Sarah Walsinger, president and CEO of the Hays Chamber of Commerce, told the Ellis County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 7 that the county’s newly formed workforce and childcare task force is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to address long-term workforce supply and an ongoing shortage of licensed child-care capacity. The task force is creating a centralized job-resource portal, convening industry-specific high-school career cluster meetings, expanding training and benefits for small employers, and running a countywide high-school career experience on Oct. 29 at Hays High School.

Walsinger said the county will house regional job boards and employer resources on the chamber website (hayeschamber.com) so employers and jobseekers can find openings and training programs in one place. “We have started a pretty much region wide job board,” she said, and it will link local boards, the innovation center, KansasWorks, Handshake and other career platforms.

The task force’s work includes four goals: connecting workforce resources to local employers; supporting housing that meets workforce needs; developing a collaborative system to retain local students after graduation; and advocating for business-friendly state and local policy. Walsinger said the group includes representatives from the cities, county, Fort Hays State University, Fort Hays Technical College North Central, Hays Med, High Plains Mental Health Center, schools and multiple employers.

On K–12 outreach, Walsinger described an industry-by-industry “career cluster” series that brings students together with local businesses. The first session in September focused on distribution and manufacturing and drew about 15 students and five businesses; welding interest was high. The next cluster meeting is Oct. 15 (marketing/communications and related fields), and health sciences is scheduled for November. The task force will continue cluster meetings into 2026 on construction, early childhood education, hospitality and agriculture.

Walsinger said the Ellis County High School Career Experience on Oct. 29 will run 8:15–11:15 a.m. at Hays High School and the task force expects about 900 students (sophomores–seniors from multiple districts) to attend. Businesses are asked to submit company profiles so students learn about career paths, training and advancement opportunities locally.

On childcare, Walsinger said the county has lost 17 in-home child-care providers in the last four years and that, after a recent provider opening, the county still has an estimated “pretty close to 450 spots that need to be opened.” She said the 2021 inventory gap had been larger—“over 700 spots”—and that counts may vary depending on whether family/unlicensed care is recorded. The chamber is updating its childcare survey, pursuing grants to fund professional-development sponsorships for home providers, and working with Child Care Aware of Kansas and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to distribute emergency “crisis handbooks” and flip charts for providers.

The chamber also is coordinating provider supports: a provider appreciation event in June distributed emergency supply bags and flip charts; Hays High School is adding a Child Development Associate (CDA) track that will give students 120 hours toward licensure; and the chamber plans a childcare provider resource fair and a November training focused on business structures, insurance, state supports, local resources and marketing to help providers fill vacancies.

Walsinger said the task force is also exploring expanded benefits packages for employers (vision and dental supplements to Chamber Solutions health insurance), a wellness committee potentially supported by the Kansas Health Foundation, and employer incentives such as subsidized gym memberships to improve retention. “We do believe that this will be better for workforce retention because we do find that employers who invest more on their people do have higher retention rates,” she said.

Commissioners thanked Walsinger for the update and asked staff participation in cluster meetings. There was no formal vote; the item was an informational update and requests for community participation.

The task force meets monthly on the final Tuesday at the Welcome Center; the chamber maintains the workforce and childcare resource pages on hayeschamber.com and will publish business and provider-facing materials in advance of events.