November 13, 2024 • 41 mins
In this episode of Cannabis Enlightened, Dr. Leroy is joined by Grant and Maribel McKinze from UFCW Local 135, Candice Finn from March and Ash, and Laurie Han from the YMCA. They dive into the critical topic of childcare for working parents, especially those in the cannabis industry. The discussion explores how companies like March and Ash are addressing childcare challenges through innovative benefits like stipends and partnerships with local childcare providers, offering invaluable support to employees. Tune in for insights on how childcare can boost employee satisfaction, reduce absenteeism, and improve work-life balance in the cannabis sector. Tune in for valuable advice on navigating childcare choices while balancing work and family life.
This episode has been sponsored by: March and Ash
Don’t forget to follow or subscribe at OlasMedia.com
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Introduction and Sponsorship
00:01:15 - Types of Childcare
00:05:15 - Employee Experience with Childcare
00:08:58 - Union's Role in Childcare
00:13:40 - Impact of COVID-19 on Childcare
00:15:29 - Childcare benefits for employees
00:16:33 - Choosing the right childcare
00:18:24 - Support for families
00:23:06 - Benefits for employers
00:27:58 - Personal experiences with the childcare program
00:30:08 - Childcare Costs in San Diego County
00:31:29 - Employer Assistance for Childcare
00:34:31 - Seeking Childcare Services
00:38:21 - Union Support and Resources
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:29):
Hey, everybody, this is Doctor Leroy again with another stimulating
dynamic podcast from cannabis enlightened. And I got to tell you,
this is going to be a dynamic, really, really interesting podcast.
You you know what? You got to listen to this
(00:49):
all the way through and you'll probably listen to it
a couple of times. Okay. Our topic is child care.
And I tell you in this in the oldest media
studio right now, I have some dynamic people that have
information that you're going to love. And, you know, before
I get into that, though, I want to also state that,
(01:12):
as always, our program is sponsored by March and Ash.
So March and Ash has got a number of cannabis
stores all around San Diego. So if you have an
opportunity please visit them. They're beautiful stores. Okay. Child care.
And this is a subject that I think has reached
(01:32):
presidential area. I was listening to the debate the other
day and they were talking about child care on the debate.
So it's very timely that we're going to be talking
about it today. And the experts that we have, and
they are experts in the field in their particular area.
We have the union Ufcw union, and with us today
(01:55):
is Grant, Tom and also Maribel McKenzie from the Ufcw.
And then we have from March. And Ashe was an
employee at Martin Ashe. And also she participates in the
child care program, Candice Finn. And then the other part
of this to make it happen is Laurie Hahn from
(02:19):
the YMCA. She's a from the child care program, and
she's going to tell us all the little secrets about
child care. You know, what you do and what you
don't do. And something that blew my mind a little
bit ago when we were talking how much it costs.
Because I am completely away from that. Um, and that's
probably why it's such an important topic. Now, one of
(02:40):
the things that I think they started talking about, um,
even from the presidential debate debate, was what child care is.
So I want to throw that out there. What is
child care? What does it look like? Is it is
it taking your child to a particular place, or do
you have a choice of any type?
S2 (03:00):
Um, yeah, I mean, you you definitely have a choice. Um,
child care looks different for every single family. Sometimes, you know,
they want to use a child care center, which is
more of a, um, industrial kind of building or something
that's located on a school campus. And that's where children
(03:20):
are usually placed in the classrooms based on the ages
of the kiddos. There's also most of them are licensed,
but there are some licensed exempt programs that are not
required to be licensed that operate as a child care center.
There's licensed family child care homes, which are people who
get licensed to care for kids in their home. Um,
they can care for anywhere from 8 to 14 children,
(03:41):
depending on whether they have assistance and if they've done
child care before. Um, and then there's obviously with them,
there are there's limits on how many children under the
age of two they can have, and they have to
have a certain number of children over the age of
six in order to be able to take eight children
or 14. And there's license exempt centers like I mentioned.
(04:04):
Those are usually school age programs or operated on, um,
like military bases, you know, federal government stuff. Um, there's family,
friend and neighbor.
S1 (04:14):
So, Lori, would the first step be to talk with
someone like you at a YMCA?
S2 (04:19):
Yes. I mean, I think so. um, we are we
are the YMCA childcare Resource service. So I work for
a branch of the YMCA called Childcare Resource Service, and
we are the state funded childcare resource and referral agency
serving San Diego County. So we only work in San
Diego County. And but there are agencies like mine in
(04:40):
every county of the state, um, all under community based organizations.
Nonprofits are these resource and referrals. We call them R
and R's. Um, and we are, um, contracted through the
Department of Social Services to support families with finding the
childcare program that best meets their needs. Um, and but
(05:01):
we only refer to licensed centers, licensed exempt centers, and
licensed family child care homes. Um, but we do have
resources for families if they want to look for maybe
a nanny. Like, we can refer families to nanny agencies.
And there's also family, friend and neighbor. Maybe they want
to use a family member or, you know, their next
door neighbor or their best friend to watch their child.
(05:23):
And we can definitely help walk them through, like making
the choices on what is the best child care for
their family.
S1 (05:31):
Okay, so Candace, you are an employee of March and Ash,
and you use the services that Lori is talking about. Correct? Correct.
S3 (05:43):
Yeah.
S1 (05:44):
How does that work?
S3 (05:45):
So I have used it two different ways. I've actually
when I first started with the program, used it with
a nanny. And so it was just my child with
the nanny. And now we have him in school. And
so we're using it for both now, child care uh,
for that. And it's, um, how we, uh, how it's like,
benefiting us is just to know that I can still
(06:06):
go to work and provide for my family and just
be able to have my child have that social interactions
and kind of, um, an upbringing that he's not just
at home all the time.
S1 (06:18):
So what? What stopped the nanny? And then to school.
Was it the age of the child or it was.
S3 (06:23):
It was more to do with the age of the child,
to kind of. Then, you know, who was at the
age where he could go to like a more of
a montessori school is what we were putting them into.
S1 (06:33):
Okay. And how does that work in terms of, um,
I guess I have to say it paying for the cost. Yeah.
S3 (06:41):
That's, um, it is the scariest part, I think, of
child care for any family. Um, that starting off with
the nanny portion of it was easier. Um, it is
more expensive for us anyways to put them into school. Uh,
it definitely can really hold you back if you're not
ready for those payments. 100%. Um, it's the biggest, actually,
(07:05):
in our family. It's the biggest bill we have every
month is our child care. It's more than our rent
and our bills. Wait a minute.
S1 (07:11):
Put together more than your rent.
S3 (07:13):
Yes.
S1 (07:14):
So, what are we talking about in terms of the cost.
S3 (07:18):
Well, hours right now he is. He just turned two
years old, so he's just kind of in like a
daycare Montessori. And he it's about it's 1975 a month.
We got a good deal on our rent.
S1 (07:33):
1975.
S3 (07:36):
$1,975 for one kid.
S1 (07:41):
Oh my goodness.
S3 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to tell you the school.
S1 (07:46):
Oh my goodness. So what type of relief do you
get with that? I mean do you have to pay
that all yourself.
S3 (07:53):
No, no you don't. It's actually you. We have a
stipend amount through the YMCA in March and ash that
basically I'm paying about half a little bit more than half.
So it's a huge discount and a huge relief to
our pockets and being able to bring them there with
that like Concerns that we're going to be behind on
(08:16):
other payments or that will be taken out because we
can't make payments.
S1 (08:20):
So you're paying like $800 or 850 and then the
YMCA or March and Ash. March and ash is March
and ash pays as an employer.
S2 (08:31):
Yes. March and ash makes the payments. We facilitate the
payments to the providers as the you know, as our
we've been able to do that because we are set
up to pay providers. We have been for 45 years
as an alternative payment program. So we have the infrastructure
to be able to make the direct payments to the providers.
(08:52):
And so March and Ash as part of their collective
bargaining agreement, I think is what it's called, um, put
childcare for their employees into that agreement or the employees
did that. I'm not sure. Um, and so each employee
can get up to, I think, $4,500 a year towards
the cost of their care, each employee, not just family. Yeah.
S1 (09:15):
So I would imagine Grant and Maribel, this is a
big part of your negotiating the union because March and
Ash specifically is a union shop. And I would imagine
also that other companies that are union that this is
part maybe of what you negotiate or try to negotiate the,
(09:36):
the childcare.
S4 (09:38):
Yes. Okay. This is what we do. And with March
and Ash is a little bit different. You know our
philosophy at our union, Ufcw local 135. Our philosophy is
we partner with the employers, and we speak on behalf
of the members and the employees that work there. And
when we created the contract, the agreement, it was like
(10:00):
the principles of March and Ash, like Brett, Blake and John,
you know, our value is align even when it comes
down to it. Like like my position as a union.
We will advocate for the workers and we speak on
their behalf. It's the goal is what they're looking for
to make life better. And for March and Ashe, their
principles feel the same way because they're employees. They look
(10:23):
at them as assets, like, what can we do to
help them out? And when we created our contract, what
in negotiations, we basically created a contract together, you know,
with the ideas of the members that were given to
us as leaders. You know, we were able to, you know,
create that. And it was like, what are we going
to do for childcare? And when we negotiate that or
(10:45):
created it, we were, you know, we put we drew
it up not knowing exactly what it would look like,
because it's kind of like conceptually there's I don't think
there's any cbas or contracts, collective bargaining agreements that unions
and employers negotiate that have that element in there.
S1 (11:04):
So what was that word you cvas.
S4 (11:06):
CBA's CBA collective bargaining bargaining agreement. That's okay. Collectively, we
bargain in agreement. The contract. Yeah. And that's the employer's,
you know, like the principal's they're signing on. It's like,
this is what I agreed to. This is my promise
to my employees.
S3 (11:25):
And I have something to say to that. Oh, go.
S5 (11:27):
Ahead, go ahead.
S3 (11:29):
Well, with being with Martin Ash for a long time now.
The owners, they are all family guys. And they're all
they come from families. They all have young kids. They
do really recognize, like how difficult it can be to
manage and balance work and new family life. And a
lot of the employees that we have here being awesome.
It's really cool that we have a young company, we
(11:51):
have a young new families. So we have a lot
of first time, um, parents here at Martin Ash. So
they're just now realizing how it is to try to
keep working and kind of juggle all the family responsibilities
as well. So having something like this just it's like
a huge support and weight off their chest and shoulders
(12:12):
to feel like they can do that. And like having
a company that supports you, having a family and can
be there for you for that is just a great
feeling to come to work and have a family.
S5 (12:23):
Yeah.
S1 (12:23):
Is that something unusual? Um, you know, from, from a
union standpoint to find a company that we.
S4 (12:31):
Partner with different companies in different ways. This is very unique.
And this cannabis.
S3 (12:36):
Company. Yeah.
S4 (12:37):
For a cannabis company, you know, the idea that our
values align, what we create for it, education, child care.
It's really important to support the workers because we know
the cost of health, child care what it is today.
How do you even survive? You look at the cost
of food, everything like that. We're trying to create many things.
How do we create a health care program that benefits
(12:59):
the employees? And we were working on that right now still. But,
you know, that's a whole different subject matter. But, you know,
for childcare, you know, it's like we're proud of this.
And then I remember when we created it, it was like,
how who do we get to help this process along?
And it's like it's tough. You know, it's like, how
do we we make this. And we're just it was
(13:22):
a challenge. And then we found the YMCA. It's like, hey,
can you facilitate this program? And they're like, hey, that's
what we do. Yeah. And they align perfect. And that's
where our partnership came together and in the program was created.
S1 (13:37):
So it's something that.
S5 (13:38):
I wanted to add to that as well. Yeah.
S1 (13:40):
Absolutely.
S5 (13:41):
Um, also this this also came up because there was
a lot of concerns during Covid times. Um, this is
when this kind of picked up, when a lot of
people had to choose whether they came to work during
Covid or they ended up staying at home because of
the cost of childcare was so much money. And for
some people, it was going to be the same amount
(14:03):
of money that they were going to make coming to work,
as they were going to pay for child care. So
this is actually when that came up during around Covid times. Yeah.
And that's when we definitely partnered up. And we realized
how much of a high cost for child care was.
S1 (14:17):
So is this something is this something every company deals
with or is it just that new for the cannabis industry?
S4 (14:27):
Um, you know, I think the challenge is definitely for everyone,
but as far as the system and having the child
care stipend, the program that March and Ashe and the
contract that was created is unique. Um, nobody I believe
in cannabis has this even in retail, medical, nobody has this.
S1 (14:47):
So you're telling me no other cannabis company and in
San Diego, at least, or. Yeah. Can I go California? Well,
San Diego County. Yeah, San.
S4 (14:57):
Diego for sure.
S1 (14:58):
We'll just stay San Diego County.
S4 (15:00):
Yeah, I've never heard of this anywhere. Like in any,
any contract, I have a database of various contracts of
different types that I went through to look for language
and to try to see some structure where I can
build from. There was nothing that's magnificent. So if there's
something out there, somebody needs to enlighten me. I haven't
(15:22):
seen anything.
S2 (15:23):
Well, and Brett wanted to make sure that the program
benefited his employees to the max. So families that have
kiddos in school and they didn't need childcare during the year,
they can actually use their benefit during the summer for
summer camps. So it didn't need to be used. It
wasn't cookie cutter. It's not, you know, one size fits all.
(15:43):
Everybody's going to get payments exactly the same way they can.
They can use it to maximize their own benefits and
what's going to meet their family's needs.
S1 (15:51):
Wait a minute. You're telling me that this child care
can be used to send a child to camp.
S2 (15:56):
De camp's camp? I think camp overnight camps. But I
know de camps for sure.
S3 (16:01):
And correct me if I'm wrong, is the program also
per parent? So say you have a mother and a
father working here in Martin Ash.
S5 (16:10):
You get double the double the coverage. Wait a minute.
S2 (16:13):
It's not per family, it's per employee. Yeah.
S1 (16:15):
You know, I want the listener to know I'm. I'm
amazed at a lot of this, and I am a
board member. So if two parents and, um, they each
have a child, or you have two children, they.
S2 (16:30):
Share the same child.
S1 (16:31):
Share the same child, you.
S3 (16:33):
Can both mother and father work at March and Ash.
They have one kid. They get they each get those
stipends for the couple.
S1 (16:40):
They each get the stipend. Yeah. So that means it's
fully paid. Could be. Am I close, am I? Well,
I'm just adding up 808 hundred. Well, it could come close.
S3 (16:52):
Yeah, it depends on, like, you know. Okay. You can
put them in a really nice school. Yeah.
S1 (16:57):
Okay. So. And yours go. Your Candace. Your child goes
to school now, right? You were saying? He does. He does.
And can you tell tell us the name of that school.
S3 (17:09):
Sure. I mean, yeah, it's it's called Kid Ventures Preschool Academy. My,
they have two different campuses. Mine's in Liberty Station. It
is wonderful. They do have a lot to go. That's
why it's a little pricier. But they do. They keep
it to ten kids in the classroom for his age.
And they they do a lot of really cool things there.
S1 (17:32):
Wow, wow. So Lori, do you come across any unusual
types of daycare facilities that are, I mean, a little
bit different?
S2 (17:44):
Um, there are there are programs that operate. They do
different curriculums. They might operate smaller ratios and they may
require more education. They're all they're all very different. And
that's part of the reason, as the R&R, we really
encourage families to to look at child care programs. So
(18:04):
talk us through what they're looking for. And then we
offer what we call like a concierge kind of enhanced referral,
where we'll call each program and say, you know, hey,
we have a family that has a three year old.
They need care. Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. They're
allergic to dogs. Can we verify that there's no dogs
(18:24):
at the program? Um, do you have an opening for
that age group? You know, like, get all the details
and make sure that they match, and then we can
give that shortened list to the family. So the family
is not calling 30 programs to find five to actually
go out and physically see. Um, it is definitely recommended
that they see the programs, you know, not just choose
(18:45):
one online. Um, but we do also offer a lot
of what we call consumer education materials, which are resources
on what to look for when you're choosing a child care,
what's going to be the best fit for your child?
Questions to ask. You know, things to look for. Looking
at the licensing history to make sure if they're licensed,
you know, you can see if they've had any complaints
and and licensing violations and really doing due diligence to
(19:09):
find child care and find one that really meets your
needs as a parent.
S1 (19:14):
Hey, this is a great place to take a break.
S6 (19:16):
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S9 (21:22):
And now let's jump back.
S6 (21:23):
Into that conversation.
S1 (21:25):
Now, I'm I'm sure that there are some employers, employees
and hopefully employers that are listening, that will be listening
to this podcast that hear about the cost. And they're
saying to themselves, oh my God, yeah, I can't afford that. Yeah.
You know, and so they'll be negotiating maybe with their
union and their union will say, hey, we want to
(21:47):
negotiate for this. What Is there an alternative for a company?
S2 (21:50):
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely an alternative for the families
and the companies for the families. When they call us
for child care referrals, we'll ask them if they need
help paying for child care, and we'll get them set
up to apply for child care subsidies, which is called
alternative payment in San Diego. Or we can help them
find a location that actually has direct funding from the state,
(22:11):
either as a state preschool or a Head Start program,
or a general child care program that has state funding.
And those subsidies, if they get alternative payment, they can
take that funding to any child care of their choice.
It could be a center of family, child care home,
a family friend and neighbor, a nanny, you name it. Um,
and but we do set them up with that. And
(22:33):
so we do that for anybody that that contacts our
child care referral line or applies online. There's a separate
website for that. Um, and then for employers, you know,
not every employer is is ready to invest in childcare benefit.
A childcare stipend. But we will provide the childcare navigation,
(22:56):
help them find the childcare program that matches their needs.
Help them apply for the subsidy. If you know if
that's something that they they're interested in and walk them through,
choosing a childcare provider that that best meets their needs,
we can do all of that for nothing. I mean,
that's we're funded by the state to do that. So
obviously we want families to take advantage of the subsidies
(23:19):
and the childcare services that are out there that we offer.
S1 (23:22):
So it sounds like what you're saying is my mother
used to tell me where there's a will, there's a way. Okay.
So all you have to do is bring it up
and let's see how we can work this type of
thing out. Whether you're, I guess, whether you're with a
union or not. With a union. Yeah. Um, there's a
childcare program that will probably fit in to whatever an
(23:43):
employee has. I mean.
S2 (23:44):
We would ideally love for more employers to be like
March and Ash and pay for portions of their employees childcare.
But if that's not possible, at least tap into the
resources and the services that are in your community to
hopefully get you set up.
S1 (24:01):
From a union standpoint, what's the type of feedback you
get from the employees?
S4 (24:05):
Oh, what I hear they love it. They love it.
One thing unique about this program is kind of the
way we created it. It created an overall program. So
a lot of the UN employees, you know, they get
to use the program, it's in the contract. But also,
you know, the, you know, the non-union employees like managers,
(24:26):
they get to use that also.
S1 (24:28):
So it's not just for the the hourly employees. It's
for it's for everybody.
S4 (24:33):
It's for everybody. Salaried employees also.
S3 (24:36):
Yeah. Um, um, I'm not in the union, but I
appreciate you guys. Um, but no, I think that a
company that does have a program like this, your employees
feel supported and they want to do good for you too.
So like if you're a company kind of struggling to
keep people at work or just kind of always having
people out, um, it's probably a big thing is number
(24:57):
one would be probably childcare or your child's sick or something,
but it does keep the employees feel just super supportive
and like you have their back. So they come to
work because they have that support from their their owners
and their managers and Union YMCA. Right.
S5 (25:15):
Yeah.
S2 (25:15):
I mean, child care is one of the biggest barriers
to being able to go to work on a daily basis.
If you're if you don't have childcare, you know, in
your piecemealing it together, it's very likely that you might
have to call out having a benefit that supports their
employees with paying for the childcare and getting them set
up with childcare, which getting set up with childcare is free. Um,
(25:37):
you know, it's it it definitely helps with absenteeism, being
present at work, you know, staying with an employer. I mean,
if you have a benefit like this at your current employer,
would you leave it or not? I mean, that's extra
money in your pocket. Yeah.
S4 (25:54):
When you think about that, you know, I would, you know,
as a union, I deal with a lot of employees
and their challenges many times. And throughout my career over
the last 23 years, like a lot of employees come
to me, hey, I'm in trouble. I didn't go to work. Why?
I couldn't get childcare. I couldn't come in. They called me.
(26:14):
Now they're mad at me. They're treating me like bad
because when they called me, I couldn't come to work
because I didn't have childcare that day. I expected to
be at home with them. And that's a major challenge,
you know, for many employees and workers everywhere. The child
care component, that's.
S1 (26:31):
An important point that you just brought up. Grant, because
it sounds like having a child care program will avoid
some discipline issues that might arise.
S4 (26:42):
Yeah, it does a lot. And you know, when you
think about it, you know, like with medical, you know,
when people don't show up, there's a calculation of how
much is lost per day. It's like it's the metrics
around that are incredible when you look at it. And
it depends on what the company or the industry does.
(27:02):
And they can calculate how many hours lost is, how
much profit and how much performance and is lost. And
so there's you know, they try to be proactive and
there's programs to kind of like help that along. And
there's different trackings and different ways of trying to improve that.
(27:23):
But when it comes down to a big part of
why people don't show up the root cause, why they
don't show up, it has to do with child care because,
you know, you've got single parents like, hey, it's just me.
I don't have any relatives in town. What am I
going to do? I can't afford that. I can't find anybody.
So they just. They call in sick. Yeah.
S1 (27:41):
So so I think that there was a an award
or some kind of contest that was won recently by
Martin Nash.
S2 (27:51):
Yeah. San Diego Business Journal just had an award ceremony
last week. Week before, and the YMCA march. Nash won
a joint award for nonprofit and business sector, you know, innovation.
S1 (28:06):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's magnificent.
S10 (28:09):
And it was.
S3 (28:09):
Strictly for, like the child care program. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful.
S10 (28:14):
Mhm.
S1 (28:14):
Wow. Wow. So Candice what any any types of stories
you have about them or your child care experience with
your young one.
S3 (28:27):
Well I just know like I had no clue about
child care even after I had a kid and, um,
just knowing. And it was just perfect timing that this
program became available to all Martin Ash employees. At the
same time, I was coming back from maternity leave, um,
trying to figure out how to do it ourselves and
then finding out that this is an option. I didn't
(28:50):
really even have to do research and look into it.
I just called our number that was provided for us
for the YMCA. I talked to a lovely lady named
Annabelle on the phone, and she pretty much said, you
don't worry, I will do this for you. Just tell
me what kind of program you're looking for. Um, and
the first time, it was just with our our nanny.
(29:10):
And so she was like, give me your nannies contact information.
And she set it all up for us. It was
just incredibly easy. And so from there on, I can't
not use this program. It's just it's just. And then
for going into school, it was a little different. But
she was basically able to kind of walk us through.
And if we didn't answer a phone call or email,
(29:32):
she was calling us, making sure that if what else
she can do to get this through so we're not
paying our full amount and gets the help from them.
And so I just think like great experiences, being able
to not feel stressed about trying to bring my child
somewhere or, you know, making sure I can go to
work so I can provide for the other things my
(29:54):
child needs as they grow. It's just been an awesome program.
And just just like you can breathe now and you
know that your child is with a responsible caregiver that
you're not stressing about at work, and you feel like
that your kid's in a safe place and you're able
to do what you got to do. You know?
S1 (30:11):
You know, I think the, the some of the points
that you just made, Candice, are hugely important. I mean,
it relieves a lot of stress that the employee has
on the job because, you know, this is taken care of.
And also from the standpoint of the cost, you know,
I think, Lori, we were talking a little bit earlier about,
I think you put a figure out there for a
(30:32):
young one. From 0 to.
S10 (30:36):
2.
S1 (30:36):
0 to 2.
S10 (30:37):
Yeah.
S2 (30:38):
The average in San Diego County, in a center based program,
is $747 a month. And in a licensed family child
care home, the average is $1,457 a month. That's the average.
So as you can tell, there's more. There's some that
are more and there's some that are less. But that
is a lot of money. For someone that had nine
(31:02):
months to prepare for anything earlier.
S3 (31:05):
Excuse me, that.
S2 (31:06):
It's more than sdsu's tuition. My niece is a is
a freshman at Sdsu.
S1 (31:10):
It's more than college.
S10 (31:12):
Yes. Yeah. Wow.
S1 (31:15):
It's more than a college semester.
S10 (31:17):
It's more.
S2 (31:17):
Than a year's worth of.
S10 (31:19):
A year's.
S2 (31:19):
Worth. Yes.
S1 (31:20):
So not a semester a year. Two semesters. Oh my.
S10 (31:23):
God. Jeez. It's a lot.
S2 (31:25):
And it's it's a it's a huge it's a huge burden. Um,
and that's why, you know, we want people to know, like,
even if your employer is not able to, you know,
help with the cost of care, you know, like march
and ashes, you know, still call us. We can try
and help get people enrolled into the subsidy and even
(31:45):
those that are in, um, you know, receiving the stipend
from March and Ash, they might still be eligible for
the alternative payment program, which would pay for the majority
of their care. And then March and Ash could pay
what is considered a copay, which is when your care
costs more than what the state will allow you to
reimburse for alternative payment.
S1 (32:07):
And is that copay? That's interesting word you just used
is that copay what the union negotiates?
S10 (32:14):
No, no.
S2 (32:16):
No, the union negotiated child care benefits.
S1 (32:19):
Just the benefit itself. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Then how how
is the the amount that's paid? How is that dealt
with with respect to the.
S10 (32:29):
Union at.
S4 (32:31):
That time? Brett and I would discuss there was a
percentage that was allocated for the program. Yeah.
S2 (32:37):
And so it's every employee like, you know, Candice mentioned
gets $4,500 a year towards the cost of their care.
S10 (32:45):
Okay.
S1 (32:45):
And if you're not union and you're an employee at
a particular company. Oh, yeah. Does it depend upon then
your salary or your income?
S10 (32:56):
Um, other.
S2 (32:57):
Employers have that pay for child care might pay just
a flat rate, you know, $2,000 a year or something.
Some might pay for all of it. It really just
depends on on the employer and what they're capable of,
of covering it as far as expenses. But we, you know, no,
no amount is too low.
S10 (33:19):
Wow.
S1 (33:20):
I am I am shocked. I mean, my my days
of having a young one are long gone. So I
don't have that to worry about. However, I'm just thinking
about a young couple that get together and maybe they
both have some, you know, college debt. Um, and they're
trying to get a house, they're trying to pay for groceries,
(33:41):
and they have a young mouth to feed. And not
only do they have that young mouth to feed, but
they have to do some daycare. So they got to
make some decisions. Yeah, right. Do we both work or.
But we both pretty much have to work. Yeah. To,
to keep up with our expenses. So it's good to
know that there's, there's a resource for them to be
(34:03):
able to take advantage of, to maybe alleviate some of
that cost.
S10 (34:07):
Yeah. I mean, child.
S2 (34:08):
Care is one of the biggest reasons why women leave
the workforce is because the expense and the access to
it is, is so incredible. Um, we also do hear
about families that do, you know, opposing shifts where maybe
mom works during the day and dad works at night. Or,
you know, your partner works opposite shift review, which then
(34:31):
means you might not need childcare. But then you're also
never together as.
S10 (34:34):
You never see each other, you know.
S1 (34:36):
Next thing you know, you're in divorce court.
S10 (34:37):
Huh?
S1 (34:39):
Okay, well, great. Great. Listen, it's been magnificent working with
all of you. And, you know, before we sign off,
I'd like to go around and, you know, get some
final words from. Start with you, Lori, in terms of
the why. What would you like to leave with our
listening audience?
S10 (35:00):
Um, I would.
S2 (35:00):
Love for any employee that needs child care, any person
in San Diego County that needs child care to to
reach out to my organization, child care resource service, to
get child care services, whether that's finding a child care
or getting help applying for subsidies, um, even if they
work for an employer that they hope will pay for benefits,
(35:24):
then they can definitely reach out also, and we'll get
them hooked up with something similar to what we do
for March and Ash. And if they cannot pay for
a portion of the childcare, we can at least provide
our services. We can go on site to their, um,
to their businesses to let their employees know about the
different childcare options that are available and subsidies. So.
S1 (35:44):
And how would someone get in touch with you?
S10 (35:46):
Oh, well, I.
S2 (35:47):
Have an email.
S10 (35:48):
Which is k l h.
S2 (35:49):
A n at YMCA. Org or my phone number is (619) 837-8013.
S1 (35:59):
Okay. All right. And let me go over to to Candace. Candace,
if a parent wants to get some parent to parent,
you know, type of, um, you know, advice on this,
how would they contact you?
S3 (36:13):
Um, yeah, sure. I'm definitely open to answering any questions
from new parents. And I do also want to really
encourage any March and Ash employees that haven't looked into
this yet that have kids. Go for it. Even if
you do have, you know, a good thing set up
right now. They could also help with those payments. Um,
but I would just say, um, the best way to
(36:34):
reach me would be my email. It's Candice c a
n d I c e at marching ash.com. Shoot me
your questions. We could also jump on the call if
you want.
S1 (36:44):
And you know what was so very cute about Candice
is I asked her, I think, a little bit a
word about. I made a mention to her son and
she picked up her phone and he's on the picture
on her phone. So that's very cute. And she's showing
it again to everybody.
S10 (37:01):
There he is right there. Thank you. He's so cute. Oh.
Thank you.
S3 (37:05):
So this is who you're helping.
S10 (37:07):
This is who you're helping.
S4 (37:08):
That is awesome.
S1 (37:09):
Okay. Thank you very much, Candice. And for our union, um,
Grant and Maribel, what would you, um. What words would
you leave with our audience concerning employers or employees to
maybe discuss that don't have a union, or to discuss
with their union about getting child care benefits for myself?
S5 (37:33):
Maribel Mackenzie as an organizer and political director, this is
something that we were able to negotiate and add on
to a contract. But even along with that, just like
Candace says, um, definitely encourage those members that have not
signed up for it or were not aware of it,
encourage them to look more into it, and even ask
some questions. And there might might not be able to
(37:57):
get into some programs. But obviously that's something that is
covered is in the contract. They do have something that
does help them out. And just like with the YMCA,
they might have other programs that they might be able
to help them with. So I strongly encourage them to
look a little bit more into that. And sometimes we
don't even know what we have until we really need it. Um,
(38:18):
just like Candace, right? Two years ago, maybe she wouldn't
have even thought about needing this. Um.
S1 (38:24):
Two years ago, she didn't have a child.
S10 (38:26):
That's why I'm saying.
S3 (38:28):
And then when it happens, then it really becomes real.
And you're like, how am I going.
S10 (38:31):
To do this? I like the way.
S1 (38:32):
She says that. Then when it happens.
S5 (38:35):
But no, I definitely encourage people to look into it
and look more into the benefits that you have that's
been able to get put in a contract. And anybody
out there that is interested in organizing, especially in the
cannabis industry, please feel free to reach out to me.
S1 (38:50):
How would they reach out to you?
S5 (38:51):
I have two ways. My email, which is m Mackenzie.
So m m c k I n z e at
UFC W135. Com or my cell phone number is (619) 548-3250.
Call or text at any time.
S1 (39:09):
Okay. Grant. Yeah.
S4 (39:12):
You know, a lot of people think you know, union
is kind of scary, especially from an employer's perspective. But
it's not like that. You know, like Maryville's, our political director,
I run the union. You know, we have resources. If
you need something, we can help, especially in this day
and age. You know, it's like, you know, legitimate legitimizing,
(39:35):
you know, people's careers, you know, cannabis and all that.
You know, we can make things happen. And it's like
we can create that together. And just, you know, Lori,
you know, thanks for sharing, Candace. You know, the results
of what we've done, I think we've done great things.
And you know what the employer the investment in the
(39:56):
employees and the union were the employees, pretty much. It's like,
you know what? It can bear really great fruit and
bring success.
S1 (40:06):
And well, thank you, everybody. Thank you. I really appreciate
all of you coming in and sharing this information, I
know it's going to be very, very vital. Um, people
listening to this are going to say, wow, I got
to get into this right away. Lori, thank you from
the YMCA. And Candace, thank you very much for March
and Ash and your young son. Um, tell him he
(40:29):
was a star today and Grant Mary Bell from UFC here.
Thank you. Once again, thank you. Like A12 punch, right?
Thank you. It's hard to say no to to to
the two of you. Thank you very much.
S10 (40:40):
Thank you.
S1 (40:41):
And thank all of you for listening to Cannabis Enlightened.
This is Doctor Leroy. And if you want to listen
to this podcast and all the podcasts that I have, um,
take your time. Look at, you know, get on and
see cannabis enlightened. Com and if you'd like to leave me,
write me something email talking about this particular program. You
(41:03):
can email me at Doctor Leroy at Cannabis enlightened.com. Thank
you very much and have a great week.
Hey, everybody, this is Doctor Leroy again with another stimulating
dynamic podcast from cannabis enlightened. And I got to tell you,
this is going to be a dynamic, really, really interesting podcast.
You you know what? You got to listen to this
(00:49):
all the way through and you'll probably listen to it
a couple of times. Okay. Our topic is child care.
And I tell you in this in the oldest media
studio right now, I have some dynamic people that have
information that you're going to love. And, you know, before
I get into that, though, I want to also state that,
(01:12):
as always, our program is sponsored by March and Ash.
So March and Ash has got a number of cannabis
stores all around San Diego. So if you have an
opportunity please visit them. They're beautiful stores. Okay. Child care.
And this is a subject that I think has reached
(01:32):
presidential area. I was listening to the debate the other
day and they were talking about child care on the debate.
So it's very timely that we're going to be talking
about it today. And the experts that we have, and
they are experts in the field in their particular area.
We have the union Ufcw union, and with us today
(01:55):
is Grant, Tom and also Maribel McKenzie from the Ufcw.
And then we have from March. And Ashe was an
employee at Martin Ashe. And also she participates in the
child care program, Candice Finn. And then the other part
of this to make it happen is Laurie Hahn from
(02:19):
the YMCA. She's a from the child care program, and
she's going to tell us all the little secrets about
child care. You know, what you do and what you
don't do. And something that blew my mind a little
bit ago when we were talking how much it costs.
Because I am completely away from that. Um, and that's
probably why it's such an important topic. Now, one of
(02:40):
the things that I think they started talking about, um,
even from the presidential debate debate, was what child care is.
So I want to throw that out there. What is
child care? What does it look like? Is it is
it taking your child to a particular place, or do
you have a choice of any type?
S2 (03:00):
Um, yeah, I mean, you you definitely have a choice. Um,
child care looks different for every single family. Sometimes, you know,
they want to use a child care center, which is
more of a, um, industrial kind of building or something
that's located on a school campus. And that's where children
(03:20):
are usually placed in the classrooms based on the ages
of the kiddos. There's also most of them are licensed,
but there are some licensed exempt programs that are not
required to be licensed that operate as a child care center.
There's licensed family child care homes, which are people who
get licensed to care for kids in their home. Um,
they can care for anywhere from 8 to 14 children,
(03:41):
depending on whether they have assistance and if they've done
child care before. Um, and then there's obviously with them,
there are there's limits on how many children under the
age of two they can have, and they have to
have a certain number of children over the age of
six in order to be able to take eight children
or 14. And there's license exempt centers like I mentioned.
(04:04):
Those are usually school age programs or operated on, um,
like military bases, you know, federal government stuff. Um, there's family,
friend and neighbor.
S1 (04:14):
So, Lori, would the first step be to talk with
someone like you at a YMCA?
S2 (04:19):
Yes. I mean, I think so. um, we are we
are the YMCA childcare Resource service. So I work for
a branch of the YMCA called Childcare Resource Service, and
we are the state funded childcare resource and referral agency
serving San Diego County. So we only work in San
Diego County. And but there are agencies like mine in
(04:40):
every county of the state, um, all under community based organizations.
Nonprofits are these resource and referrals. We call them R
and R's. Um, and we are, um, contracted through the
Department of Social Services to support families with finding the
childcare program that best meets their needs. Um, and but
(05:01):
we only refer to licensed centers, licensed exempt centers, and
licensed family child care homes. Um, but we do have
resources for families if they want to look for maybe
a nanny. Like, we can refer families to nanny agencies.
And there's also family, friend and neighbor. Maybe they want
to use a family member or, you know, their next
door neighbor or their best friend to watch their child.
(05:23):
And we can definitely help walk them through, like making
the choices on what is the best child care for
their family.
S1 (05:31):
Okay, so Candace, you are an employee of March and Ash,
and you use the services that Lori is talking about. Correct? Correct.
S3 (05:43):
Yeah.
S1 (05:44):
How does that work?
S3 (05:45):
So I have used it two different ways. I've actually
when I first started with the program, used it with
a nanny. And so it was just my child with
the nanny. And now we have him in school. And
so we're using it for both now, child care uh,
for that. And it's, um, how we, uh, how it's like,
benefiting us is just to know that I can still
(06:06):
go to work and provide for my family and just
be able to have my child have that social interactions
and kind of, um, an upbringing that he's not just
at home all the time.
S1 (06:18):
So what? What stopped the nanny? And then to school.
Was it the age of the child or it was.
S3 (06:23):
It was more to do with the age of the child,
to kind of. Then, you know, who was at the
age where he could go to like a more of
a montessori school is what we were putting them into.
S1 (06:33):
Okay. And how does that work in terms of, um,
I guess I have to say it paying for the cost. Yeah.
S3 (06:41):
That's, um, it is the scariest part, I think, of
child care for any family. Um, that starting off with
the nanny portion of it was easier. Um, it is
more expensive for us anyways to put them into school. Uh,
it definitely can really hold you back if you're not
ready for those payments. 100%. Um, it's the biggest, actually,
(07:05):
in our family. It's the biggest bill we have every
month is our child care. It's more than our rent
and our bills. Wait a minute.
S1 (07:11):
Put together more than your rent.
S3 (07:13):
Yes.
S1 (07:14):
So, what are we talking about in terms of the cost.
S3 (07:18):
Well, hours right now he is. He just turned two
years old, so he's just kind of in like a
daycare Montessori. And he it's about it's 1975 a month.
We got a good deal on our rent.
S1 (07:33):
1975.
S3 (07:36):
$1,975 for one kid.
S1 (07:41):
Oh my goodness.
S3 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to tell you the school.
S1 (07:46):
Oh my goodness. So what type of relief do you
get with that? I mean do you have to pay
that all yourself.
S3 (07:53):
No, no you don't. It's actually you. We have a
stipend amount through the YMCA in March and ash that
basically I'm paying about half a little bit more than half.
So it's a huge discount and a huge relief to
our pockets and being able to bring them there with
that like Concerns that we're going to be behind on
(08:16):
other payments or that will be taken out because we
can't make payments.
S1 (08:20):
So you're paying like $800 or 850 and then the
YMCA or March and Ash. March and ash is March
and ash pays as an employer.
S2 (08:31):
Yes. March and ash makes the payments. We facilitate the
payments to the providers as the you know, as our
we've been able to do that because we are set
up to pay providers. We have been for 45 years
as an alternative payment program. So we have the infrastructure
to be able to make the direct payments to the providers.
(08:52):
And so March and Ash as part of their collective
bargaining agreement, I think is what it's called, um, put
childcare for their employees into that agreement or the employees
did that. I'm not sure. Um, and so each employee
can get up to, I think, $4,500 a year towards
the cost of their care, each employee, not just family. Yeah.
S1 (09:15):
So I would imagine Grant and Maribel, this is a
big part of your negotiating the union because March and
Ash specifically is a union shop. And I would imagine
also that other companies that are union that this is
part maybe of what you negotiate or try to negotiate the,
(09:36):
the childcare.
S4 (09:38):
Yes. Okay. This is what we do. And with March
and Ash is a little bit different. You know our
philosophy at our union, Ufcw local 135. Our philosophy is
we partner with the employers, and we speak on behalf
of the members and the employees that work there. And
when we created the contract, the agreement, it was like
(10:00):
the principles of March and Ash, like Brett, Blake and John,
you know, our value is align even when it comes
down to it. Like like my position as a union.
We will advocate for the workers and we speak on
their behalf. It's the goal is what they're looking for
to make life better. And for March and Ashe, their
principles feel the same way because they're employees. They look
(10:23):
at them as assets, like, what can we do to
help them out? And when we created our contract, what
in negotiations, we basically created a contract together, you know,
with the ideas of the members that were given to
us as leaders. You know, we were able to, you know,
create that. And it was like, what are we going
to do for childcare? And when we negotiate that or
(10:45):
created it, we were, you know, we put we drew
it up not knowing exactly what it would look like,
because it's kind of like conceptually there's I don't think
there's any cbas or contracts, collective bargaining agreements that unions
and employers negotiate that have that element in there.
S1 (11:04):
So what was that word you cvas.
S4 (11:06):
CBA's CBA collective bargaining bargaining agreement. That's okay. Collectively, we
bargain in agreement. The contract. Yeah. And that's the employer's,
you know, like the principal's they're signing on. It's like,
this is what I agreed to. This is my promise
to my employees.
S3 (11:25):
And I have something to say to that. Oh, go.
S5 (11:27):
Ahead, go ahead.
S3 (11:29):
Well, with being with Martin Ash for a long time now.
The owners, they are all family guys. And they're all
they come from families. They all have young kids. They
do really recognize, like how difficult it can be to
manage and balance work and new family life. And a
lot of the employees that we have here being awesome.
It's really cool that we have a young company, we
(11:51):
have a young new families. So we have a lot
of first time, um, parents here at Martin Ash. So
they're just now realizing how it is to try to
keep working and kind of juggle all the family responsibilities
as well. So having something like this just it's like
a huge support and weight off their chest and shoulders
(12:12):
to feel like they can do that. And like having
a company that supports you, having a family and can
be there for you for that is just a great
feeling to come to work and have a family.
S5 (12:23):
Yeah.
S1 (12:23):
Is that something unusual? Um, you know, from, from a
union standpoint to find a company that we.
S4 (12:31):
Partner with different companies in different ways. This is very unique.
And this cannabis.
S3 (12:36):
Company. Yeah.
S4 (12:37):
For a cannabis company, you know, the idea that our
values align, what we create for it, education, child care.
It's really important to support the workers because we know
the cost of health, child care what it is today.
How do you even survive? You look at the cost
of food, everything like that. We're trying to create many things.
How do we create a health care program that benefits
(12:59):
the employees? And we were working on that right now still. But,
you know, that's a whole different subject matter. But, you know,
for childcare, you know, it's like we're proud of this.
And then I remember when we created it, it was like,
how who do we get to help this process along?
And it's like it's tough. You know, it's like, how
do we we make this. And we're just it was
(13:22):
a challenge. And then we found the YMCA. It's like, hey,
can you facilitate this program? And they're like, hey, that's
what we do. Yeah. And they align perfect. And that's
where our partnership came together and in the program was created.
S1 (13:37):
So it's something that.
S5 (13:38):
I wanted to add to that as well. Yeah.
S1 (13:40):
Absolutely.
S5 (13:41):
Um, also this this also came up because there was
a lot of concerns during Covid times. Um, this is
when this kind of picked up, when a lot of
people had to choose whether they came to work during
Covid or they ended up staying at home because of
the cost of childcare was so much money. And for
some people, it was going to be the same amount
(14:03):
of money that they were going to make coming to work,
as they were going to pay for child care. So
this is actually when that came up during around Covid times. Yeah.
And that's when we definitely partnered up. And we realized
how much of a high cost for child care was.
S1 (14:17):
So is this something is this something every company deals
with or is it just that new for the cannabis industry?
S4 (14:27):
Um, you know, I think the challenge is definitely for everyone,
but as far as the system and having the child
care stipend, the program that March and Ashe and the
contract that was created is unique. Um, nobody I believe
in cannabis has this even in retail, medical, nobody has this.
S1 (14:47):
So you're telling me no other cannabis company and in
San Diego, at least, or. Yeah. Can I go California? Well,
San Diego County. Yeah, San.
S4 (14:57):
Diego for sure.
S1 (14:58):
We'll just stay San Diego County.
S4 (15:00):
Yeah, I've never heard of this anywhere. Like in any,
any contract, I have a database of various contracts of
different types that I went through to look for language
and to try to see some structure where I can
build from. There was nothing that's magnificent. So if there's
something out there, somebody needs to enlighten me. I haven't
(15:22):
seen anything.
S2 (15:23):
Well, and Brett wanted to make sure that the program
benefited his employees to the max. So families that have
kiddos in school and they didn't need childcare during the year,
they can actually use their benefit during the summer for
summer camps. So it didn't need to be used. It
wasn't cookie cutter. It's not, you know, one size fits all.
(15:43):
Everybody's going to get payments exactly the same way they can.
They can use it to maximize their own benefits and
what's going to meet their family's needs.
S1 (15:51):
Wait a minute. You're telling me that this child care
can be used to send a child to camp.
S2 (15:56):
De camp's camp? I think camp overnight camps. But I
know de camps for sure.
S3 (16:01):
And correct me if I'm wrong, is the program also
per parent? So say you have a mother and a
father working here in Martin Ash.
S5 (16:10):
You get double the double the coverage. Wait a minute.
S2 (16:13):
It's not per family, it's per employee. Yeah.
S1 (16:15):
You know, I want the listener to know I'm. I'm
amazed at a lot of this, and I am a
board member. So if two parents and, um, they each
have a child, or you have two children, they.
S2 (16:30):
Share the same child.
S1 (16:31):
Share the same child, you.
S3 (16:33):
Can both mother and father work at March and Ash.
They have one kid. They get they each get those
stipends for the couple.
S1 (16:40):
They each get the stipend. Yeah. So that means it's
fully paid. Could be. Am I close, am I? Well,
I'm just adding up 808 hundred. Well, it could come close.
S3 (16:52):
Yeah, it depends on, like, you know. Okay. You can
put them in a really nice school. Yeah.
S1 (16:57):
Okay. So. And yours go. Your Candace. Your child goes
to school now, right? You were saying? He does. He does.
And can you tell tell us the name of that school.
S3 (17:09):
Sure. I mean, yeah, it's it's called Kid Ventures Preschool Academy. My,
they have two different campuses. Mine's in Liberty Station. It
is wonderful. They do have a lot to go. That's
why it's a little pricier. But they do. They keep
it to ten kids in the classroom for his age.
And they they do a lot of really cool things there.
S1 (17:32):
Wow, wow. So Lori, do you come across any unusual
types of daycare facilities that are, I mean, a little
bit different?
S2 (17:44):
Um, there are there are programs that operate. They do
different curriculums. They might operate smaller ratios and they may
require more education. They're all they're all very different. And
that's part of the reason, as the R&R, we really
encourage families to to look at child care programs. So
(18:04):
talk us through what they're looking for. And then we
offer what we call like a concierge kind of enhanced referral,
where we'll call each program and say, you know, hey,
we have a family that has a three year old.
They need care. Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. They're
allergic to dogs. Can we verify that there's no dogs
(18:24):
at the program? Um, do you have an opening for
that age group? You know, like, get all the details
and make sure that they match, and then we can
give that shortened list to the family. So the family
is not calling 30 programs to find five to actually
go out and physically see. Um, it is definitely recommended
that they see the programs, you know, not just choose
(18:45):
one online. Um, but we do also offer a lot
of what we call consumer education materials, which are resources
on what to look for when you're choosing a child care,
what's going to be the best fit for your child?
Questions to ask. You know, things to look for. Looking
at the licensing history to make sure if they're licensed,
you know, you can see if they've had any complaints
and and licensing violations and really doing due diligence to
(19:09):
find child care and find one that really meets your
needs as a parent.
S1 (19:14):
Hey, this is a great place to take a break.
S6 (19:16):
We'll be back with more of the show right after this.
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Like we talk about in the show. There are a
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S8 (20:10):
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(21:17):
at Olas Media.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
S9 (21:22):
And now let's jump back.
S6 (21:23):
Into that conversation.
S1 (21:25):
Now, I'm I'm sure that there are some employers, employees
and hopefully employers that are listening, that will be listening
to this podcast that hear about the cost. And they're
saying to themselves, oh my God, yeah, I can't afford that. Yeah.
You know, and so they'll be negotiating maybe with their
union and their union will say, hey, we want to
(21:47):
negotiate for this. What Is there an alternative for a company?
S2 (21:50):
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely an alternative for the families
and the companies for the families. When they call us
for child care referrals, we'll ask them if they need
help paying for child care, and we'll get them set
up to apply for child care subsidies, which is called
alternative payment in San Diego. Or we can help them
find a location that actually has direct funding from the state,
(22:11):
either as a state preschool or a Head Start program,
or a general child care program that has state funding.
And those subsidies, if they get alternative payment, they can
take that funding to any child care of their choice.
It could be a center of family, child care home,
a family friend and neighbor, a nanny, you name it. Um,
and but we do set them up with that. And
(22:33):
so we do that for anybody that that contacts our
child care referral line or applies online. There's a separate
website for that. Um, and then for employers, you know,
not every employer is is ready to invest in childcare benefit.
A childcare stipend. But we will provide the childcare navigation,
(22:56):
help them find the childcare program that matches their needs.
Help them apply for the subsidy. If you know if
that's something that they they're interested in and walk them through,
choosing a childcare provider that that best meets their needs,
we can do all of that for nothing. I mean,
that's we're funded by the state to do that. So
obviously we want families to take advantage of the subsidies
(23:19):
and the childcare services that are out there that we offer.
S1 (23:22):
So it sounds like what you're saying is my mother
used to tell me where there's a will, there's a way. Okay.
So all you have to do is bring it up
and let's see how we can work this type of
thing out. Whether you're, I guess, whether you're with a
union or not. With a union. Yeah. Um, there's a
childcare program that will probably fit in to whatever an
(23:43):
employee has. I mean.
S2 (23:44):
We would ideally love for more employers to be like
March and Ash and pay for portions of their employees childcare.
But if that's not possible, at least tap into the
resources and the services that are in your community to
hopefully get you set up.
S1 (24:01):
From a union standpoint, what's the type of feedback you
get from the employees?
S4 (24:05):
Oh, what I hear they love it. They love it.
One thing unique about this program is kind of the
way we created it. It created an overall program. So
a lot of the UN employees, you know, they get
to use the program, it's in the contract. But also,
you know, the, you know, the non-union employees like managers,
(24:26):
they get to use that also.
S1 (24:28):
So it's not just for the the hourly employees. It's
for it's for everybody.
S4 (24:33):
It's for everybody. Salaried employees also.
S3 (24:36):
Yeah. Um, um, I'm not in the union, but I
appreciate you guys. Um, but no, I think that a
company that does have a program like this, your employees
feel supported and they want to do good for you too.
So like if you're a company kind of struggling to
keep people at work or just kind of always having
people out, um, it's probably a big thing is number
(24:57):
one would be probably childcare or your child's sick or something,
but it does keep the employees feel just super supportive
and like you have their back. So they come to
work because they have that support from their their owners
and their managers and Union YMCA. Right.
S5 (25:15):
Yeah.
S2 (25:15):
I mean, child care is one of the biggest barriers
to being able to go to work on a daily basis.
If you're if you don't have childcare, you know, in
your piecemealing it together, it's very likely that you might
have to call out having a benefit that supports their
employees with paying for the childcare and getting them set
up with childcare, which getting set up with childcare is free. Um,
(25:37):
you know, it's it it definitely helps with absenteeism, being
present at work, you know, staying with an employer. I mean,
if you have a benefit like this at your current employer,
would you leave it or not? I mean, that's extra
money in your pocket. Yeah.
S4 (25:54):
When you think about that, you know, I would, you know,
as a union, I deal with a lot of employees
and their challenges many times. And throughout my career over
the last 23 years, like a lot of employees come
to me, hey, I'm in trouble. I didn't go to work. Why?
I couldn't get childcare. I couldn't come in. They called me.
(26:14):
Now they're mad at me. They're treating me like bad
because when they called me, I couldn't come to work
because I didn't have childcare that day. I expected to
be at home with them. And that's a major challenge,
you know, for many employees and workers everywhere. The child
care component, that's.
S1 (26:31):
An important point that you just brought up. Grant, because
it sounds like having a child care program will avoid
some discipline issues that might arise.
S4 (26:42):
Yeah, it does a lot. And you know, when you
think about it, you know, like with medical, you know,
when people don't show up, there's a calculation of how
much is lost per day. It's like it's the metrics
around that are incredible when you look at it. And
it depends on what the company or the industry does.
(27:02):
And they can calculate how many hours lost is, how
much profit and how much performance and is lost. And
so there's you know, they try to be proactive and
there's programs to kind of like help that along. And
there's different trackings and different ways of trying to improve that.
(27:23):
But when it comes down to a big part of
why people don't show up the root cause, why they
don't show up, it has to do with child care because,
you know, you've got single parents like, hey, it's just me.
I don't have any relatives in town. What am I
going to do? I can't afford that. I can't find anybody.
So they just. They call in sick. Yeah.
S1 (27:41):
So so I think that there was a an award
or some kind of contest that was won recently by
Martin Nash.
S2 (27:51):
Yeah. San Diego Business Journal just had an award ceremony
last week. Week before, and the YMCA march. Nash won
a joint award for nonprofit and business sector, you know, innovation.
S1 (28:06):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's magnificent.
S10 (28:09):
And it was.
S3 (28:09):
Strictly for, like the child care program. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful.
S10 (28:14):
Mhm.
S1 (28:14):
Wow. Wow. So Candice what any any types of stories
you have about them or your child care experience with
your young one.
S3 (28:27):
Well I just know like I had no clue about
child care even after I had a kid and, um,
just knowing. And it was just perfect timing that this
program became available to all Martin Ash employees. At the
same time, I was coming back from maternity leave, um,
trying to figure out how to do it ourselves and
then finding out that this is an option. I didn't
(28:50):
really even have to do research and look into it.
I just called our number that was provided for us
for the YMCA. I talked to a lovely lady named
Annabelle on the phone, and she pretty much said, you
don't worry, I will do this for you. Just tell
me what kind of program you're looking for. Um, and
the first time, it was just with our our nanny.
(29:10):
And so she was like, give me your nannies contact information.
And she set it all up for us. It was
just incredibly easy. And so from there on, I can't
not use this program. It's just it's just. And then
for going into school, it was a little different. But
she was basically able to kind of walk us through.
And if we didn't answer a phone call or email,
(29:32):
she was calling us, making sure that if what else
she can do to get this through so we're not
paying our full amount and gets the help from them.
And so I just think like great experiences, being able
to not feel stressed about trying to bring my child
somewhere or, you know, making sure I can go to
work so I can provide for the other things my
(29:54):
child needs as they grow. It's just been an awesome program.
And just just like you can breathe now and you
know that your child is with a responsible caregiver that
you're not stressing about at work, and you feel like
that your kid's in a safe place and you're able
to do what you got to do. You know?
S1 (30:11):
You know, I think the, the some of the points
that you just made, Candice, are hugely important. I mean,
it relieves a lot of stress that the employee has
on the job because, you know, this is taken care of.
And also from the standpoint of the cost, you know,
I think, Lori, we were talking a little bit earlier about,
I think you put a figure out there for a
(30:32):
young one. From 0 to.
S10 (30:36):
2.
S1 (30:36):
0 to 2.
S10 (30:37):
Yeah.
S2 (30:38):
The average in San Diego County, in a center based program,
is $747 a month. And in a licensed family child
care home, the average is $1,457 a month. That's the average.
So as you can tell, there's more. There's some that
are more and there's some that are less. But that
is a lot of money. For someone that had nine
(31:02):
months to prepare for anything earlier.
S3 (31:05):
Excuse me, that.
S2 (31:06):
It's more than sdsu's tuition. My niece is a is
a freshman at Sdsu.
S1 (31:10):
It's more than college.
S10 (31:12):
Yes. Yeah. Wow.
S1 (31:15):
It's more than a college semester.
S10 (31:17):
It's more.
S2 (31:17):
Than a year's worth of.
S10 (31:19):
A year's.
S2 (31:19):
Worth. Yes.
S1 (31:20):
So not a semester a year. Two semesters. Oh my.
S10 (31:23):
God. Jeez. It's a lot.
S2 (31:25):
And it's it's a it's a huge it's a huge burden. Um,
and that's why, you know, we want people to know, like,
even if your employer is not able to, you know,
help with the cost of care, you know, like march
and ashes, you know, still call us. We can try
and help get people enrolled into the subsidy and even
(31:45):
those that are in, um, you know, receiving the stipend
from March and Ash, they might still be eligible for
the alternative payment program, which would pay for the majority
of their care. And then March and Ash could pay
what is considered a copay, which is when your care
costs more than what the state will allow you to
reimburse for alternative payment.
S1 (32:07):
And is that copay? That's interesting word you just used
is that copay what the union negotiates?
S10 (32:14):
No, no.
S2 (32:16):
No, the union negotiated child care benefits.
S1 (32:19):
Just the benefit itself. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Then how how
is the the amount that's paid? How is that dealt
with with respect to the.
S10 (32:29):
Union at.
S4 (32:31):
That time? Brett and I would discuss there was a
percentage that was allocated for the program. Yeah.
S2 (32:37):
And so it's every employee like, you know, Candice mentioned
gets $4,500 a year towards the cost of their care.
S10 (32:45):
Okay.
S1 (32:45):
And if you're not union and you're an employee at
a particular company. Oh, yeah. Does it depend upon then
your salary or your income?
S10 (32:56):
Um, other.
S2 (32:57):
Employers have that pay for child care might pay just
a flat rate, you know, $2,000 a year or something.
Some might pay for all of it. It really just
depends on on the employer and what they're capable of,
of covering it as far as expenses. But we, you know, no,
no amount is too low.
S10 (33:19):
Wow.
S1 (33:20):
I am I am shocked. I mean, my my days
of having a young one are long gone. So I
don't have that to worry about. However, I'm just thinking
about a young couple that get together and maybe they
both have some, you know, college debt. Um, and they're
trying to get a house, they're trying to pay for groceries,
(33:41):
and they have a young mouth to feed. And not
only do they have that young mouth to feed, but
they have to do some daycare. So they got to
make some decisions. Yeah, right. Do we both work or.
But we both pretty much have to work. Yeah. To,
to keep up with our expenses. So it's good to
know that there's, there's a resource for them to be
(34:03):
able to take advantage of, to maybe alleviate some of
that cost.
S10 (34:07):
Yeah. I mean, child.
S2 (34:08):
Care is one of the biggest reasons why women leave
the workforce is because the expense and the access to
it is, is so incredible. Um, we also do hear
about families that do, you know, opposing shifts where maybe
mom works during the day and dad works at night. Or,
you know, your partner works opposite shift review, which then
(34:31):
means you might not need childcare. But then you're also
never together as.
S10 (34:34):
You never see each other, you know.
S1 (34:36):
Next thing you know, you're in divorce court.
S10 (34:37):
Huh?
S1 (34:39):
Okay, well, great. Great. Listen, it's been magnificent working with
all of you. And, you know, before we sign off,
I'd like to go around and, you know, get some
final words from. Start with you, Lori, in terms of
the why. What would you like to leave with our
listening audience?
S10 (35:00):
Um, I would.
S2 (35:00):
Love for any employee that needs child care, any person
in San Diego County that needs child care to to
reach out to my organization, child care resource service, to
get child care services, whether that's finding a child care
or getting help applying for subsidies, um, even if they
work for an employer that they hope will pay for benefits,
(35:24):
then they can definitely reach out also, and we'll get
them hooked up with something similar to what we do
for March and Ash. And if they cannot pay for
a portion of the childcare, we can at least provide
our services. We can go on site to their, um,
to their businesses to let their employees know about the
different childcare options that are available and subsidies. So.
S1 (35:44):
And how would someone get in touch with you?
S10 (35:46):
Oh, well, I.
S2 (35:47):
Have an email.
S10 (35:48):
Which is k l h.
S2 (35:49):
A n at YMCA. Org or my phone number is (619) 837-8013.
S1 (35:59):
Okay. All right. And let me go over to to Candace. Candace,
if a parent wants to get some parent to parent,
you know, type of, um, you know, advice on this,
how would they contact you?
S3 (36:13):
Um, yeah, sure. I'm definitely open to answering any questions
from new parents. And I do also want to really
encourage any March and Ash employees that haven't looked into
this yet that have kids. Go for it. Even if
you do have, you know, a good thing set up
right now. They could also help with those payments. Um,
but I would just say, um, the best way to
(36:34):
reach me would be my email. It's Candice c a
n d I c e at marching ash.com. Shoot me
your questions. We could also jump on the call if
you want.
S1 (36:44):
And you know what was so very cute about Candice
is I asked her, I think, a little bit a
word about. I made a mention to her son and
she picked up her phone and he's on the picture
on her phone. So that's very cute. And she's showing
it again to everybody.
S10 (37:01):
There he is right there. Thank you. He's so cute. Oh.
Thank you.
S3 (37:05):
So this is who you're helping.
S10 (37:07):
This is who you're helping.
S4 (37:08):
That is awesome.
S1 (37:09):
Okay. Thank you very much, Candice. And for our union, um,
Grant and Maribel, what would you, um. What words would
you leave with our audience concerning employers or employees to
maybe discuss that don't have a union, or to discuss
with their union about getting child care benefits for myself?
S5 (37:33):
Maribel Mackenzie as an organizer and political director, this is
something that we were able to negotiate and add on
to a contract. But even along with that, just like
Candace says, um, definitely encourage those members that have not
signed up for it or were not aware of it,
encourage them to look more into it, and even ask
some questions. And there might might not be able to
(37:57):
get into some programs. But obviously that's something that is
covered is in the contract. They do have something that
does help them out. And just like with the YMCA,
they might have other programs that they might be able
to help them with. So I strongly encourage them to
look a little bit more into that. And sometimes we
don't even know what we have until we really need it. Um,
(38:18):
just like Candace, right? Two years ago, maybe she wouldn't
have even thought about needing this. Um.
S1 (38:24):
Two years ago, she didn't have a child.
S10 (38:26):
That's why I'm saying.
S3 (38:28):
And then when it happens, then it really becomes real.
And you're like, how am I going.
S10 (38:31):
To do this? I like the way.
S1 (38:32):
She says that. Then when it happens.
S5 (38:35):
But no, I definitely encourage people to look into it
and look more into the benefits that you have that's
been able to get put in a contract. And anybody
out there that is interested in organizing, especially in the
cannabis industry, please feel free to reach out to me.
S1 (38:50):
How would they reach out to you?
S5 (38:51):
I have two ways. My email, which is m Mackenzie.
So m m c k I n z e at
UFC W135. Com or my cell phone number is (619) 548-3250.
Call or text at any time.
S1 (39:09):
Okay. Grant. Yeah.
S4 (39:12):
You know, a lot of people think you know, union
is kind of scary, especially from an employer's perspective. But
it's not like that. You know, like Maryville's, our political director,
I run the union. You know, we have resources. If
you need something, we can help, especially in this day
and age. You know, it's like, you know, legitimate legitimizing,
(39:35):
you know, people's careers, you know, cannabis and all that.
You know, we can make things happen. And it's like
we can create that together. And just, you know, Lori,
you know, thanks for sharing, Candace. You know, the results
of what we've done, I think we've done great things.
And you know what the employer the investment in the
(39:56):
employees and the union were the employees, pretty much. It's like,
you know what? It can bear really great fruit and
bring success.
S1 (40:06):
And well, thank you, everybody. Thank you. I really appreciate
all of you coming in and sharing this information, I
know it's going to be very, very vital. Um, people
listening to this are going to say, wow, I got
to get into this right away. Lori, thank you from
the YMCA. And Candace, thank you very much for March
and Ash and your young son. Um, tell him he
(40:29):
was a star today and Grant Mary Bell from UFC here.
Thank you. Once again, thank you. Like A12 punch, right?
Thank you. It's hard to say no to to to
the two of you. Thank you very much.
S10 (40:40):
Thank you.
S1 (40:41):
And thank all of you for listening to Cannabis Enlightened.
This is Doctor Leroy. And if you want to listen
to this podcast and all the podcasts that I have, um,
take your time. Look at, you know, get on and
see cannabis enlightened. Com and if you'd like to leave me,
write me something email talking about this particular program. You
(41:03):
can email me at Doctor Leroy at Cannabis enlightened.com. Thank
you very much and have a great week.
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