Child Care Is a Workforce Problem: Staci Gilpin on WDIO
Participants at the “Three Legs to Stand On: Building Regional Workforce Stability” community forum held on April 22, 2026, at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, MN
Rural Pathways was well represented at this week’s Iron Range child care convening at the Minnesota Discovery Center, where community leaders, employers, and providers gathered to talk solutions to a shortage keeping nearly 700 people out of the workforce.
Co-founder Staci Gilpin reframed the conversation in her remarks to WDIO: “It’s rethinking child care as a family problem, and really looking at it as a workforce problem. Employers do have a lane in this place.”
Rural Pathways senior affiliate Shawntel Gruba, owner of Iron Range Tykes, spoke to the urgency of the moment: “We are educating them about how the business model is failing right now, and how much this impacts everybody—like infrastructure, schools, and broadband.”
The event spotlighted promising tools, including the revised federal Section 45F tax credit, which offers employers up to 50% back on child care investments of up to $600,000, and local examples like NorthRidge Community Credit Union’s partnership with Iron Range Tykes.
Watch the full WDIO segment here.