Burgum, Sanford discuss child care challenges and solutions with providers and business leaders

A press release from North Dakota Governor Burgum's office reads, "Gov. Doug Burgum, Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford and Department of Human Services (DHS) Executive Director Chris Jones today held roundtable meetings with child care providers and business leaders from across the state to discuss the impacts of North Dakota’s child care shortage and explore ways to increase access to child care to support caregivers, employers and economic growth.

Burgum announced the meetings during his 2022 State of the State address last January as part of a broader effort to address child care challenges related to quality, affordability and accessibility as North Dakota strives to support working parents and compete with other states for workforce. “We know if we’re going to make progress in our state on solving the workforce issues, then we’ve got to solve the child care issues. We know that workforce is the No. 1 thing that’s holding back the economy in North Dakota,” Burgum said in opening remarks to the business leaders. “We’ve got to increase workforce participation. Part of the way we do that is making sure that we have an opportunity for parents to participate or not drop out of the workforce for X number of years because they can’t afford the child care, it’s not the quality that they want for their kids or it’s not even available.”

Read the full press release here.