Supporting Families and the Future of Northeastern Minnesota through Child Care

By Tony Sertich, President, Northland Foundation

“Child care is infrastructure as fundamental as roads and broadband. When it fails, parents leave the workforce, businesses can’t fill jobs, schools lose enrollment, and tax bases erode. The ripple effects touch every household.”

Northeastern Minnesota is competing for its future and there’s never been a more important moment to get it right. Young families are choosing where to put down roots, employers are working hard to find and keep talented workers, and rural communities are building toward something worth staying for.

But there is one piece of infrastructure that makes all of that possible, and we’ve chronically underbuilt it.

Child care isn’t just a challenge for young parents to sort out on their own. It is the foundation beneath everything else we’re trying to build together.
After years of working alongside our communities, I believe we finally have the understanding, the partnerships, and the will to get it right.

Since the Northland Foundation began in 1986 it has been guided by a simple idea imparted by its founders: listen to communities and invest in their solutions.

Now, 40 years in, we have an opportunity to reflect on both the progress made and the path ahead in northeastern Minnesota. For nearly half that time, early care and education has been central to this work—and for good reason.

Ninety percent of brain development occurs before age five, and the brain connections formed in those earliest years shape a child’s capacity for learning, emotional regulation, and lifelong health. Quality early care and education isn’t babysitting, it is one of the most important environments a child experiences, and one of the highest-return investments a community can make. When we underinvest in child care, we don’t save money. We defer costs and pay more later.

In a region where much of our population growth comes from 25- to 40-year-olds returning to their roots or relocating to raise families, access to child care is critical. Yet many rural communities across northeastern Minnesota don’t have a single licensed child care center, and the number of family child care providers has steadily declined.

Even in communities that do have options, demand exceeds supply. Providers who have built centers with capacity for 100 children report perpetual waiting lists and their own workforce challenges. Their experience is not unique; it reflects a regional shortage that still leaves us thousands of child care slots short.

The challenge is significant but fixable. We’ve made inroads.

For more than two decades, the Northland Foundation has worked alongside partners across the region as a hub to help sustain and grow child care. Providers, business leaders, local governments, school districts, tribal nations, and community members have come together to share ideas, test solutions, and pool resources. That steady collaboration has made a difference.

Together, we’ve worked with scores of child care programs in rural communities across the region. We’ve supported training and professional development opportunities for hundreds of caregivers, strengthening both skills and quality. We’ve promoted workforce initiatives to recruit and retain early educators. And we’ve connected providers with millions of dollars in grants to help them open, expand, or stay afloat.

Just as importantly, we recognized that child care is a complex small business. That’s why financing, business consulting, and mentorship have also been key ingredients in this mix of support.

Progress, however, is rarely linear. In one town, new slots open; in another, a provider closes. Simply holding steady can feel like success. But there is also forward movement. The regional child care shortage is slightly smaller than it was just a few years ago—a testament to sustained, collective effort.

Organizations like ours are continuing to expand the tools and partnerships needed to support this ecosystem.

This past year, for example, we welcomed local staff from Child Care Aware of Minnesota under our roof, further strengthening service coordination and access to resources for providers and families in our region.

We celebrate every step forward while knowing there are miles to go.

Whether you have young children or not, this is your issue too. Child care is infrastructure as fundamental as roads and broadband. When it fails, parents leave the workforce, businesses can’t fill jobs, schools lose enrollment, and tax bases erode. The ripple effects touch every household.
The evidence from neuroscience, economics, and forty years on the ground points in one direction: investing in children early is one of the highest-return investments a community can make. Not just for those children, but for all of us who share a future with them.

At the Northland Foundation, we’ll keep bringing people together, listening, and investing. And we hope more partners from government, business, and philanthropy will join us in treating child care not as a family’s private problem, but as a public priority.

Learn more about Northland Foundation and their work at northlandfdn.org.