New website provides child-care resources for employers

Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation announced Tuesday the launch of the Employer Child Care Navigator to provide free expertise and recommendations to employers interested in finding child-care solutions and support for their workforce.

The website is designed for employers and business leaders “who know they want to provide critical child-care benefits but often don’t know where to start or how to get from point A to point B,” said Nicole Riehl, President and CEO of EPIC, a Colorado nonprofit founded by business executives. “Our hope is the Navigator can reach as many employers as possible and ensure that any business that wants to explore child- care benefits for their staff can benefit from our collective expertise and do so easily.”

The Navigator website provides free online resources, beginning with a three-minute survey to assess employee needs and determine the viability of various approaches by providing data-driven recommendations that align solutions with the employer’s workforce and operations.

The website was funded by a grant from Pivotal, a network of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates. The grant will allow EPIC to support the creation of access to affordable child care and expand its efforts in Colorado to additional states and businesses. An increase in demand from a variety of industries and sectors to explore child-care benefits prompted the U.S. Chamber Foundation and EPIC to join forces, combine industry knowledge and provide unbiased guidance via the Navigator.

In the past five years, EPIC has expanded to help businesses identify and ultimately create child-care solutions specifically fit for their organizations, including Community Hospital in Grand Junction and Steamboat Ski Resort in Steamboat Springs. EPIC is currently working with Denver International Airport to conduct a needs assessment of the more than 40,000 employees who work at the airport to define solutions that help retain and recruit the workforce.