ARLINGTON, VA, December 11, 2023 – Child Care Aware of America is pleased to welcome four new members to its Board of Directors. These new leaders will assume their positions in January 2024.  

ARLINGTON, VA, December 7, 2023 – Child Care Aware® of America today announced that they have been recognized by one of the country’s largest charitable organizations, Yield Giving. Founded by MacKenzie Scott, Yield is named after the belief in adding value by giving up control. The fund aims to grant money to nonprofits to allocate where they believe is most needed, which is a philosophy now known as trust-based philanthropy. CCAoA is honored to join the ranks of these prestigious organizations as a grantee of $5 million.  

Parents still face rising costs while providers struggle to stay in business 

ARLINGTON, VA, January 25, 2022 – Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today released The Year in Child Care: 2021 Data, Analysis and Recommendations, the final installment in the organization’s Catalyzing Growth: Using Data to Change Child Care series. This report highlights parent and provider experiences and further illustrates the gap between what families can afford to pay and what providers must charge to scrape by.  

The report is a comprehensive look at the child care system’s recent challenges and opportunities, giving readers a fuller picture of child care affordability by comparing child care prices to median household income by both marital status and race/ethnicity.  

“While the cost of child care remains out of reach for many families in this country, providers are still struggling to stay in business,” shares Michelle McCready, CCAoA’s interim chief executive officer. “As providers prepare to lose COVID-era relief funds, this sector’s need for robust, long-term public support becomes more urgent by the day.”  

Child Care in 2021 Was More Expensive than Other Household Expenses 

Such as Housing and Health Care 

ARLINGTON, VA, October 13, 2022 — Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today released Price of Care: 2021 Child Care Affordability, which outlines the continuing increases in the price of child care across the United States. 

The report highlights survey data that shows that child care prices outpaced inflation in 2021 for the third consecutive year. In 2021, the average annual inflation rate was higher than usual at 4.7%, but child care prices rose by an average of 5% when compared to 2020 prices. This means families with children were more likely to struggle to afford child care on top of essentials such as food, housing and transportation. 

“Parents continue to face the challenge of finding and affording high-quality child care,” said Lynette M. Fraga, Ph.D., CCAoA Chief Executive Officer. “Recent public investments in child care have been a lifeline and helped keep programs open. But robust, long-term public support is needed to make child care affordable for families and ensure more children have access to high-quality early learning experiences to prepare them for success in school and beyond.”   

ARLINGTON, VA, September 14, 2022 — Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today released the first report of our research series: Catalyzing Growth: Using Data to Change Child Care. The report, Annual Child Care Landscape Analysis: 2021 Supply and Quality Trends, provides detailed information about the child care system in the United States. 

This year, CCAoA is featuring longitudinal supply data to increase understanding of how the supply of child care has changed since 2019, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, CCAoA found that while there was an increase in the number of child care centers from 2020 to 2021, the total number of centers remains slightly lower than the number open in 2019.   

There continues to be a downward trend in the supply of licensed Family Child Care (FCC) homes. Among the 40 states for which CCAoA has complete data, we found a 10% decrease in FCC homes over the last three years (107,783 in 2019 to 97,393 in 2021). Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of FCC homes was decreasing. This is an alarming trend because FCC homes are an affordable option for many families and often the only choice for families, especially in rural communities. 

ARLINGTON, VA, August 17, 2022 —  Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) announced that Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lynette M. Fraga is leaving the organization early in 2023.  

Child Care Aware^® of America mourns the senseless loss of children and adults from a mass shooting yesterday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Our hearts are broken for the families who have lost their children, for a school full of children who are now forever impacted resulting from the horrific trauma they have experienced, and for a community that is forever changed as it grieves. 

 The “pandemic of violence” that has made tragedies like this across the United States all too common cannot continue.  

 Whether children have witnessed a violent event, or have seen coverage of events in the news, it is important for parents and caregivers to be ready to help and talk about their feelings. Visit our resource page to help children understand and cope after facing traumatic events, including a fact sheet that outlines what stress may look like in children younger than five years old (also available in Spanish).  

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) will lead Provider Appreciation Day® on May 6 to recognize and celebrate the efforts of child care providers across the country. 

Provider Appreciation Day® is celebrated the Friday before Mother’s Day every year to recognize child care providers, teachers and other educators of young children everywhere. CCAoA convenes Provider Appreciation Day® each year to amplify our nation’s collective gratitude for those who support the social, emotional and physical care of our youngest children. 

 “Child care providers were ‘essential’ long before the pandemic. They keep our children safe, nurture their curiosity and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and growth,” said Lynette M. Fraga, Ph.D., CEO of CCAoA. “Together with our network of Child Care Resource and Referral agencies, nonprofit and business partners, we invite you to join us in thanking and celebrating child care providers across the nation.” 

 Child Care Aware^® of America’s 2022 Symposium on May 1-4 in Arlington, Virginia, will bring together Child Care Resource and Referral professionals, child care providers, parents, policymakers, funders and the business community to tackle complex issues and strategize ways to transform the child care system during this pivotal moment. 

Featured speakers will include Indra K. Nooyi, who served as CEO and chairman of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2019 and is one of the world’s most sought-after advisors to entrepreneurs, executives and governments. She is also revered as a role model for women and immigrants, and celebrated for her empowering messages on inclusivity. 

The symposium will also feature Ai-jen Poo, a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and a Trustee of the Ford Foundation. 

The symposium will include tracks on:  

• Innovative Programs and Practices 
• Transforming Child Care Through Data, Research and Policy 
• The Business of Child Care 
• Transforming Child Care Into an Equitable System 

It will also include an Advocacy Day, giving participants an opportunity to meet with their elected officials’ offices to share critical on-the-ground perspectives from the child care field that will help inform long-term investments in federal child care funding. 

For more information and to register: https://hubs.li/Q016TVdB0