KIDS COUNT Honors 71 "Business on Board with Childcare!" Employers

March 24, 2010

CHARLESTON, WV - At an award event today in Charleston, the West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund honored 71 West Virginia employers who have achieved the organization's new "Business on Board with Childcare!" designation.  The "Business on Board with Childcare!" designation signifies an employer's adherence to key national and local criteria for a childcare-friendly workplace.  KIDS COUNT also announced that, of the 71 designees, 17 were selected for special recognition as winners of the "Business on Board with Childcare! Navigator Award."   The Navigator Award recognizes employers who have gone well beyond the minimum "Business on Board with Childcare!" criteria and are "charting the course" for a childcare-friendly work place. 

"KIDS COUNT applauds each of these award-winning employers for offering a childcare-friendly workplace," said Clark Hansbarger, President of the KIDS COUNT Board and Dean of the Charleston Campus of the West Virginia University School of Medicine.  "When companies support their employees' childcare needs, the result is more successful recruitment and retention, improved productivity, reduced absenteeism and tardiness and savings for the bottom line.   It also creates a culture that values, nurtures and realizes the potential of our youngest children, which is KIDS COUNT's vision for West Virginia's kids." 

The West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund, a non-profit organization that champions the needs of West Virginia's youngest children, launched the "Business on Board with Childcare!" award program in 2009.  Its purpose is to recognize businesses and organizations that offer childcare-friendly, workplace policies and encourage other West Virginia employers to follow their lead.   The "Business on Board with Childcare!" criteria were adapted from a list developed by the Families and Work Institute (www.familiesandwork.org) and from KIDS COUNT's own statewide effort to get parents, childcare providers and community leaders involved in advocating for better childcare policies.

The award event, which was sponsored by Navigator Award winner Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC), was also a celebration of KIDS COUNT's 20th Anniversary and was dedicated to the memory of KIDS COUNT founder Lawson W. Hamilton, Jr. 
 
Richard Adams, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of United Bankshares, Inc. and an emeritus member and former Chairman of the KIDS COUNT Board, was the event's keynote speaker and presenter of the Navigator Awards.  In his address to the award winners, Adams said, "I urge business, labor, and all sectors to get more involved in developing policies for our State which enable us to be competitive.  As it relates specifically to early childhood policy, West Virginia KIDS COUNT has recently produced a booklet called, 'A Playbook for Early Childhood Policy Change.'  I urge you to get a copy and get involved."
 
For the past 20 years, the West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund has been the state's most trusted source of information about the well-being of children and a leader in the effort to educate parents, policymakers and the public about what young children need to thrive and achieve.  KIDS COUNT's signature project is the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, which tracks key indicators of the health, education, safety and security, and economic conditions of children both on a statewide and county-by-county basis.  The Data Book is often the basis of public policy decisions and an important resource for those who seek and award funding from foundations and the private sector.
 
KIDS COUNT's recent advocacy work has been focused exclusively on advocating for better early child development programs. In 2008, KIDS COUNT launched the Kids First Communities Campaign, a groundbreaking, statewide effort to build grassroots support for new state investments that will improve childcare.  This campaign led directly to the 2009 passage of legislation launching West Virginia's first childcare quality rating and improvement system.  Also in 2009, KIDS COUNT launched "Business on Board with Childcare!" to recognize businesses that support their employees' childcare needs.   

Major funding for the "Business on Board with Childcare!" project was provided by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation; the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Early Care and Education; Thomas Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital; Jeanne G. and Lawson W. Hamilton Jr. Family Foundation; the West Viriginia Conference United Methodist Women and the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund.  For more information about KIDS COUNT or the "Business on Board with Childcare!" award program, go to www.wvkidscountfund.org, call 1-888-KIDS COUNT or e-mail margiehale@wvkidscountfund.org.