Plain Talk With Rob Port

Minot, N.D. — You've heard just about every elected official in the state talk about it. Access to childcare, and as importantly, access to childcare that's affordable, is a real problem in North Dakota. So much so that it's contributing mightily, to our critical workforce shortages. People who can't find a place to send their kids during the day, or who can't afford it, can't go to work. But Robin Nelson, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Red River Valley, which provides childcare services to some 700 families, says the state is making it difficult for them to operate. "We're drowning out here," she said on this episode of Plain Talk. She says that an online licensing portal to make the hiring process for child care workers easier has, in fact, made things more difficult because the system "continues to crash" when they try to upload documents. "We are receiving late fees because we're missing deadlines," Nelson says. Background checks for those same workers are also a problem. Nelson says there are