In 2025, Zero to Five Montana, in partnership with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Bright Futures Birth to Five federal grant program, awarded $2 million in grant funding across two cohorts of employers to develop and implement child care benefits for their employees. Teton County was awarded a grant and implemented a child care tuition benefit for employees. The county has 53 full-time employees and five receive tuition benefits.
We recently asked Katie Adams, Immunization Program Coordinator at the Teton County Public Health Department, how the employer-sponsored grant has benefited their employees. Continue reading to learn more about the positive impact it has had on their workforce.
Every local government faces a universal challenge: How do we best support the talented people we have, and how do we position ourselves as an attractive home for the next generation of public servants?
A while back, we looked at our benefits package and realized there was an opportunity to do more. That is exactly why we decided to apply for the Family Forward Montana Employer-Sponsored Child Care Grant. We wanted to provide meaningful, real-world support to our current county employees and stand out as an employer of choice in a highly competitive job market.
When the grant was approved, the internal reactions were filled with optimism, though naturally, different departments processed the new opportunity at different speeds.
For some of our teams, like the Sheriff’s Office and the Road Department, it simply required a bit more face time and direct conversation, while others saw the way it could help their department staff immediately. Child care logistics historically hadn’t been something these specific departments had to think about or manage in the same way before, so a standard email blast detailing the new program didn’t quite capture the immediate connection to their daily operations.
Realizing we needed a more personal approach; I went in person to meet with all the department heads together to talk through how this could work for them.
The meeting was a fantastic opportunity to reframe the conversation. We acknowledged right off the bat that while they personally might not have a need for childcare benefits today, the spouses, families, and future recruits of their teams absolutely do. We looked at it through the lens of team stability and operational success: Child care support is ultimately a powerful tool for retaining our essential county personnel.
This approach clicked for the departments, and in fact our sheriff’s office has the most personnel using the childcare benefit.
The outcomes across our various county staff have been incredibly rewarding. Thanks to the collaboration of all our department heads, the word got out, and the engagement has been excellent. We have seen a deep sense of appreciation from staff who feel genuinely supported by their employer.
Our retention among essential personnel has strengthened, and we are now a much more competitive, appealing choice for prospective employees looking for a forward-thinking workplace. What started as a simple grant application ultimately allowed us to come together and build a more resilient county workforce.
“I love my job as a public servant, but the pay is not the greatest. This grant makes it feasible to stay in my role at the county and still afford safe, reliable care for my children. I have even been able to recently increase my son’s attendance at the daycare.” – Teton County Employee
Learn more about Zero to Five Montana’s Family Forward initiative, here.
“I love my job as a public servant, but the pay is not the greatest. This grant makes it feasible to stay in my role at the county and still afford safe, reliable care for my children. I have even been able to recently increase my son's attendance at the daycare.”
