Last week, Child Care Aware® of America’s (CCAoA) Research Team attended the latest public convening for the Committee on Financing Early Care and Education with a Highly Qualified Workforce, sponsored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The committee is studying how best to fund early care and education for children from birth to kindergarten entry so that education is accessible, affordable to families, and of high quality. They are also tasked with including proposals for a well-qualified and adequately supported early childhood education workforce. CCAoA has a long history examining the cost and financing solutions for child care at the state and federal level. Our annual report, Parents and the High Cost of Child Care, discusses not only the unaffordability of child care but also the creative financing strategies that states and localities have used to help defray the cost of child care from parents. We were especially interested in hearing what experts across the country had to share on the subject.

I work in the nonprofit sector. It is something I am incredibly passionate about, but I do not make a lot of money. I have twin boys that are just over a year-and-a-half old now. They are in child care and have been since they were infants. Fortunately, I was able to get an ABC voucher that greatly offsets the cost of their child care. (I currently pay $100 per week). If I didn't have an ABC voucher then I would be paying $1,600 per month or more for child care. There is no way I could afford that. There is no way that most people could afford that.

Child care plays a vital role in the early education and care of our nation’s children. This is especially important given that the early years of a child’s life are the most critical for development. We know that children who receive high-quality child care benefit throughout their lives. However, despite the importance of high-quality child care, the child care workforce earns far less than they should, an average of $19,510 a year.

The Arlington Chamber of Commerce awarded Child Care Aware® of America with Arlington’s Best Business Award for the nonprofit category at a special ceremony on May 2. The award celebrates area businesses that deliver exceptional quality of service to their customers, are industry leaders, or offer a unique approach to delivery of goods and services.

“Child Care Aware® of America is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is a proud member of the Arlington business community,” said Steve Smith, Chief Operating Officer at CCAoA. “We look forward to continued engagement with the Arlington business community and working together to build a successful workforce for tomorrow.”

We were excited to have more than 300 attendees join us for this year’s Child Care Aware® of America Policy Summit on April 23-25 in Washington, D.C. Child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies and early child care professionals from various disciplines and settings joined us from across the nation to address policy, practice, and the future of the early childhood field. Attendees engaged in insightful sessions, profited from key takeaways, networked, and (most importantly) made their voices heard during our special Day on the Hill event, where child care advocates and allies had an opportunity to meet with their Congressional representatives and put child care initiatives at the forefront of the political conversation.