I recently had the privilege of attending the Hunt Institute Early Childhood Leadership Conference, and it was truly an eye-opening experience on so many levels.

The conference also served as a strong reminder of the challenges every community, including Minot, faces when it comes to available and affordable early childhood education and child care.

I learned that studies have shown that up to 90 percent of a human’s brain development happens between the ages of 0 to 5 years old. Yet most of us think the people/professionals who care for our children during that period in their lives are simply “babysitters.” What I learned this last week at the conference is that nothing could be further from the truth.
This discussion also opened my eyes even wider to a potential flaw/opportunity for us as a community.

This conference was a learning experience that will help us here in Minot stay focused on our childcare committee that was put together last year by former Councilman Scott Burlingame and Councilwoman Lisa Olson. I was able to share some of the recommendations by the committee to a delegation from North Dakota who were attending the conference with me. The week was filled with numerous “take-a-ways,” including;

• High quality, affordable childhood education and child care affects so many aspects of our community. And it was mentioned over and over, “Whatever city or state that solves the early childhood and early family support will solve their workforce issues as well as increase their economic development impact.”
• One reason it’s difficult to attract childhood educators into that field of work is knowing that the salary you earn is potentially below the poverty scale.
• People who work in early childhood care and education are the first ones to show up, yet these programs are often the last ones in line to receive critical funding.
• Tomorrow’s workforce is today’s 0 to 5 year olds.
• 40 percent of families with young children have problems meeting their monthly bills.
• 1.2 million women have not returned to the workforce since the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Putting a focus on early education and early childhood support is a long term investment for communities like Minot, and we need to remind ourselves that tangible results take time.
• Another message was stated and reinforced at the conference: Engage the educators, and listen to the parents.
  Our local childcare committee has worked hard to be part of addressing this situation in Minot, and I will be asking Alderwoman Olson to carry the torch as we move forward. The investment also needs to have buy-in from every area of our communities, including private entities, public service organizations, parents, and businesses.
  Creating affordable and available child care is a complicated issue. But to me, it really boils down to creating a sustainable program, building trust, spending time, and investing in time, talent, and funding. Those types of investments are much more cost-efficient than funding the potential troubles and issues we deal with as adults.
  Addressing early childhood education and quality, affordable child care isn’t easy, and there is no simple or magic solution. But I firmly believe that this is something we can do together. It truly will take a village to begin solving this issue, but it’s critical to our community on so many levels that we tackle these issues head-on. There are long term social and economic impacts that we, as a community, must continue to address.
  One of my favorite activities as mayor is visiting with school children in the classroom and at all sorts of events. This is what I see on my visits: Staff and teachers are working hard, and have the best interests of their students on their minds at all times. Children are active and engaged, and they constantly want to learn more.
  Can you imagine the improvements and changes we could make if we, both as a community and as a state, put more focus on early childhood education? Imagine how investing our efforts on an even younger demographic could set future generations up for success?
  My challenge is this: Let’s not imagine it any more. Let’s do it.
  You can find more about what’s happening at the City of Minot at minotnd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d also encourage you to sign up for our monthly electronic newsletter on our website.