Groundwork Ohio Roadshow 2026: Ross County
Groundwork Ohio’s Roadshow traveled to Ross County on September 22 for a community roundtable at the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce followed by a visit to Goodwill Childcare in Chillicothe, bringing together business, early childhood, education, nonprofit, and government leaders to discuss what families need—and how child care is connected to the region’s workforce and economic future. The stop was hosted in partnership with the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce.
Policymakers and public officials participating included State Rep. Mark Johnson; Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney; Ross County Commissioner Jack A. Everson; Bryn Stepp, Regional Director for Southeast Ohio with U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s office; and Jeremy Shanklin, Southeast Regional Representative with U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno’s office.
From the beginning, the connection between children, families, and the workforce was clear.
“We’re here today … to talk about what affects families and what affects children in our community,” said Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mike Throne. “Because all those things connect back to workforce.”
You Can Create Jobs—But Families Need Child Care to Fill Them
Ross County and the surrounding region are preparing for economic growth. But participants emphasized that attracting new employers is only part of the equation. Communities also need the infrastructure that allows people to participate in the workforce—including housing, transportation, and child care.
Groundwork shared statewide data showing that parents are reducing hours, shifting schedules, or leaving the workforce because of child care. Nearly half of small business owners surveyed also said a lack of child care hurts their ability to recruit and retain employees.
Mayor Feeney connected that challenge directly to the region’s workforce needs.
“You can create all the jobs you want, but if you don’t have people to fill them, it’s not going to necessarily matter.”
Participants discussed the need to increase both the affordability and availability of child care, particularly as new investments bring more workers and families to southern Ohio.
When Getting Ahead Means Losing Support
Another major theme was the challenge families can face when a raise, promotion, or additional hours cause them to lose child care assistance or other benefits before their earnings are enough to absorb those new costs.
Local providers described families who have faced exactly that decision. Participants even shared examples of workers asking not to receive a raise—or asking for fewer wages—because earning more could leave their family financially worse off.
As one participant put it, “The math just doesn’t work.”
The discussion included ideas being considered at both the state and federal levels to address these “benefits cliffs,” as well as Ohio’s employer child care assistance program. Bryn Stepp described Senator Husted’s efforts to help Ohioans avoid being penalized for advancement by providing participating pilot states with additional state-level flexibility in benefits administration through the Upward Mobility Act he introduced this Congress. Participants discussed how policies could better support families as they advance in their careers rather than creating a financial penalty for earning more.
Employers and Communities Are Looking for Solutions
The conversation wasn’t only about challenges. Ross County leaders are actively exploring new ways for businesses, child care providers, nonprofits, and government to work together.
Participants discussed employer-supported child care models and opportunities for several businesses to share the cost of helping employees access care rather than expecting a single company to build and operate its own center.
That spirit of collaboration may be especially important in southern Ohio, where lower population density and fewer volumes of families enrolling in early learning opportunities can make the economics of operating a child care program particularly difficult.
One participant described the shift already underway among local organizations:
“We’ve got to do this together. No one entity can do it.”
That willingness to collaborate could help communities develop solutions tailored to their particular employers, workers, and families.
The Child Care Business Model Is Still a Challenge
Even as families struggle with the price of child care, providers struggle to charge enough to cover the true cost of providing it.
Participants talked about the difficult balance between keeping tuition affordable for families and generating enough revenue to pay early educators competitive wages, maintain facilities, meet staffing ratios, and operate a sustainable program.
The challenge is especially pronounced for infant and toddler care, which is costlier to administer. Providers also described how staffing limitations can make it difficult to offer the early-morning or evening hours that workers need. Extending hours may help families working nontraditional shifts—but it also means adding staff and increasing payroll costs.
The early childhood workforce challenge starts even earlier. A representative from Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center described an early childhood education program serving approximately two dozen high school students each year, but noted that many participants see it as a pathway to teaching rather than a long-term career in child care because of the wages available in the field.
Child Care Is About More Than Getting Parents to Work
The conversation also served as an important reminder that high-quality early learning is not simply a workforce support.
Local leaders discussed the opportunity to expose young children to STEM concepts from an early age and build stronger connections between child care, early education, K-12 schools, and the careers growing throughout the region.
Families also need different kinds of care. One parent shared the additional difficulty of finding appropriate care for children with disabilities who may require more individualized support. Others discussed the role of grandparents and relatives who step in when families cannot find or do not feel comfortable with formal child care.
Those experiences reinforced that there is no single child care solution that will work for every family—or every Ohio community.
Seeing the Challenge—and Opportunity—Up Close
Following the roundtable, Groundwork Ohio visited Goodwill Childcare, operated by Goodwill of South Central Ohio and supported by Children’s Hunger Alliance, who administers the site’s federally-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
The tour brought many of the morning’s conversations to life.
Goodwill leaders described a program currently able to serve about 31 children. They are exploring an expansion that could eventually allow them to serve nearly 100—an important increase in a community where demand remains high.
But their experience also demonstrates why simply opening more child care programs is difficult. Goodwill leaders described operating the center at a financial loss in recent months as they work to balance enrollment, staffing ratios, physical space, affordability, and quality.
“No small business can do that,” one participant observed during the tour—a reminder that many independent providers do not have another part of an organization available to absorb child care losses.
What We’ll Carry Forward
Ross County leaders are thinking seriously about what economic growth will mean for their community. Their message was clear: child care has to be part of that conversation.
That means increasing capacity while keeping care affordable. It means building a strong early childhood workforce. It means helping families advance economically without suddenly losing the supports that make employment possible. And it means creating partnerships among businesses, providers, schools, nonprofits, and government instead of expecting any one sector to solve the problem alone.
Most importantly, Ross County showed the value of bringing those voices together.
Groundwork Ohio is visiting communities across the state to learn what is working for young children and families and what needs to change. What we hear will help inform our work with Ohio’s next governor and the 137th General Assembly.
The solutions may look different from one community to another. But Ross County reinforced a lesson we are hearing across Ohio: when families can find child care that works, communities and economies are stronger, too.
Learn More
Explore Groundwork Ohio's county fact sheets to learn more about the data behind this Roadshow stop.
