Giving Compass' Take:

• Elise Franchino at Pacific Standard writes on the current state of child care in America, and she proposes that states and localities should work together to have child care be accessible and affordable for all. 

• What are current policymakers doing to address this issue? How can low-income families survive and stay employed without proper child care? 

• To learn about challenges on the path to universal child care, click here. 


At the National Association for the Education of Young Children Public Policy Forum in February, a child-care provider approached the microphone. She asked the panelists an often unconsidered question: How was she going to keep her small business open and pay her staff, given the minimum wage increase in her Midwestern state? While this may seem like the concern of a single provider, it shines a light on an impending crisis in child-care affordability in the United States.

To understand how, let's look at the current child-care landscape. Compensation reform for the early childhood workforce is painfully overdue. As states and localities work to remedy these financial injustices, policy improvements—like subsidy rate increases and eligibility rule revisions—will be necessary. As the California Department of Education put it, "If nothing is done, many lower-income families will lose their child care, and child-care programs will close their doors, triggering further job losses and major disruptions to families."

Read the full article on child care in America by Elise Franchino at Pacific Standard.