NEW GLARUS — On Thursday, Feb. 2, the Green County Child Care Network (GCCCN) and Child Care Matters presented the first Community Conversation for Change in New Glarus at the Growing Tree. Future presentations will occur in the other Green County communities.
Presenters were Brooke Skidmore and Corrine Hendrickson, who spoke about the current underinvestment in the education and care of young children and its impact on local communities and economy.
Interweaving young children’s mental health and quality relationships with a caregiver acts as a buffer to adverse childhood experiences and allow children to develop resilience and increase their future ability to succeed.
“I see students that are now in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, students who are struggling behaviorally most likely have a history of trauma,” one parent attendee reacted. “Having access to high quality child care would allow for these families to have an experienced provider to teach them appropriate parenting skills that may be lacking, and help them access appropriate services to move their child forward. Having these types of services early in life, would reduce (and maybe eliminate) the amount of services needed in adolescence.”
The presentation also discussed how families and educators in poverty are less likely to be able to meet their own needs, and therefore, even more difficult to meet the developing children’s needs. The low wages and lack of benefits for the educators during the first five years of life when 90% of brain development occurs ($12.66 an hour currently due to the American Rescue Plan funding investments, up from $10.66) and high turnover as barriers to the success of children and families.
“My company raised starting wages $2 an hour (raising all wage rates) on top of the typical annual raises, in order to be able to recruit and retain employees,” another parent said. “So the wages for child care aren’t moving as much as it is assumed when you compare to everyone else. The rest of the private sector can raise wages more because they can disburse those costs over a larger customer base compared to child care with a fixed number of children per adult.”
The presentation wrapped up with Governor Evers’ State of the State address from last week calling for $340 million to continue the funding being allocated from the American Rescue Plan called Child Care Counts, in the upcoming state budget. The funding runs out in December of 2023.
Child Care programs will need to raise rates by an estimated 20-40% to make up the difference or have to cut wages.
Anne, a parent with a finance background, supports this state investment and will be writing her state reps and encouraging others to do so as well because, “the Return on Investment (increased money in the economy and reduction in spending for juvenile prisons, and more) is undeniable. Why are our lawmakers willing to throw money at the problem after the fact instead of preventing it to begin with?”
