Access to high-quality child care could make or break our economic recovery. The sector is not only a crucial support for working parents, but also a vital component of the small business ecosystem. COVID-19 has devastated the child care industry, forcing many providers to shut their doors and leaving countless families feeling helpless. Congress must continue to keep child care available for working families and secure direct, long-term funding for providers.
For years I have had candid conversations with employees about work-life balance and know that child care is top-of-mind for every parent — perhaps now more than ever. It is also a priority for business leaders like myself who are at risk of losing exceptional employees due to a general lack of reliable child care.
In Massachusetts, access to high-quality child care — which already was too limited — has been further constrained by the public health crisis. Nearly one in five licensed child care programs has not yet re-opened, and those that are operating face reduced capacity, diminished revenue, increased costs and severe staffing shortages. Families need high-quality child care programs to remain employed and child care programs need families to operate sustainably.
Quality child care and early education settings are critical to a young child’s healthy social and brain development. The nurturing and stimulating environment created by high-quality child care programs provides infants, toddlers and preschoolers a safe place to thrive during these crucial years. Without access to high-quality child care, children in Massachusetts will be less prepared for kindergarten, school and, eventually, the workforce.
Prior to COVID-19, America was already in a child care crisis. According to a 2019 report by the national business group ReadyNation, a lack of affordable, quality child care for infants and toddlers alone costs the US economy $57 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue each year. The same report found that an overwhelming 86% of primary caregivers said problems with child care hurt their efforts or time commitment at work.
As president and CEO of the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, I have seen the fragility of the child development sector, nearly all of which are small businesses that were barely sustainable before the pandemic, and their razor-thin operating margins have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. As we progress beyond this challenging moment, we must strengthen these small businesses if we are to depend on them to create the much-needed child care capacity that all working parents need.
In addition to pandemic-related challenges, there are other barriers to high-quality, affordable child care. The deficiencies in our early childhood education system, while universally felt, disproportionately impact our communities of color and women. Our continued support for the sector must include conversations about racial and gender equity that bring about meaningful and lasting change in early childhood education and care for both families and educators.
Just a few weeks ago, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan that is a significant investment to help stabilize the child care sector. This funding is crucial to children, families and child care providers across the country. However, child care providers — in both home- and center-based settings — need continued, long-term support if they are to survive this health and economic crisis. Going forward, we need bipartisan leadership to maintain and enhance this vital investment so working parents across the country do not lose access to the child care services they need in order to hold a job and provide for their families.
With the recent launch of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, company leaders across the state joined Eastern Bank and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable to address early childhood care and education as a key workforce concern. Congress must create long-term policies that include support for child care providers, families and our economy. Sustaining meaningful investments in the child care sector will be a victory on behalf of working parents, children and employers across the country.
Nancy Huntington Stager is the president and CEO of the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, a member of ReadyNation and a founding member of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education.
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April 09, 2021 at 04:27PM
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Stager: Quality child care key to America’s economic recovery - Boston Herald
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