By: Jen Iskow, GWV Marketing & Communications Manager
In the push to build a stronger economy in West Virginia, we often zero in on industries, investments, and innovation. But ask nearly any parent, job seeker, or business owner across the state what’s keeping people out of the workforce, and you’ll hear the same two words over and over: child care and housing.
These aren’t personal hurdles. They’re economic chokepoints.
On May 8, 2025, a panel of West Virginia’s most determined changemakers took the stage at Generation West Virginia’s Pathways to Progress Conference to discuss what many consider the two biggest barriers to workforce participation in the Mountain State. But this wasn’t just a discussion, it was a call to action.
Moderated by Ashley Alford Glance, President of the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, and introduced by Delegate Kayla Young, the panel reminded us that creating a workforce-ready state means looking at workers as whole people. West Virginians want to work, but first, they need reliable child care, a safe place to live, and systems that support rather than burden them.
Key Takeaways
Child Care: The Cornerstone of a Future-Ready Workforce
You can’t solve West Virginia’s workforce challenges without solving child care first.
Child care isn’t a “nice to have” perk; it’s essential infrastructure. And across the state, it’s crumbling under the weight of rising costs, staffing shortages, and outdated systems.
Morganne Tenney, Executive Director of the Putnam County Development Authority, brought the issue close to home:
“Sometimes, if you don’t have child care, you’re looking at a day off work. I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old… and working from home is hard. They never nap at the same time.”
Jason Moss of Wonderschool shared that for single parents in West Virginia, child care eats up nearly 39% of their income. Even for dual-income households, it often exceeds the cost of a mortgage. The ripple effects are massive: parents missing work, businesses scrambling to find coverage, and providers burned out by untenable working conditions.
Terrell Ellis, President and CEO of Advantage Valley, painted a sobering picture:
“Staff turnover is huge. Providers are competing with Target and Chick-fil-A. On top of that, post-COVID, they’re seeing a spike in behavioral issues. Staff are stressed out, overworked, and underpaid.”
And yet, solutions are taking root. Will Miller, State Director of the West Virginia Small Business Development Center, introduced the state-backed pilot program Child Care West Virginia: Building the Business that Supports Business, which combines entrepreneurship coaching, small grants, and technical assistance to help providers operate like sustainable businesses.
Jason Moss also emphasized the role of micro-centers and in-home providers: lower-barrier child care models that can be rapidly deployed in rural or underserved areas, especially when supported with business and licensing assistance.
“We’re not going to solve this overnight,” Will noted. “But if we focus our efforts in the right places, we can show what’s possible.”
The bottom line? Every employer has a child care issue, whether they realize it or not. And with the right partnerships, tools, and willpower, West Virginia can lead the way in redefining what workforce infrastructure truly means.
2. Innovative Public-Private Partnerships Are Taking Root
What set this panel apart was not just the urgency of the problems discussed, but the boldness of the solutions being implemented in real time through public-private partnerships. Across housing, child care, and workforce infrastructure, leaders emphasized that collaboration, not competition, is what drives lasting change.
Will Miller described how Child Care West Virginia: Building the Business that Supports Business was born from a cross-sector partnership between his agency, Wonderschool, and the West Virginia Department of Economic Development. Funded through an ARC POWER grant, the program supports child care providers as entrepreneurs, offering coaching, back-office support, and grants to strengthen their business models. It also helps aspiring providers open new centers, with step-by-step guidance and a network of support.
On the employer side, programs like Tri-Share are revolutionizing how child care affordability is tackled. This model, already proven in states like Michigan, splits the cost of care between the employer, the employee, and the state. As Jason Moss explained, “We have money to give to your employees. The state has said they want to help people stay at work, and we’ve built the infrastructure to make it happen.” Wonderschool serves as the platform that simplifies the experience for everyone involved, from small businesses to care providers.
In housing, the partnership playbook is just as powerful. Terrell Ellis and Morganne Tenney both shared how multi-stakeholder regional coalitions, from local governments and economic development authorities to banks and private developers, came together to co-fund a regional housing study. That study didn’t sit on a shelf. It’s now being used to identify buildable land, recruit national developers, and align infrastructure investments with projected job growth.
This type of cross-sector work is what West Virginia needs more of. Not siloed pilot programs, but integrated, community-led frameworks that can be scaled, replicated, and sustained.
“This isn’t about one organization or one program solving everything,” said Ashley Alford Glance. “It’s about everyone stepping up where they can, because no one sector can do this alone.”
Housing: The Crisis That’s Quietly Undermining Workforce Growth
While child care dominates headlines, the housing shortage is just as destabilizing and equally tied to workforce success. As Terrell Ellis of Advantage Valley put it, “We were pretty shocked.” Her team’s housing study revealed a 0% rental vacancy rate across their nine-county region. For-sale homes? Just 0.4% of inventory is available at any given time.
That means that in one of the most economically promising regions in the state, where over $5 billion in new investment and 5,000+ new jobs are on the horizon, there simply aren’t enough places for people to live.
And this isn’t just a supply chain issue. It’s a workforce bottleneck. Employers interviewed during the Advantage Valley housing study said it plainly:
“If we had more housing in the region, we could hire more people.”
Morganne Tenney knows this first-hand. Her team went beyond identifying the problem; they created a solution. They secured land, pitched developers, and ultimately announced a deal to bring 600 new homes to Putnam County over the next three years. But it wasn’t easy. Local builders didn’t have the capacity, and national developers initially laughed at the idea of a 70-acre site in West Virginia. Morganne’s answer? Relentless outreach, creative land deals, and “a tour that started with a biscuit from Tudor’s.”
Still, the broader challenges remain. Financing large-scale housing developments is difficult in West Virginia, where terrain, infrastructure, and scale all pose unique barriers. That’s why regional leaders like Ellis are calling for “patient capital”, creative public-private financing tools that can frontload infrastructure costs and unlock long-term growth.
Because without housing, there’s no workforce. And without a workforce, there’s no progress.
Reflections on a Workforce-Ready West Virginia
What’s clear is that solving these problems requires more than good intentions. It takes public-private partnerships, flexible funding mechanisms, and a shared understanding that these issues are everyone’s responsibility.
As Ashley Alford Glance said, “We need all hands on deck.” Whether you’re a county commissioner, small business owner, chamber member, or just someone who cares about West Virginia’s future, there’s a role for you.
This is a moment for bold action. The people of West Virginia want to work. They want to stay and raise families here. But we must meet them with systems that support their full humanity, not just their labor.
If you’re a policymaker, an employer, or a community leader, it’s time to ask: what am I doing to expand access to affordable child care and housing in my community? If the answer is “not much,” there’s no better time to start.