Program to ease cost of childcare aiming to expand statewide

POCATELLO –- The organizers of a southeastern Idaho program that allows the community to share in the cost of child care are aiming to expand it across the Gem State thanks to new funding.

In early October, United Way of Southeastern Idaho announced that it had been named as one of the awardees of the Workplace Innovation Now (WIN) Challenge, receiving a $2.5 million grant. With that funding, the organization intends to expand the Tri-Share Childcare Program, which helps parents enter the workforce by reducing the cost of licensed childcare, across Idaho.

“A program like this allows (parents) to be able to be empowered, to be able to provide for their families, stay in the workforce, do those things, while also being able to have a safe, quality place for their child to be able to go,” said Tennille Call, director of education for United Way of Southeastern Idaho.

The Tri-Share Childcare Program was originally pioneered in Michigan and is administered by United Way’s Kids First Coalition. When an eligible parent is hired by a participating employer, the program eases the cost of childcare by splitting it three ways: one-third is paid by their employer, one-third by the employee and one-third by public funding.

While the state already has a similar program — the Idaho Child Care Program — it supports only families earning up to 130% of the federal poverty level. The Tri-Share Childcare Program assists parents who earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level.

The challenge was launched in fall 2025 by the Aspen Institute and was supported by Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates. Chairman Jeff Hough of the Bannock County Commissioners, which entered into a public-private partnership with the Kids First Coalition to launch the program in southeastern Idaho, told EastIdahoNews.com he was shocked to receive the grant funding.

“(And we were) very humbled that someone saw the potential of the program that we’re offering and thought it was worth investing in,” Hough said.

Call said they weren’t provided with a specific reason for why their program was one of 18 awarded grant funding over nearly 900 other applications from across the country, but Call believes the project stood out because of the unique challenges organizations in the Gem State face. She said that Idaho “often” turns back federal funding or does not take in all of the federal dollars available.

“Idaho is a challenging atmosphere for support for families of young children … so I think that it was appealing that amidst some of this adversity that we have in our state surrounding childcare challenges, that we actually had this coalition of government leaders that were invested and business leaders that were invested,” Call said.

The funding is mainly intended to help the Kids First Coalition and Bannock County expand the program throughout Idaho, Hough explained.

“That’s what we’ll be spending a lot of the first six (to) eight months, is putting that infrastructure in place while we sign on more employers,” Hough explained.

For employers who want to sign on to the program, employees utilizing the program pay their third of the expenses through payroll deductions, which the employer then matches. Employees who want to utilize it apply for the program through their employer.

And Hough pointed out that not only does this help employers retain staff better, and help the employee be more focused on their position, but also attract staff.

“You can also use it as a recruiting tool,” Hough said. “It helps set you apart from additional employers when you’re trying to recruit talent.”

So far, Call said interest from employers in joining the program has been slow in southeastern Idaho, but there has been “a lot of interest outside of our region.”

“We’re going to work with the people that are primed and ready to be able to move and go,” Call said.

The program’s long-term success will be determined by how invested communities and employers are in the program. Call said the goal of the expansion is to establish something that lasts.

“We want to make sure that we are maximizing and being good stewards of the dollars, and building something that is sustainable,” Call said.