Local leaders say DeKalb County workforce readiness starts at home

DeKALB – Leaders from business and nonprofit sectors across DeKalb County are brainstorming ways to address how early childhood education impacts the current and future workforce.

A recent forum was hosted by the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education in collaboration with the DeKalb County Collaborative for Young Children and Birth to Five Illinois Region 16.

Held at the Community Outreach Building, the forum included opening remarks, a series of presentations, a call to action, a question-and-answer session and closing remarks.

Amanda Christensen, superintendent at the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education, emphasized that “career starts in the crib” and how paramount it is for people to realize that.

“I’ve talked to some businesses before in manufacturing or retail,” Christensen said. “A lot of times the focus in the community is, how can we make our high school students better for the workforce? How can we prepare high school students to be great workforce? Our suggestion is, if you want a great local workforce, you have to start from day one. You have to start in the crib. Because during those first five years, 90% of brain growth occurs. Lifelong neuro-connections are being built.”

“Families who feel supported and parents with access to resources will enhance a more productive workforce.”

—  Hillary Cali

Kindergarten Individual Development Survey Data from 2022 to 2023 shows that 30.9% of DeKalb School District 428, 33.5% of Sycamore School District 427 and 32% of Genoa-Kingston School District 424 children demonstrated kindergarten readiness.

Samantha McDavid, coordinator of early learning programs at the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education, noted that the local workforce is compounded by issues with the early childhood education and childcare workforce shortage.

“There’s potentially over 5,000 children under the age of 5 that don’t have a seat in childcare or preschool,” McDavid said. “We know that not all children may use a seat, but 5,000 is an awful lot to not have a seat.”

Cohen Barnes, DeKalb mayor and owner of Sundog IT, 230 E. Lincoln Highway, was among those on hand for the forum. He said his IT business does its best to accommodate working parents.

“Currently, we already have a program when someone has a newborn,” Barnes said. “We do a diaper drive. We give a gift card. We do other things to welcome the new addition to our group.”

Hillary Cali, community navigator at the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education, said that by helping employees to obtain the tools they need to support their families, emotional stressors can be reduced to allow working parents to better reach their goals in the workplace.

Preventive resources in the community, such as home-visiting programs, support parents and families at home by providing education, tips and activities to fulfill co-created plans for child development goals.

“Families who feel supported and parents with access to resources will enhance a more productive workforce,” Cali said.

Amy Peura, the owner of Amy’s Schoolhouse, 122 N. First St., was also on hand for the forum. She said her tutoring business strives to meet students and their families where they’re at.

“During the summer, we offer a variety of hours,” Peura said. “We have a ton of different offerings for families. We understand that some parents work all summer. … We try to accommodate the best we can.”