Hundreds of Wayne County parents who want to work but can’t afford childcare could be getting help from a regional coalition.
According to the East Central Indiana Teaching Resources and Advocacy Connector, work-willing parents are eager to work but struggle to overcome various barriers to access early care and learning programs. These barriers include affordability, a lack of high-quality programs and staffing shortages perpetuated by low wages.
A collaboration between the region’s Birth to Five Coalition and the ECI Talent Collaborative, TRAC started in 2023 to train and retain ECL professionals, better prepare children for kindergarten, and build community support in valuing quality early education for children.
The group gave the example of an area mother who rejoined the workforce after receiving a childcare voucher for her two young daughters. Once laid off, she relinquished the voucher and returned home full-time. Upon regaining employment, she re-applied for the funds only to be waitlisted due to legislation that reduced voucher availability.
Pat Heiny, Wayne County’s Early Childhood Coalition chair, said that about 50 to 60 members across the region were working to equip communities with greater resources. Back in 2017, partnerships with Forward Wayne County and the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County strategized ways to alleviate these barriers. However, between the pandemic and state and federal cuts, there’s a great need to reenergize the coalition’s work.
In Wayne County, there are 408 work-willing parents, resulting in a loss of $16.5 to $20.5 million in wages, according to 2024 TRAC data. Across the nine-county region, 2,207 work-willing parents are missing out on $82.2 to $102.5 million. Counties also include Delaware, Blackford, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Randolph and Rush.
In addition to poor economic growth, Wayne County sees a total of 3,496 children without access to ECL programs. This number grows to 21,355 across the nine-county region.
Theresa Lindsey, the EDC’s business & workforce development manager, sees this as the larger issue.
“That child is our future workforce,” Lindsey said, highlighting how an educational setback can establish a generation of future workers with a lack of tools to succeed 20 years from now. “From kindergarten to third grade, a child learns to read,” Lindsey said. “From fourth grade and onward, they’re reading to learn.”
Despite the challenges ahead, EDC President Valerie Shaffer noted the success stories. A local YMCA partnered with Sugar Creek Packing Co. in Cambridge City and Western Wayne Schools to establish a child care program that serves both school families and the children of Sugar Creek employees. And Reid Health erected KinderCare on its campus to provide ECL options for its employees.
Heiny also mentioned local resources, such as Communities in Schools and Every Child Can Read, that do great work but require more community buy-in and support. She highlighted how early “identification and intervention” is the key to securing a bright future for children.
For more information about TRAC or how to get involved, contact the EDC by emailing Theresa Lindsey at theresa@whywaynecounty.com.
A version of this article appeared in the November 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.