Siemens childcare – On March 10, Siemens told parents at its Wilsonville, Oregon campus that the Siemens Child Development Center would close at the end of June 2026. Parents, including Raishelle Everett, moved quickly—sobbing at a meeting the next morning, then forming a group o
When Raishelle Everett received an automated message on March 10, it felt less like bad news and more like a clock starting to run out. The message said the Siemens Child Development Center—the on-site childcare center on Siemens’ sprawling 53-acre Oregon campus—would close at the end of June.
Everett had spent almost two years waiting for a spot after undergoing IVF in 2022. then joining the wait list with her husband. a Siemens employee who received priority enrollment. By the time the center opened its doors to her family. she already had two children—ages three and one—attending the program.
The center cares for about 70 children. from infant through pre-K. and it was built in 1992 to serve employees of Mentor Graphics. which Siemens acquired in 2017. City reporting from 2020 described a “severe shortage” of childcare spots for infants and toddlers in Wilsonville. Oregon. where the Siemens campus sits. Everett said she knows of no comparable program in the state of Oregon. and she described the center as a major reason her husband makes a 30-minute commute to work.
But in Everett’s world, the closure timing was almost cruel. At a meeting the next morning, she said she sobbed—along with many other parents—when the plan became clear. “It’s a devastating loss for our small community. but also for the bigger picture of childcare in the state of Oregon.” She also emphasized the practical problem: it’s “next to impossible to find care in the middle of the summer.” Teachers. she said. are also unlikely to find new jobs in that same window.
Siemens plans to sell off most of the buildings and land in September 2027, and parents say the CDC was targeted as part of that broader change. Everett said Siemens HR told families it had explored all options and that the decision to close was final.
Siemens declined to comment on the details of the closure, the meeting, or the parent efforts to save the center. In a statement. a Siemens spokesperson said in part: “Siemens is modernizing its Wilsonville campus as part of a broader effort to right-size our global footprint. so will invest in a new facility that reflects how our hybrid teams work today. This required us to make the difficult but necessary decision to close our Child Development Center.” The company did not respond to further questions about what the closure would entail.
Everett said that by the next morning she had gone from “sad to mad.” She and a group of around 40 parents decided to try to save the CDC by reopening it as a non-profit childcare center—keeping all the current families and teaching staff.
To make that work, Everett, who works as an accountant, created a budget. The group concluded it would need $1.6 million to cover all expenses, maintain teachers’ salaries and benefits, and raise tuition only modestly.
Over the past two months. Everett and other parents reached out to the Wilsonville Mayor and other city and state government officials for help. They described the challenge as steep: maintaining teachers’ living wages and benefits made integrating into other local childcare sites like the YMCA “untenable.” The parents also formed a childcare caucus with Oregon Senator Neron Misslin to help seek state grants.
Everett said the combination of local press attention and pressure from city officials and the senator helped persuade Siemens to approve their nonprofit to operate in the building rent free through September 2027, a deal she said saves the group $400,000 a year in rent.
Even with that win, she said the math still leaves a fight ahead. They need about a million dollars just to stay open for the next year. Everett told MISRYOUM that she has “always gone into this with the idea that we would probably lose.” But after winning the battle for the building. she said she’s more hopeful: “I have full faith that if we could make it the first year that we would be able to fundraise. [apply for] grants. and get funding.”.
The conflict playing out in Wilsonville is familiar in the childcare world: families can love a benefit deeply—until corporate decisions change the rules. Childcare policy expert Elliott Haspel has warned that relying on employer-provided care can be precarious.
In an article he wrote for Fast Company. Haspel said childcare tied to the employer-employee relationship can replicate “one of the very worst features of the American healthcare system: lose your job. lose your healthcare.” He added that childcare can be even harsher because it affects the child: “Young children thrive on reliability. and multiple caregiver changes can be disruptive for child development; a good childcare system is a stable system.” Haspel also pointed out that there is no Cobra coverage or Affordable Care Act marketplace if someone loses childcare coverage.
His comments, written in 2023, align with what parents now see as Siemens closes its center. Haspel’s warning has also been echoed by other corporate rollbacks in recent years. Both Nike and Google have shuttered their on-site childcare programs. Deloitte, he said, announced it was cutting benefits that supported families—including slashing parental leave from 16 weeks to eight. Zoom has cut parental leave from 22 to 18 weeks.
Everett’s fight is also taking place against a national backdrop where childcare affordability and availability have become major pressure points for workers. Childcare costs in the U.S. have increased by over 32% since 2019, even as childcare remains in short supply. In a recent national poll of working parents of young children. more than 60% reported that child care struggles led them to leave work early. be late for work. or miss work. Families lose $134 billion per year in forgone earnings. and employers lose $38 billion annually due to childcare challenges faced by their workforce.
A story like this—parents trying to rebuild what was once guaranteed by an employer—also raises the question of what a more stable model could look like. Haspel argues that businesses should look beyond childcare as a perk, and instead support public solutions, including taxes.
He points to Vermont, where in 2023 the state passed a 0.44% payroll tax on employers to fund childcare subsidies. In that model, families making under $56,000 pay nothing, while higher earners pay roughly 10% of their income. The program took effect in 2024 and has already led to over 1,200 more childcare slots across the state.
Haspel also cites Iowa’s Child Care Solutions Fund (CSF), which started in 2024. Under that approach, employers receive tax credits for donating to the fund.
Oregon has also been building its own childcare funding pathways. Haspel points to a $7.5 million CHIPS Child Care Fund intended to expand childcare access near semiconductor sites, and Business Oregon’s $50 million allocation for broader childcare infrastructure.
Another example Haspel highlights is Corning. a glass maker that invests about $2.5 million a year to fund high-quality childcare centers in Corning. New York. That program serves over 400 children, including employee families and the broader community. Haspel argues that even if Corning reduced grant levels. the impact would not be as sudden as a corporate shutdown of an on-site center.
The through-line in Everett’s experience is that childcare stability can’t be left to corporate calendars. She is now betting that a rent-free agreement through September 2027. plus fundraising and state grants. can keep a community resource alive. But the CDC parents’ effort also underlines what Haspel calls the danger of the “employer-employee relationship” approach—especially for families with little room to absorb disruptions.
In the meantime, Everett and the roughly 40 parents in her group are working on a single, urgent goal: keep the doors open after June, in a state where childcare shortages have already been described as severe.
Siemens childcare center Wilsonville Oregon nonprofit childcare parental leave Elliott Haspel CHIPS Child Care Fund Business Oregon Vermont payroll tax Iowa Child Care Solutions Fund on-site childcare