Found in Translation Alumnae Speak as Panelists on Childcare Solutions Webinar
On June 21st, two Found in Translation alumnae were invited to speak as panelists on a webinar hosted by MA Essentials for Childhood. (This is the same program that honored Found in Translation with the Essential Agent of Change Award last year.) The topic was “Childcare Solutions,” focusing on concrete examples of what is possible when childcare works. Linda Berisha ‘15 and Bishnu Tamang ‘18 were invited to share perspectives as parents who received childcare supports as part of our job training program. They spoke alongside institutional representatives from Headstart, Strategies for Children, and the Birth to 3rd Grade Partnership program in Cambridge.
Both Bishnu and Linda shared about bringing their children to Found in Translation’s free on-site childcare during their classes, and mentioned how critical this support was for their ability to complete the program and join the workforce.
Bishnu highlighted that she now appreciates having a career that allows her to schedule work around when her son will be in school so she does not need childcare all the time.
Linda, currently working as a head of HR, even shared about how she launched a new benefits initiative at her company to support parents with childcare. She said:
“I spoke with the leadership team and we came up with a program called “Childcare Subsidizing” where we provide employees with children from age 0-15 with $100 per month bonuses designed to help cover the cost of daycare, or if they choose to have someone care for their children at home… I saw that [because of this change] we reduced stress and anxiety, and that employees were happier, more excited and felt relief. It was basically a game changer in retention and recruitment in the last year. We focused on supporting the needs of working families, and then we attracted also more talented workers in their prime, while retaining valuable employees with children, or who were considering starting a family, which I do not believe should be a burden to anyone.”
Childcare is such an important aspect of socio-economic wellbeing – it was wonderful to hear our alumnae participate in such an important discussion.
The full recording is available here: