This article is a follow-up to a previously published article in @theU on Komae, which can be found here.

It really does take a village to raise a child, and Komae (Greek for “village”), a company providing an innovative, crowdsourced solution to child care, is bringing that colloquialism into the 21st century. The University of Utah is partnering with Komae to address pertinent issues many may have with securing high-quality, affordable care for their children.

Essentially, Komae allows users to interface with other parents and create small “pods” with similar parenting styles and COVID-19 safety practices. They then can provide and receive child care, setting up dates and times through the app. Komae provides an innovative system of point trading to ensure that the service can essentially remain “forever free” to users. Parents to earn and spend “points” in exchange for the hours of child care they utilize. An hour of care provided or utilized is equal to one point. A more detailed explanation can be found in the how-to guide for families.

As a result of the U’s partnership with Komae, parents and families associated with the university can use the code ONEU, which provides a multitude of benefits to the user. Utilizing the code provides free tickets to parent and family workshops. Perhaps you’d like to attend a seminar on “Escaping the Working Parent’s Guilt Trap,” or bring your child to a workshop, like “Music Play for Babies and Toddlers.” These, and other activities, are all provided free with the use of the ONEU code.

The ONEU code will also get you exclusive discounts on points. Parents who need to spend more points than they earn normally must purchase extra points at the rate of $15 per point. However, with the discount provided by the university, extra points are only $1. That’s a discount of over 90%.

The exclusive ONEU code will also ensure access to the Utah co-op on the Komae app. Up until this point, the co-op has been open to everyone, but starting in November, the ONEU code will be required to access it. Utah co-op members receive four free points every month, starting in December. That’s enough for an entire session.

There’s a lot going on with Komae at the U. To get started, create your account on Komae and join the University of Utah Group. And if you haven’t had a chance already, be sure to explore other dependent care resources available to all U employees. For the latest events and how-to guides, visit the resource page at mykomae.com/Utah.

The Komae team is available for questions and support at info@mykomae.com.