The Mason City Chamber’s Child Care Works Wage Supplemental Program

The Mason City Chamber of Commerce in Iowa leads Child Care Works—a countywide initiative that raises compensation for early-childhood staff by $2 per hour and organizes local business investment/matching to keep childcare seats open. Launched in January 2024, the program with dozens of childcare centers across northern Iowa.

The Child Care Works initiative in Greater Mason City was developed in response to a pressing need to stabilize and strengthen the local childcare workforce. In Cerro Gordo County, childcare centers have the physical capacity to serve hundreds more children, but they lack the staff to do so. The core issue is low wages. Entry-level child care workers earn an average of $9.51 per hour, while tenured employees make about $11.81 per hour. These low wages contribute to high staff turnover and prevent centers from operating at full capacity.

The solution provided by the Mason City Chamber is a collaborative model that tackles the financial instability of the childcare sector. Funded through grants and a business investment strategy, the program offers a Wage Supplement Program to stabilize the workforce by directly supplementing the low hourly wages of childcare workers. Concurrently, local businesses commit to purchasing childcare slots for their employees at a fixed rate, which provides reliable revenue for providers. By increasing the hourly pay of childcare staff, the program aims to boost retention and attract new educators, thereby enabling centers to utilize their full licensed capacity and directly increasing the availability of affordable childcare for working families.

~4-7 months