Business First of Buffalo, November 27, 2006, Monday

Business First of Buffalo - November 27, 2006
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/11/27/story4.html

Business Pulse Survey: How are things going in Western New York?
Downtown employers seek child care choices

Business First of Buffalo - November 24, 2006
by Tracey Drury
Business First

When his daughter's child care center closed two years ago, Govindan Kartha was left with few options.

Kartha, who owns New World Record on Elmwood Avenue, spent several stressful weeks with his wife, Elizabeth, visiting and researching sites before they settled on EduKids on Hertel Avenue, about 10 minutes from the store.

"We weren't in a position to move the business, but we also did have to look afield to find a day care that was going to satisfy our needs as parents," he said. "That's the juggling act: trying to be good parents and be responsible to the daily needs as a working person. That was not an easy thing."

Kartha shares the concern of thousands of working parents, for whom child care is a major issue. Indeed, a new study of employers has found child care plays a significant role in attracting and sustaining a downtown workforce.

The survey, conducted by the Community Collaborative for Quality Child Care in Downtown Buffalo, asked 117 downtown employers and child care employers about how they were affected by child care issues, including absenteeism and retention of younger workers. The survey found child care issues have a moderate to great impact on absenteeism for nearly a quarter of their workforce.

More quality child care is needed in the downtown core to meet an increasing demand fueled by new housing and a growing workforce, said Lou Jean Fleron. She is director of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo, which led the Community Collaboration along with the Child Care Resource Network, the University at Buffalo School of Law and the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County's Success By Six initiative.

"We think the demand is already here," she said. "Even though there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg aspect to it, we think the economic case is clear for child care and that we don't run much of a risk investing in it."

Among those that have invested in on-site child care facilities are Rich Products, Erie Community College, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Larkin at Exchange Building. Another making the investment is Rocco Termini, CEO of Signature Development, who is developing 32 loft apartments in the Webb building on Pearl Street, with a 13,000-square-foot child care center on the first floor. The Vincennes Academy child care center, which will be available to the public when it opens in August, has a capacity of 130 children.

"I'm a firm believer in the fact that to create economic development downtown, you have to create an economic development atmosphere, and that's what day care does," Termini said. "We need places for people to bring their kids that work downtown. Right now there are very few quality day care centers downtown. Day care is really about business - we just don't get it yet in Buffalo."

The survey, funded by a $20,000 grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation, also pointed to related data on the economic development opportunities available with an expanded base of child care facilities. The Cornell University Linking Economic Development and Child Care Project found the Buffalo-Niagara metro area generates $2.06 of economic activity for every $1 spent on child care - higher than any other metro area in the state.

Fleron said the study also makes recommendations about how to improve the child care situation, including how employers can help their workers access tax subsidies and pre-tax plans such as flexible spending plans.

"It's not just a question that everybody has to build more day care centers and that there's a need for quality," she said, "but also how do we improve all kinds of quality care and address the issue of affordability?"

Employers can't afford to ignore the issue of child care, Fleron said.
"There is no question that workplaces that are more family friendly and have addressed these kinds of issues have more productive workers. Everyone knows the cost of employee turnover, so retention, productivity, job satisfaction, career issues and absenteeism are all issues that employers are interested in and affected by," she said.
Plans call for applying for additional funds to create a speakers bureau and an employers guide to help educate companies about their options, and create opportunities for small businesses to band together.