Child Care Relief on the Table in House and Senate Negotiations

Recent legislation introduced by Republicans and Democrats show the bipartisan support in Congress for child care relief, but without an adequately funded child care stabilization fund, providers will continue to struggle to keep their doors open to meet the needs of children and families. Here’s a look at recent news coverage and analysis of the nation’s child care crisis.

THE LATEST: The Washington Post Editorial Board called on Congress to rescue the child care industry from the brink of collapse. Citing data from Child Care Relief campaign partners, the op-ed highlighted the dire state of the child care industry, which is largely tuition-funded and struggling with declining enrollment and mandatory closures. With half the industry at risk of permanent closure and parents returning to the workplace, the lack of child care will devastate both our economy and the personal finances of millions of Americans. Read the op-ed here.

CHILD CARE RELIEF PASSED IN THE HOUSE: In two bipartisan votes this week, the House of Representatives passed child care relief bills. The Child Care is Essential Act would create a $50 billion child care stabilization fund to provide grants to help providers pay for personnel, sanitation, training and other essential costs associated with reopening and running a child-care facility amid the pandemic. The Child Care for Economic Recovery Act would provide $10 billion for the Child Care Development Fund to distribute grants to construct, renovate or improve child care facilities, $7.1 billion increase of the Child Care Entitlement to States, and tax subsidies for working families, helping to bring quality child care within their reach to support ongoing employment. Read more analysis from CNBC’s Megan Leonhardt here.

CHILD CARE RELIEF IN THE SENATE: This week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the details of the next economic recovery package, which includes $15 billion in emergency funding for the child care industry. The proposed financial relief – $10 billion through a child care stabilization fund to states and $5 billion through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. Previously, the House passed the HEROES Act, which included $7 billion for child care, which was bolstered this week by passage of the Child Care is Essential Act. Even the most conservative estimates indicate a $26 billion investment to stabilize the child care industry would only cover half of the nation’s providers.

U.S. CHAMBER CALLS FOR CHILD CARE RELIEF: In a new letter to Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Congress is urging lawmakers to ensure the upcoming COVID-19 recovery package includes enough emergency stabilization funding to prevent the child care industry from collapsing. The business leaders, who have made child care a priority for years, wrote: “Thirteen million Americans rely on the childcare sector to care for and educate their young children while they work. Without this industry’s survival and ability to safely care for the children of working parents, every other American industry will struggle to return to work. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce appreciates the attention Congress is giving to this critical issue, but urges lawmakers to quickly find a bipartisan, bicameral path forward that is targeted and timely.” Read the full letter here.

IN THE STATES: A recent survey of Kentucky parents found that nearly 30 percent are struggling to find child care and they are stressed about sending their children back to care as they plan to return to work. A UC Berkeley study found that child care in Southern California is on the brink of collapse as they struggle to cover the rising costs related to COVID-19 safety requirements. In New York, child care providers are desperate for federal relief to prevent further closures and to fill vacant positions.

ICYMI: MASSIVE VOTER SUPPORT FOR CHILD CARE RELIEF:A poll released this week by First Five Years Fund and the Center for American Progress found broad support and demand for dedicated federal relief for child care providers. The support cuts across political affiliation and among key constituencies, with more than 80 percent in favor of a federal child care stabilization fund. Read the full results of this poll here.

Child Care Takes Center Stage in Presidential Race

The devastating impact of these financial realities cannot be sustained without direct federal investments through a child care stabilization fund that ensures providers can keep their doors open to meet the needs of children and families.The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage and analysis of the nation’s child care crisis.

THE LATEST: In a live televised event this week, former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, unveiled his proposal to invest in high-quality early learning and care programs that support families, communities, and businesses across the country. Child care remains an overwhelmingly bipartisan issue among voters nationally, and has become a focal point of candidates for office on both sides of the aisle. Read the full Biden proposal here.

WHITE HOUSE TO FOCUS ON CHILD CARE IN COLORADO: During a trip to Colorado this week, Ivanka Trump will tour a child care facility and participate in a roundtable with providers, parents, and local stakeholders on the importance of child care to America’s economic recovery and the best practices to ensure children and workers can return safely. Read more about her visit here.

BIPARTISAN MOVEMENT FOR CHILD CARE IN CONGRESS: Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), introduced the Back to Work Child Care Grants Act of 2020, which would provide dedicated economic assistance to stabilize the child care industry and resources to child care providers amid the COVID-19 crisis. Original Senate co-sponsors include John Cornyn (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Steven Daines (R-ME), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Todd Young (R-IN). Additionally, 41 Republican lawmakers in the House sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling for dedicated federal relief for child care providers and businesses to stabilize an industry that has been devastated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. House Democrats expect a floor vote on the Child Care is Essential Act on Monday, which would create a $50 billion child care stabilization fund through the upcoming COVID-19 recovery package.

MASSIVE VOTER SUPPORT FOR CHILD CARE RELIEF: A poll released this week by First Five Years Fund and the Center for American Progress found broad support and demand for dedicated federal relief for child care providers. The support cuts across political affiliation and among key constituencies, with more than 80 percent in favor of a federal child care stabilization fund. Read the full results of this poll here.

BUSINESS LEADERS CALL FOR CHILD CARE RELIEF: In a letter to Congressional leaders, the Business Roundtable urged support for child care providers, writing, “to help individuals and families manage through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, Business Roundtable supports additional resources for childcare providers to ensure greater access to affordable, quality care and early education.”

IN THE STATES: With less than half of child care facilities open for business in Michigan, access to care remains a barrier to reopening the state economy because parents are stuck on waiting lists and struggling to find open spaces for their children as they return to work. In Indiana, WBAA talked with a panel of child care experts to discuss how the pandemic has impacted child care facilities and families. Parents in Kansas are sharing their stories of struggling to find child care until school starts after the state announced classes would not begin until after Labor Day.

Child Care is the Key to Economic Recovery

THE LATEST: COVID-19’s worsening devastation of the child care industry is having a major impact on the recovery — just as the economy begins to reopen, keeping parents (particularly women) from being able to return to work. According to recent reporting from Politico on the rapidly growing unemployment rate in America, women have been more likely to have been laid off, left the labor market, or consider quitting their jobs to manage essential family responsibilities like caring for children.

WHY CHILD CARE NEEDS RELIEF: More from Politico: “Continued shutdowns and the need to implement costly safety and social distancing measures are threatening to run so many child care providers out of business that the country could permanently lose an estimated half of its capacity… Left unaddressed, the issue will affect tens of millions of Americans. More than 325,000 child care workers have already lost their jobs since February. And more than 33 million American families have children under the age of 18.”

SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN CONGRESS: Two House Subcommittees held bipartisan hearings this week on America’s child care challenges. “Child care is exactly the type of smart investment we should be prioritizing as we safely reopen and rebuild America’s economy,” said Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN). “There can be no return to normal for our families if children cannot return to child care,” added Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).

THE STATES: A recent study shows nearly one-quarter of Iowans live in a child care desert, according to WGEM, and the coronavirus has presented providers who have remained open with new challenges. In order to survive the next five months, the Massachusetts child care system needs an estimated $690 million to cover lost tuition due to mandatory closures and pay for the increased cost of new health regulations, according to two recent reports. Texas school districts are reporting that Pre-K enrollment has fallen drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns that young children will not receive the social, emotional, and cognitive education that lays the groundwork for success in school, college, and the workforce.

STORIES TO READ: Georgia Goldburn, executive director of Hope for New Haven writes about her struggle to continue serving her community as the loans she received from the Paycheck Protection Program and state emergency funds run out. Even in Connecticut, where state leaders took steps to stabilize the child care industry and provide frontline workers access to child care, providers are beginning to close, leaving few options for parents returning to work. Read more here.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: ‘What it’s like living in child care deserts’: More than half of U.S. communities don’t have licensed child care options – and that was before the pandemic. Watch this recent moment on MSNBC that highlights the challenges millions of families are facing across the nation and how coronavirus has made it worse.

WHAT WE ARE READING: “It feels like child care is being regarded as a footnote of reopening plans rather than a headline.”: This week, Axios profiled the growing challenge facing communities across the country. With coronavirus cases spiking and no end in sight, schools and day care centers may not fully reopen in the fall, triggering a massive child care crisis for millions of American workers.

The Challenges Child Care Providers Face in Reopening, And States’ Efforts to Help

A new blog from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) highlights the different challenges facing child care providers and state administrators across the country as they work to reopen child care centers.

For child care providers, the barriers for reopening and staying open are twofold: higher costs and lower revenues. Already operating on slim margins prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, providers now have to contend with retrofitting their facilities and reducing their class sizes to fit ever-changing safety protocols. On top of that, providers are also seeing lower enrollment and attendance amid parents’ safety concerns about sending children back into care.

Recognizing the importance of child care for getting Americans back to work, state governments are using what’s left of the supplemental Child Care Development Block Grant funds provided through the CARES Act to support child care providers reopening. However, that funding is quickly running out, requiring states to look to other programs and local governments to help fill in the gaps.

Last month, BPC hosted a roundtable with 10 state child care administrators to discuss how states are using the funding made available through the CARES ACT, including the challenges they’ve faced. Many of the states reported that they expected CARES funding to run out shortly, reaffirming that a more substantial and targeted approach is needed from Congress to further stabilize the child care industry. Read more from Bipartisan Policy Center.

Families are Losing Child Care Options as Economy Reopens

America needs child care relief to keep the industry afloat during the nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The disastrous economic crisis has hit the child care industry especially hard, causing widespread layoffs and closures as a result of catastrophic drops in enrollment. And while the nation’s economic recovery from this crisis will be a slow, phased process, child care providers will be expected to be open to care for children as parents return to work, while operating on financial losses for months to come due to new social distancing requirements and continued low enrollment. Providers will also face increased operating expenses to meet new and important health and safety standards.

The devastating impact of these financial realities cannot be sustained without direct federal investments that ensure child care providers can keep their doors open to meet the needs of children and families.The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage and analysis of the nation’s child care crisis.

THE LATEST: Chilling new data from the results of a nationwide survey released by the University of Oregon’s RAPID-EC Research Group finds that almost half of working families have lost the child care arrangements they were using before the pandemic. This issue is particularly pressing for lower-income families, with 48% of lower-income households reporting that they don’t have the ability to return to their previous child care arrangement. Read more here.

WHY CHILD CARE NEEDS RELIEF: As the economy begins opening in states like California – the world’s fifth largest economy – the fate of the recovery depends on the state of child care, according to reporting in Politico. The pandemic has forced many providers to close due to steep revenue losses and the rising costs associated with reopening clean, healthy facilities for children, and experts say even a small percentage of closures would have widespread impacts on the economy.

THE STATES: Reports coming in from across the country paint a bleak picture for the child care industry. Child care providers in Alaska are struggling to make ends meet without relief, and as many as one-third of North Carolina’s child care programs remain closed as parents return to work. One Washington child care provider estimates that the cost of reopening and limited enrollment have raised the cost to serve children by 250 percent, an unsustainable increase for an industry that already operated on slim margins before the coronavirus pandemic.

STORIES TO READ: Darlene Mount cares for the children of emergency personnel at the YMCA of Greater Monmouth County, New Jersey and has shared what it is like being a child care provider during the coronavirus with TIME. She recounts the challenges she faces as a hands-on provider who cannot physically connect with her children during this health crisis.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A new, first-ever analysis and ranking of how each country in America protects and provides for its children has found that communities of color, especially in rural, impoverished, Southern areas of the United States are the most disadvantaged. The rankings are based on four factors that cut childhood short: hunger, dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, and early death due to poor health, accident, murder, or suicide. Read more about this Save the Children report here.

WHAT WE ARE READING: As COVID-19 Threatens Millions of Child Care ‘Slots,’ Families Face Deep Disruptions to Their Children’s Early Learning and Social Development and to Their Own Jobs: Early learning and child care advocates estimate that the COVID-19 pandemic could eliminate 4.5 million child care slots due to providers permanently closing their doors. These slots represent the children who are missing out on access to high-quality early learning and parents who rely on child care in order to go to work every day. This will have long-term effects on children, families, and economies. Read more from The 74 here.

COVID-19 Child Care News Update – June 11

Extended stay-at-home orders and massive declines in enrollment have forced nearly half of child care providers to close their doors; those still operating or reopening will have to operate on financial losses for months to come as a result of new social distancing requirements and low enrollment, as parents slowly return to work.

The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage and analysis of the nation’s child care crisis.

Yesterday, 41 state and local Chambers of Commerce urged Congress to provide targeted assistance to child care providers in its next legislative package. The letter follows recent efforts by the First Five Years Fund and other national advocacy partners to encourage lawmakers to include dedicated, specific relief for the child care industry to prevent a collapse. The business leaders wrote, “To ensure that more Americans can quickly return to work and to support our nation’s overall economic recovery, Congress should provide timely, targeted, and temporary emergency assistance to licensed childcare centers and homes.” Read the full story here.

Citing recent survey data from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Marketplace reports on the growing struggle parents are facing as they return to work with no child care available in their communities. With most child care providers saying they are losing income and cannot survive a closure of a month of less without support, Black-owned providers and those serving low-income communities are expected to be the hardest hit, exacerbating gender and racial inequality already seen in the child care industry. Read more here.

A New York Times report highlights the ways parents are being forced to quickly adapt to changing child care availability as thousands of providers are forced to close their doors due to declining enrollment and increasingly slimmer margins. As these facilities close, parents seeking other forms of child care are paying higher costs and those who cannot afford to pay more are at a greater risk of losing their jobs, impacting households and businesses. Read more here.

Understanding the critical role child care plays in our economy, supporting every other industry, former Treasury Department economist Ernie Tedeschi stated the current crisis clearly, “Child care could be the next big headwind to hit the [United States]. Child care is the lynchpin of so much else in the economy.” Read more in the Los Angeles Times here.

The harsh realities of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the child care industry are being played out in states across the country as parents plan to return to work.

The Honolulu Civil Beat is reporting that Hawaiian teachers, ready to return to work and serve their communities, are facing the same challenges as other parents who are juggling returning to work and finding high-quality child care. In 150-plus pages of testimony sent to the state education board, teachers from across the state are sounding the alarm about the growing crisis of limited child care and pre-k spaces for their children.

A recent survey of Kentucky’s child care providers found that as many as 15 percent may close permanently due to the COVID-19 crisis, according to WTVQ. Providers are calling for significant state and federal financial support to prevent closures and ensure the child care infrastructure in the state is sustained immediately and in the long term.

Stories from Massachusetts and Louisiana paint a stark picture of the challenges both child care providers and families are going to face as facilities are allowed to reopen. Enrollment caps and necessary safety measures designed to protect the health of young children and child care providers are causing additional financial strain felt by the entire industry. State and national advocates are raising the alarm that without relief, these providers will be forced to close, causing a ripple effect with far-reaching consequences to the entire economy, which is supported by the child care sector.

Millions Can’t Return to Work without Child Care

The child care industry is on the brink of collapse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without significant, dedicated relief, the U.S. stands to lose 4.5 million child care slots – roughly half of the nation’s child care supply.

Since the beginning of this crisis, child care providers have been closing at an alarming rate. In fact, half have closed already and will remain permanently closed without relief – if they reopen at all.

COVID-19 has created an acute child care crisis for American families, providers, and businesses, but the virus is not fully to blame. Child care providers were already operating on razor-thin margins long before the pandemic, and families across the country struggled to find and afford quality care.

Child care keeps America working. As businesses begin to reopen, millions of Americans will not be able to return to work without access to child care.

Without Child Care, There Is No Recovery

Any meaningful recovery effort must include significant, dedicated relief to meet the unique needs of child care providers and the families they serve. As the backbone of the American economy, child care is essential for other industries to recover.

It has never been more clear that quality child care is the through line in our economic security—it is essential for families, businesses, and the labor force. Relief efforts are for naught if millions of working families cannot return to work due to a lack of child care options.

A vast majority of Americans support federal funding to specifically address the worsening child care crisis. A recent national poll shows four in five voters support the child care industry receiving targeted financial assistance from the federal government to address the impact of COVID-19.

America Needs Child Care Relief

Child care isn’t like other industries and is among the most consequential to America’s economic recovery. A majority of child care providers are private businesses, but they provide a service that tantamount to the public interest.

Most providers say they can’t break even unless they are operating at near full capacity, yet today 85% report that they were operating at less than 50% of their enrollment.

Although Congress and the administration have provided assistance to help businesses and families during this crisis, significant dedicated relief is needed to meet the unique needs of the child care industry.

Current measures provide a temporary fix, but they don’t provide the targeted relief that the industry needs. A NAEYC survey found that roughly a quarter of the industry had received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

If America’s economic recovery is to be successful, millions of working parents are going to need access to reliable, quality child care. If the nation’s child care industry is going to survive this crisis, providers are going to need significant, dedicated relief.

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Child Care Shortages Creating Uncertainty for Parents Returning to Work

Child care providers across the country, many of whom were already struggling to stay open before this crisis, are facing even greater challenges as enrollment declines exponentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while essential workers, including medical professionals and first responders, are finding that the child care supply is limited and under-resourced – verging on total collapse. Even the providers trying to remain open to care for the children of essential workers are struggling. If this industry collapses, our economic recovery will be more difficult and may never recover. America’s child care providers need more relief if they want to survive this crisis.

The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage of the nation’s child care crisis.

Earlier this month the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, which includes some emergency funding for child care through the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program (CCDBG), among other, more general relief provisions for small businesses that certain child care businesses would be eligible to apply for. Understanding that this critical industry needs significant, dedicated relief from Congress, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy calling for additional assistance through a Child Care Stabilization Fund to support child care providers during this crisis and through the economic recovery.

Before this crisis, child care was already difficult to find and afford for many families, and as CNBC reports, this pandemic will only further diminish the nation’s child care supply, as providers struggle to remain open with plummeting enrollment and uncertainty. Per USA Today, “COVID-19 has plunged the child care industry, 90% of which is privately run, into a crisis the likes of which the nation has never seen.”

Child care is a specialized, and expensive service to deliver, yet providers must set tuition rates that are low enough for families to afford but high enough to cover expenses like payroll, rent, and more. Given that most providers only break even if they are operating at close to full capacity, continued reductions in enrollment and new limitations on class size will result in, “a significant loss of revenue, which leads to an equally significant loss of staff because of layoffs,” according to Cindy Cisneros of the Committee for Economic Development.

The severity of this crisis for the nation’s child care providers is due in large part to the fragmented, underfunded nature of America’s child care system – or lack thereof. As Educare DC’s Pyper Davis told CNBC last week, “child care is a system that is really not a system — it’s a bunch of things kind of cobbled together that are vulnerable to a big gust of wind.” The situation in one state or community might vary greatly from that in another jurisdiction, both in terms of cost and supply, but also for public funding and regulations. One thing that seems to be universal for child care across the country right now: the COVID-19 crisis.

Anchorage, Alaska is facing a child care shortage due to business closures, remote education, and work from home policies for parents. According to the Anchorage Health Department, the city has lost nearly 5,500 possible spaces for children in child care facilities, resulting in hardship for parents, providers, and the economy.

Reports out of Colorado and Indiana show that preschools and child care centers across the country faced difficult decisions to close, and now as states are allowing businesses to reopen and parents return to work, there are even more challenges ahead of them.

Connecticut daycares have stayed open throughout the quarantine, but many parents have opted to keep their children at home. When businesses begin opening up this week and more parents head back to work, many will need childcare. Connecticut Public Radio dedicated an hour to discuss the looming crisis facing the child care industry in the state. Listen here.

Mainers returning to work do not know who will be available to watch their children as overall child care capacity across the state has dropped nearly 60 percent in late April. For child care providers, the CARES Act provided a one-time stipend of $175 or $75 per child, but it did not cover the actual losses due to declining enrollment. As they make plans to reopen, many are concerned that staffing will be an issue as schools and summer programs are closed for children.

What We Are Reading: Saturday Essay: Child care is essential service – Karen McCoy, president of the Toledo Day Nursery, writes, “With the governor slowly reopening businesses, child-care needs to be highly recognized and valued for its significance to the economy. For many to return to work, they need child care. However, it is not just care that children need, it is essential that they have high-quality experiences to support their growth, and a nurturing, encouraging, consistent teacher to foster their development, curiosity, and social/emotional skills.”

COVID-19 CHILD CARE NEWS UPDATE – MAY 14

The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage of the nation’s child care crisis.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) released the findings of a recent follow-up survey of child care providers who applied for relief under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was intended to help small businesses keep their workers on the payroll and stay afloat during the COVID crisis to avoid closing permanently. It found that approximately one-quarter of the child care market has received this critical relief provided under the CARES Act.

As CNBC reports, while most child care providers are eligible to apply for the PPP loans, experts say the program is not a good fit for a majority of facilities because they do not meet the unique needs and realities of child care providers. This makes the need for dedicated federal child care funding much more important to ensure these facilities are getting the help they need. Many of the providers who responded to NAEYC’s survey indicated they had been denied for reasons that should not have made them ineligible, including things like problems with their credit scores and their lack of a business checking account (even if they had a personal account).

Advocates and families across the country are calling on lawmakers to address the impending child care crisis caused by COVID-19. The LA Times editorial board writes, “It’s hard to see how retail clerks, assembly-line workers and other working parents recalled to their jobs in the next few weeks will manage without child care. And it’s hard to see how child-care providers can survive without help.”

In Alaska, federal and state aid is coming to providers, but those who are struggling to remain open are concerned that it will not be enough to ensure they are ready to care for children as our economy reopens and parents return to work. Providers expected three months worth of payments to offset the losses due to plummeting enrollment, but as the number of requests for relief grew, the number of payments to providers dwindled to one.

California providers are facing financial danger according to a survey by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. Of the respondents, only 35 percent of child care centers remained open and the survey shows that 63 percent of open programs will not survive another month of closure. Additionally, 14 percent of closed providers in the state will not survive past the end of May.

Home-based child care providers in California are also facing challenges because they are classified as self-employed independent contractors and unable to apply for state unemployment benefits. While these workers could apply for PPP loans, they are finding it difficult to actually get the relief, and many lack a business bank account, one of the PPP requirements, per Ed Source.

Understanding that additional relief for child care is necessary for our nation’s economic recovery, a bipartisan group of 23 senators led by Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) penned a letter to Congressional leaders calling for additional relief for child care providers in any future Coronavirus package, writing, “…it is critical we provide additional support for the child care sector to ensure providers can maintain operations and continue to meet the needs of essential workers, and remain viable going forward as our country moves towards economic recovery.” Without question, the next Congressional relief package must include dedicated assistance specific to child care.

What we are reading: Turning a blind eye toward pre-K is a mistake – The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s most recent op-ed highlights the recently released State of Preschool Yearbook from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) that stresses the effects the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the education of young children. The editorial urges lawmakers to give more consideration to pre-K as we grapple with the state of education after this health crisis. Read more here.

COVID-19 Child Care News Update – May 12

The situation varies from state to state, and even from community to community. Here’s a look at recent news coverage of the nation’s child care crisis.

Congress has begun discussing additional relief measures to alleviate some of the economic pain felt by families and businesses during this crisis. In a major, bipartisan move on Capitol Hill, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) led a bipartisan letter signed by 21 other senators calling for additional relief for child care providers in any future Coronavirus package, writing, “…it is critical we provide additional support for the child care sector to ensure providers can maintain operations and continue to meet the needs of essential workers, and remain viable going forward as our country moves towards economic recovery.” Without question, the next Congressional relief package must include dedicated assistance specific to child care.

Melinda Gates and other child care advocates across the country are calling on lawmakers to focus on the growing crisis impacting families as they struggle to return to work without care for their young children. To lift up the voices of child care providers and ensure federal lawmakers prioritize and address the needs of providers and families, a coalition of the nation’s leading child care, business, and child advocacy organizations launched the Child Care Relief campaign. Read about the recent launch of this campaign in the Wall Street Journal.

Reports from across the country show that parents do not know when they can return to work as access to child care dwindles due to reduced admission to meet social distancing requirements or the fact that their previous provider was forced to permanently close during the crisis. Many parents, juggling remote work and child care, are also concerned that summer camp closures and the reduced child care options will create additional strain when they return to work and have no one to care for their children.

According to data collected since the start of the coronavirus crisis, this epidemic has disproportionately impacted women in the workforce with more than half of the 20.5 million jobs eliminated belonging to women. The unemployment rate for adult women has risen to about 15 percent from 3.1 percent in February. Read more from the New York Times here.

Child care providers continue to struggle during this crisis, with many unsure if they can remain open throughout this crisis and after it is over. In Massachusetts, where 46% of parents said they would not be able to return to work without consistent child care, many providers are finding it difficult to plan for the future of their businesses. According to WBUR, many providers did not receive Paycheck Protection Program funds made available through the CARES Act.

In California, child care providers are being forced to close permanently due to a loss in revenue and the additional expenses required to fully reopen, and even those that have adapted to remain open to care for the children of essential workers see a bleak future. According to a recent survey, 63 percent of child care programs that are open would not be able to survive more than a month longer under shelter-in-place orders. By May 1, 1 in 5 child care providers in the state had suspended operations. Read more from EdSource here.

Virginia child care providers are reaching into their own pockets to continue caring for children during the pandemic, according to Charlottesville Tomorrow. Providers are sharing their stories about using personal funds and PPP relief to continue paying for supplies, mortgages, and employee salaries as they saw enrollment plummet due to the crisis.