MARESA pilot program offers help for childcare crisis in UP

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - The Marquette Alger Regional Educational Service Agency (MARESA) is working to address the childcare shortage in upper Michigan. They’re part of a new pilot program called the Michigan Tri-Share Program.

It’s a public-private partnership where the state, the employer and the employee can share equal responsibility for childcare by contributing one-third of the total cost. MARESA staff says this can help employers in a number of ways and strengthen the workforce in the U.P.

“This is not going to solve our childcare crisis but we desperately need to build up our workforce so that they’re willing to stay with their employer. This is good for retention, this is good for attracting employees, we know that when employees turnover it costs a lot to rehire and retrain,” said Lyndsay Carey, MARESA’s Early Childhood Education Director.

There is an informational meeting for interested employers Thursday at the MARESA office on Ohio Street in Marquette from 5-7:30 p.m. More information about the meeting can be found by clicking here.

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