Accessing affordable childcare is an ongoing challenge in Sitka, and now the city is looking for solutions. Last month, the Sitka Assembly greenlit a contract with the Southeast Childhood Collective to develop a childcare needs assessment.
Blue Schibler leads the Juneau-based childcare resource and referral agency that supports families and childcare providers, and helps communities develop childcare models.
“I think it’s pretty widely known that child care as a business model is not successful in the free market. That’s why we have these capacity shortages and workforce shortages,” Schibler said in an interview with KCAW on Thursday.
“So we’re building on a model that we have in Juneau that has worked really well to stabilize childcare in Juneau and actually start to grow the capacity. We’re using that model to try to get it set up in other Southeast communities,” she said.
Schibler’s organization has been tasked with delivering the needs assessment to the city this spring. She will be in town on Saturday (2-28-26) to gather input from Sitkans.
“I’m wanting to hear from people about their thoughts on the availability, affordability, and quality of the current child care in Sitka,” she said. “How it impacts the workforce, how it impacts their personal lives, and what they see as possible solutions, and also just sort of like gauge their interest in some solutions possibly being publicly funded.”
On Saturday, she’s hosting three listening sessions, one for families, one for policy makers and leaders of local organizations and businesses, and one for childcare providers. Based on the feedback, she’ll put forth a menu of recommendations for a local childcare funding model- like a subsidy program to incentivize growth or capacity of existing childcare programs and incentivizing new programs to open.
“Leadership in the city has recognized that the lack of child care is impacting the community’s economy and the workforce, and just the the community’s ability to thrive as a place where families with children want to live and raise families,” she said. “Kudos to the city for taking this step forward towards recognizing the problem and the role that they might have in finding solutions.”
Schibler will host Saturday’s listening sessions at the Southeast Alaska Resort, formerly the Westmark Hotel. Snacks and drinks will be provided at all sessions, and childcare is available for the first two sessions.
Listening session 1: 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.- Families with children
Listening session 2: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Community and business leaders, employers, policy makers, nonprofit leaders
Listening session 3: Current, former and potential child care providers
