Say more about the care economy

Families are without access to child care in the wake of the child care cliff

In this week’s episode of The Suburban Women Problem we were thrilled to have former White House Press Secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki join us! She talks about her new book ‘Say More’ where she shares the surprising lessons she’s learned on her path to success and offers unique yet universal advice about how to be a more effective communicator in any situation.

She also talks about what it’s like to raise kids in this political climate and how it’s important to not sugar coat what’s going on in the world but to meet kids where they are and communicate with them at a level they will understand. To hear more from Jen, listen to the episode here.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, we would like to ‘say more’ about child care in our country.

(Photo Credit: Leigh Vogel)

It’s no secret that the United States has never recognized care work as essential. And that has contributed to something called the “child care cliff.”

The child care cliff is the term being used for the abrupt end to pandemic-era funding that has kept thousands of child care programs afloat nationwide. In 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a $1.9 trillion federal emergency relief bill to provide direct relief to the American people. The plan allotted $24 billion to aid child care programs in covering basic operational costs, program materials, wages and benefits. It reached more than 220,000 providers, helping them keep their doors open and keep the children they serve safe, healthy and nurtured.

On September 30, 2023 this funding expired - leaving the child care industry in crisis mode, with more centers closing, raising tuition, facing staffing shortages, and being unable to operate at full capacity.

Eleven states and Washington, D.C. stepped in with funding to stabilize the industry post-cliff, including Alaska, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington. This funding has helped but it’s not a permanent solution.

According to a February survey of providers from the National Association for the Education of Young Children the solution remains clear. Because public funding works, Congress needs to build on the successes of child care funding to prioritize robust, sustainable investments that ensure programs and educators can meet the needs of families, children, and businesses, and states can continue to build toward an early childhood education system that works.

An early childhood educator in Oregon said in the survey, “We don’t bring in enough in tuition to meet salary. Increasing tuition would be a huge hardship on parents. We need to increase wages, but can’t afford to. I can’t find qualified staff and have had to close a classroom. Morale is low, behaviors are challenging. We are NOT OK.”

In a country as wealthy as ours - this is not ok. We need to start prioritizing care work and that means investing in child care, paid leave, and aging and disability care. This would help our families, our communities, and our economy thrive.

That seems like something that everyone should be able to agree on.

The National Women’s Law Center and Action Fund recently rolled out a 2024 National Guide for Care Infrastructure and Economic Security.

The first item on their 2024 Care Policy Agenda is to invest in child care for children and early educators. One way to do this is through the Biden administration’s $16 billion Emergency Child Care Funding Request. It would address the looming supply crisis, while laying the groundwork for the sustained and transformative funding needed to ensure child care is accessible for all families and early educators are paid a thriving wage.

If women and families struggling to find affordable child care amid a nationwide shortage is something that is important to you, start reaching out to federal candidates and ask them if they will commit to supporting $16 billion for child care so that families can afford quality child care.

It’s time that we start demanding that political candidates say more about what they’re going to do to invest in the care economy that has left care workers—who are disproportionately Black, Latina, and other women of color—living paycheck to paycheck or working multiple jobs to survive.