Plans for new child care option that would focus on working women in tech in the works

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There’s a new concept for child care in the works in Indianapolis and it has a lot to do with the tech industry in the city. 

Jillian Walker is the co-founder of The Microchip Academy. She comes from a tech background and has seen women having a hard time finding child care in the downtown area. 

“If we want to attract talent, if we want to retain women, if we really want to give them a seat at the table, we have to give them access. If we’re not giving them access — and that means a physical spot — then they’re not going to stay,” said Walker.

“We have these women that are having kids that can’t find spots. Maybe they don’t want to go that far and maybe they take that chance and stay home and if you have the ability to do that, do it, but that means when you come back to the workforce, you’ve lost two, three years of raises and 401ks and that advancement and then you’re starting off lower, even though, you know more and that doesn’t help that equity for pay either and so, we’re not pushing for women to come back to work. We’re not pushing for women to come back early, we just want to have the space to give them access and so if we can do that then we all win,” she said. 

First reported by Tech Point, The Microchip Academy will have a STEAM focus when it comes to curriculum for infants to five-year-olds. 

“We’re going to be STEM focused, so we’re going to teach all of those things, but also STEAM, includes the “a” so we’re STEAM focused because you can’t teach technology to kids without an art aspect,” Walker said. 

When it comes to the business model for The Microchip Academy, Walker says the most important piece of it is access, and the second has to do with businesses helping pay for child care where they can.

“We want to have the model where businesses pay in, they pay in memberships and that means that they get so many spots, that means that company, those people go to the top of the list,” said Walker. “Which is a beautiful thing, but then that’s also promising that they’re going to give subsidies to their people. We know that child care is expensive, we’re expensive, and we don’t want you to pay all of that and so in tech, it’s a great model because we do things like pay for healthcare — great —  but also pay for gym memberships and pay for pet sitting, wonderful amenities, then we should also pay for childcare. We should look at this as economic development, as a resource to keep women at work.”

Walker has been working on The Microchip Academy for about a year now. She and her co-founder, Eric Tobias, hope to have the space opened by mid 2019, depending on when and where they can find a space.