Advisory group grows employee and student child care resources

Caring for children requires pivoting in unexpected ways – from colds, to travel, and sudden needs for backup care – all on top of completing professional and academic responsibilities.

Fortunately, there are more resources available to Virginia Tech employees and students than ever before, thanks to the Early Childhood Education Initiatives (ECEI). The program, led by Kim Thomason and graduate student Isabel Valdivia, works to strengthen child care resources for the Virginia Tech community through education, administrative support, and workforce development.

Their work is greatly informed by the ECEI Advisory Working Group: faculty, staff, and students from multiple campuses who regularly meet to discuss caregiving needs at Virginia Tech, often based on their own experiences as caregivers.

Saving caregivers time and energy

“The action-oriented nature of this committee astonishes me every time. I’ll point out some really thorny longstanding challenge for working parents or express concern about a blind spot in existing policy, and we often find a way to address it,” says Katie Carmichael, associate professor in the English department and member of the group.

Carmichael was motivated to join after the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was suddenly thrust into full-time child care work for her 3-year-old and 11-month-old on top of her normal workload.

“It was truly formative for understanding the significance of having that high quality care for being able to juggle my job responsibilities, home responsibilities, and sanity,” said Carmichael.

She’s proud of the changes that have been advised on since the group’s inception, from adding lactation room and changing tables to the university’s interactive campus map, to hosting Virginia Tech parent meetups with Hokie Wellness.

One of the latest changes can be seen in the program's summer child care lists. The annual race to find weekly summer camps has been made a little easier through Virginia Tech’s compilation of regional offerings – and this year, the list is searchable by schedules, themes, and age groups.

“This is the type of invisible, and exhausting, labor that most working parents have to do every summer in order to maintain productivity. I hope parents will make use of this amazing resource,” said Carmichael.

Building community

Mallory Tuttle ’14 was a new parent when joining Virginia Tech in 2019 as associate director of the Newport News Center and the Center for Economic and Community Engagement – in fact, she was pregnant during the interview process. Having gone through orientation with questions about parenthood on top of mind, she joined the ECEI Advisory Working Group to improve the process for others as well as add her voice as an alumna and employee at one of Virginia Tech’s Commonwealth Campus Centers.

“I was asking all these questions, because benefits can be very different between jobs, and you don’t know what you don’t know,” said Tuttle.

One idea she had was to create confidential office hours for employees, allowing anyone at Virginia Tech to talk with a working group member and find support around planning for or raising children.

“It’s personable, and helps build community,” said Tuttle.

She also used her experience to develop a parental leave protocol document, to help the teams of those on parental leave move projects forward in their absence, which has been shared during office hours.

“I can’t say how much it means to me that we have a paid parental leave program for faculty and staff. It’s not the standard practice across higher education in Virginia, or even across the nation, so it truly says a lot about Virginia Tech and its desire to want to make sure our employees have that support,” said Tuttle.

Growing resources

Ana Agud has been the manager of Work/Life programs in Hokie Wellness for 14 years, and saw Early Childhood Education Initiatives develop from its inception in 2021 from within the advisory working group.

“I’m particularly proud of the partnerships that have developed with the local child care centers. To see them grow from one to five in just the last couple years, knowing how in-demand they were, is incredible,” said Agud.

But there are often child care needs that don’t fit an 8-to-5 schedule, and she said the working group has been helping to explore other ways to fill in the gaps.

Care.com is one such service provided by the university with support from Early Childhood Education Initiatives and Hokie Wellness: it allows Virginia Tech employees to find short-term childcare solutions, as well as hire nannies, tutors, housekeepers, and pet care. And if you don’t want to scroll through candidates, you can post a job to the website and list specifically what you’re looking for.

Virginia Tech also has a partnership with Cultural Care Au Pair.

“When people hear ‘au pair,’ they immediately think they can’t afford that. But it’s really worth looking into if you have more than one child – the costs can be comparable. Plus, there’s a whole cultural experience the children get as well, which is priceless,” said Agud.

A collective impact

While each brings different perspectives, Agud, Tuttle, and Carmichael share a sense of fulfillment from being on the advisory working group and working with others from across campus.

“It’s been great to share thoughts, concerns, ideas – and be heard. And then, even more amazingly, this group pulls together and finds actionable solutions,” said Carmichael.