Child Care Business Collaborative

Employees and their children pose for a photo in front of a Pioneer Bank & Trust branch. The company offers each of its employees $5,000 to pay for licensed child care. (Courtesy of Pioneer Bank & Trust)

How South Dakotans are making child care affordable and available

BY: - December 14, 2022

South Dakota has a tight labor market. It’s even tighter as parents struggle to find available and affordable child care. To bolster recruitment and retention among parents, some employers and organizations are taking matters into their own hands. One major employer in Rapid City has a day care center in-house, and a contract with a […]

Gov. Kristi Noem presents her fiscal year 2024 budget proposal to legislators on Dec. 6, 2022, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Child care is a major workforce concern. Why wasn’t it in Gov. Noem’s budget address?

BY: and - December 14, 2022

Child care is one of South Dakota’s most pressing workforce issues, with cities, businesses and organizations searching for solutions to keep child care accessible and affordable across the state. Gov. Kristi Noem addressed it as such on the campaign trail, but it did not appear in her Dec. 6 budget address to the Legislature, in […]

(Getty Images)

‘Workforce behind the workforce’: Businesses, organizations tackle child care in new program

BY: - November 14, 2022

The child care crisis is, above all else, a workforce crisis in South Dakota. Gov. Kristi Noem addressed it as such on the campaign trail, and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul Tenhaken says its one of the most common issues presented to him in recent years.  But it hasn’t been treated as a “crisis” by businesses […]