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With child care shortages impacting families throughout Eastern Oregon, we reached out to Brittney Jackson for her perspective. Jackson is the director of Pendleton Children’s Center, a new non-profit that is working to provide affordable child care and preschool opportunities to the community.

EO Parent: What is your experience in early childhood care and education?

Brittney Jackson: I spent 10 years providing in-home child care, then transitioned to certified care to accommodate more children and hire employees. I continued that for another 12 years. I have five children of my own and have volunteered at their schools, especially in kindergarten classes. I attended trainings as often as possible and have collaborated with the Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub for the past 8 years. My degrees are in Early Childhood Education and Integrative Studies with minors in anthropology, sociology and psychology, and I’m currently working towards a bachelor’s in Business Administration with a minor in nutrition. For many years, I’ve devoted 60 or more hours a week towards caring for and learning about children and their development.

EOP: Is there anything specific that has inspired your work with the Pendleton Children’s Center?

BJ: I actually was planning to step back from providing child care in March of 2020, so I could focus on going to school full time. Then, of course, the pandemic happened with all the ensuing chaos, and I had my own online learners that I was trying to support. Soon after, the Pendleton Children’s Center reached out to ask if I would consult with them, as they were trying to get things started. I was glad to, as I feel the zero-to-five age range is a critical time for child development and it’s hard to provide adequate resources for families, which creates a complex problem. I found myself becoming more involved with the center as things moved forward and saw it as a great opportunity for Pendleton to provide high quality care for children. That work served as kind of an extended interview and evolved into my appointment as director. With the center, we’re hoping to not only provide exceptional and affordable child care in Pendleton, but to also expand our openings to serve more families, and create a model to inspire other communities.

EOP: What are some of the biggest challenges with this work?

BJ: Helping people understand that having access to affordable child care is everyone’s problem. A lot of people think it’s just an issue for those who need it, but the earliest years of a child’s development have huge long-term outcomes for the entire community. Investing in high quality early learning is so crucial, but not very well valued. Most child care workers make close to minimum wage. There was a time running my own daycare that I could not afford to pay myself. Working with children can entail long hours and be physically and emotionally taxing, so it’s challenging to attract and retain quality workers. Starting the center involved logistical problems: building a background registry and waiting for people to be cleared for work, making sure we meet the requirements for the Oregon Preschool Promise, and having adequate coverage when workers are out sick. We’re also working hard to quickly double in size and expand our openings by 18 more preschoolers, 10 toddlers, and 8 infants. We want to provide after school care for kindergartners and possibly older children, as well.

EOP: What do you consider the most pressing child care needs for the community of Pendleton and Eastern Oregon?

BJ: Care for infants seems to be the most difficult to provide and the most difficult to find. There are a lot of procedural and economic considerations with providing infant care and overwhelmingly that seems to be where the greatest need exists. In a broader sense, finding affordable and quality care at any age is challenging in Pendleton and beyond.

EOP: How has the community response been in terms of fundraising and support?

BJ: The community has really stepped up to support this endeavor, and there are those who have gone above and beyond to help. I feel that there may be some who are hesitant and waiting to see how successful we are moving forward before they want to invest in it. Some businesses have provided donations, and I’m hopeful we may be able to tap into help from employers looking to subsidize some of their employee child care expenses as a benefit to help retain workers and minimize high turnover costs.

EOP: Do you have any funny stories you could share from children you’ve worked with?

BJ: No specific ones, but I love working with kids – they’re always willing to say what they think. It makes things fun. I believe children are a huge source of untapped potential and I’m grateful to be able to work with them.