, toward a goal of families being confident that they can sign up for high-quality child care, near where they live, without busting their budgets. Big improvements over the course of decades mean a lot of ground has already Read more…
Issues with availability and affordability plague Iowa’s child care system. In recent years, the issue has been seen by many as a business issue: If workers cannot afford or find available child care, they can’t work. Adding more fuel to the fire, school districts that can’t find enough teachers are Read more…
Lawmakers approved numerous plans that will directly affect Iowans before they adjourned April 20. Their inaction on other topics was in some cases just as notable. Below is a brief survey from Fearless of legislation and other state government developments most directly relevant to women and girls. We intend to Read more…
Compiled by Emily Barske Wood One name came up a number of times in responses to this year’s Business Record survey on gender equity in Iowa: Caitlin Clark. Several respondents noted the University of Iowa basketball star’s achievements among the biggest advancements for women in the last year. It’s not Read more…
Improving access to child care has been a bipartisan priority at the Iowa Statehouse for years. Although no single strategy will bridge the gap between the number of spaces available and what the state’s families need, lawmakers and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds are continuing to chip away. The major effort that has emerged so Read more…
BY MICHAEL CRUMB, BUSINESS RECORD SENIOR STAFF WRITER While progress has been made in increasing the availability of quality, affordable child care in recent years, more needs to be done, state lawmakers said in a recent panel discussion during a forum on challenges facing child care providers in Iowa.The discussion occurred Read more…