Micro Centers: Answering the Need for Affordable, High-Quality Childcare in Chattanooga

Twenty years ago, the Chambliss Center for Children and Hamilton County Schools pioneered a new vision for local child care: small, or micro, child care centers within public schools as a thoughtful and proactive way to support and retain teachers and staff.  

Today, such a need for employee retention has only increased. One of the great urgencies of working families in Hamilton County is finding high-quality child care that is affordable.  

So, let’s build more Micro Child Care Centers.  

“Increasing the number of high-quality child care seats in the community is building work-enabling infrastructure,” said Jennifer Andrews, Director of Early Childhood Strategies for Chattanooga 2.0 who leads the Early Matters action team.  

Early Matters’ bold vision is for Chattanooga and Hamilton County “to become the best place in the nation for a child to be born and raised.”  This includes access to high-quality child care, which Andrews calls “a two-generational benefit”: good for the economic stability of the young family and good for the cognitive and social development of the child.  

“Micro-Centers are unique in that not every state allows them. They are a new option for businesses to add onsite care, without investing hundreds of thousands into a stand-alone onsite care facility. Over 90% of child care centers in Hamilton County have a waiting list, so any amount of seats that can be added is adding to the economic good of our community,” Andrews said.  

Thankfully, Chambliss Center and Chattanooga 2.0 are again pioneering a new Micro Center Child Care network in Hamilton County. Local businesses are invited to host a Micro Center, which would exist on-site for employees and/or nearby residents.  

Here’s how it works: 

• Regional businesses, corporations, churches, factories, schools, hospitals or building owners offer to host or house a Micro Child Care Center for its employees.  

• Each Micro Center classroom serves 12 children, from six weeks to five years old.   

• Businesses are responsible for certain costs, including most facilities-related or occupancy expenses like utilities.  

“For example, a business could determine that they will subsidize the cost of care for their employees to use the child care seats,” Andrews began. “Or, a business could host the classroom, and only utilize half of the seats, opening up the other six seats to families within the community seeking child care.” 

• Chambliss Center will provide on-site consulting, the hiring and training of Micro Center teachers, ongoing administrative operations, as well as carry classroom liability insurance while managing licensing and inspection, conducted by The Tennessee Department of Human Services. 

• Specific site needs are tailored to each business – a retrofit of an old office that needs a sink and toilet, perhaps. Funds can be raised in a variety of ways. 

• Your business will not become a licensed child care facility but will be licensed under the Chambliss Center as a Group Child Care Home.  

• The number of teachers hired for each Micro Center depends on the age of enrolled children. Younger children require more teachers, support and supervision. Usually, Micro Centers employ three staff, including one part-time teacher.  

• Children are taught using a curriculum that focuses on developing literacy skills, critical thinking, gross and fine motor skills and social and emotional skills. Classrooms follow a daily schedule that includes meals, free and play time, naps, instruction and time outside. 
   

“Onsite child care is the new recruitment and retention tool,” said Andrews. “Employees used to look for a matching 401k and now they’re looking for family-friendly benefits that will enable them to work.”  

Micro Child Care Centers embodies the bold vision – becoming the best place in the nation for a child to be born and raised – by placing child care within the community, which reduces so much stress and caregiver difficulty. Through Micro Child Care Centers, business owners can provide compassionate and effective programs that only serve to strengthen the bonds between family and the workplace. 

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Contact Jennifer Andrews – [email protected]  – for more information, including a sample caregiver survey that can help you understand the caregiving needs of your employees.