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There’s no simple answer to fixing the child care crisis in Albert Lea and across the nation.

But as the shortfall remains, local governments, current providers and employers are continuing to look at things that can be done locally to make an impact on the issue.

Phillip Johnson, executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency, estimated there is a gap of at least 200 child care slots currently in the community, though there is some question about whether the numbers are actually higher as some people may have opted not to work and watch their own children, or else they are only working part-time.

“It’s an area at which at all levels is broken,” Johnson said of child care as a whole. There are several factors playing a part.

Johnson said space is not the main concern when it comes to child care, though it can effect in-home providers who would like to take on more children but are limited by the size of their home.

The bigger concerns include cost, not only in having a service parents can afford, but also in being able to pay child care workers a living wage. In addition, there are potential changes to regulations at the state level that could particularly affect in-home providers.

Other issues include the number of providers needed in the classroom for each age of child and whether to hold a spot for a child from one age to the next.

“It all plays a huge role in affordability for the user and the center’s ability to collect the revenue needed,” said Albert Lea City Manager Ian Rigg.

The city manager said if the state turns around and gives in-home providers more regulations, the changes will not solve a problem or improve quality. Instead, they have the potential to make it less affordable to be a provider and push more providers from the industry. He said the answer is not in more regulations.

Johnson said ALEDA, the city of Albert Lea, Freeborn County, the Albert Lea school district, the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and others have put together a strategic plan and put numbers in surrounding the issue. However, a lot of permanent solutions involve a subsidy, which he said is not a feasible option moving forward.

“It’s trying to make efforts where we can,” he said. “Is it an easy problem for any level of our government to fix? No. But I do think we here locally have made some strides, it’s just we need to know where we can most correctly put taxpayer dollars toward it.”

The group has met regularly, especially since the Albert Lea school district announced in January it would close its Tiger Cub Child Care Center and then later reversed course saying the center would still be open this school year and that school leaders would review the decision moving forward.

It is unclear if a solution has presented itself to move forward for the coming years.

Rigg said he recognizes they cannot solve the entire crisis, and his goal overall with child care is to remove barriers and try to come up with reasonable solutions. They have heard from several employers how critical it is to have the spots so that their employees can have a safe place for their children to go to while they are working.

ALEDA, in partnership with Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, in April announced an expansion of its child care forgivable loan program that was designed to encourage and support newly licensed child care providers in the county. Some providers have taken advantage of the opportunity.

Dani Clevenger, executive director of The Children’s Center, said as a nonprofit, The Children’s Center is trying to push for the government to subsidize child care, similar to what is done for K-12 education. She said there is progress being made with preschool programs, but the funding does not come close to covering all of the costs.

The Children’s Center is presently operating only out of its James Avenue site as it aims to fill all of the staffing needs there before it can consider reopening its site at St. John’s Lutheran Community.

The James Avenue site has seven classrooms and currently serves 115 children up through fourth grade. There are 42 employees.

Clevenger said The Children’s Center last fall implemented a pay raise for its employees because of the increased cost of living, but they recognize that employees are still being paid under what the cost of living is. That’s where the challenge lies in finding a balance between paying the employees what they deserve, paying their other bills and keeping what parents are charged manageable.

“We’re trying to find that happy medium, but we realize now that the only way to solve this child care crisis is essentially the county, the city, the government, state, they all need to help pitch in and realize this is where it all starts,” she said.

She noted there are often grants that come out for child care centers but a lot of times they pay for only things like curriculum or toys, which they don’t have a need for right now.

The Children’s Center had a garage sale to try to raise some money Oct. 5 with excess toys that they have collected from over the years plus other things that community members contributed, whether it be toys, household items or clothes.

“We’re looking forward to that but also to help out the community,” she said ahead of the sale.