What is your role in bolstering and supporting childcare providers in Green County? Perhaps this is a question you never considered. Do businesses, organizations and individuals have a role in supporting the childcare sector?
The Federal Reserve Bank believes there is a role for everyone. Affordable, available, quality childcare is essential for the economic future of our country and because it plays such an important role, it fits into the Federal Reserve’s larger mandate for maximum employment.
Intrigued? Please join us Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7:45 a.m. to learn why quality childcare is such an important issue for our county and our country and why it urgently needs a closer look. Green County Development Corporation (GCDC) is pleased to present Rob Grunewald, economist with the Community Development Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, to share his insights as part of our Executive Leadership Breakfast. The virtual event is free and open to the public.
According to the Federal Reserve, 32% of people in the workforce have children under 18, and 67% of children under 6 have all available parents in the labor force. Childcare affects work decisions. Parents decide to change jobs, ask for more flexible schedules and switch from full-time to part-time to save money on childcare.
For Green County parents, that can translate to working fewer hours, taking a pay cut, or leaving their jobs altogether. Likewise, our business community is harmed by their employees’ childcare challenges. Nationally, the cost of lost earnings, productivity, and revenue due to the childcare crisis totals an estimated $57 billion each year.
Childcare is hard to find and hard to afford. In Green County, we live in a “childcare desert,” meaning that we have so few childcare providers that there are more than three children for every regulated childcare slot.
Childcare is essential infrastructure. We know it is central for people to be working, while childcare represents an investment in our future workforce. We also know how important the birth to age 5 time period is for human development.
Childcare is essential for our families, our workforce, and our community. Access to high quality childcare and enriching experiences and interactions are critical for our children for their academic, social and emotional development.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the business model for childcare operators was already under financial strain. Sixty-eight percent of family childcares and 9% of group centers have closed since 2010. While some other businesses can quickly cut costs by downsizing, going remote or skimping on staff, childcare facilities don’t have that luxury. The current crisis of COVID-19 has placed our early childcare programs in a state of survival mode, and sadly, without intervention and support, many will not continue.
Despite the high demand, workers struggle to make ends meet because pay is so low. The average hourly wage for a group center employee is less than $10 and less than minimum wage for family centers. This pay structure does not provide a livable wage and also doesn’t include benefits. The chronically low salaries in early childcare create continuous hiring challenges and leads to high teacher turnover that erodes quality.
At the same time, the cost margins of running an early childcare program leave the rate of tuition extremely high. Wisconsin’s average cost of childcare for parents exceeds that of in-state college tuition.
There is also a need for tuition assistance for working families with school-aged children that need childcare when schools are virtual, but did not budget for that unexpected expense. According to a recent survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children of Wisconsin childcare facilities, 38% have parents who cannot afford to pay and 46% have lost income because of families’ inability to pay.
In the very real struggles COVID-19 has generated, we have the opportunity to re-imagine the childcare sector and to really bolster it for our shared economic prosperity.
Green County has the chance to rebuild the childcare system by addressing known challenges with its operating model. This in turn strengthens our workforce and our broader economy. Success involves new investments to support a sustainable operating model, and it will require partners from across sectors working together.
GCDC and the United Way of Green County have teamed up to address critical childcare needs. We are encouraging businesses and individuals to offer financial assistance to help provide support and resources to childcare providers in Green County. More information on this initiative will be shared at the Executive Leadership Breakfast event and is available online at unitedwayofgreencounty.org.
While there is no cost to participate, pre-registration for the Executive Leadership Breakfast is requested. Send your name and e-mail address to gcdc@tds.net. Log in information will be sent a week prior to the event.
— Cara Carper is executive director at Green County Development Corporation. She can be reached at cara.gcdc@tds.net.
