How hard has COVID-19 hit child care providers?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation decided to ask them.

The chamber interviewed 18 providers – “from large, for-profit centers to local nonprofit organizations to home-based providers” — about the impact of the pandemic and about the future.

Providers’ answers are in a new report, “Childcare: An Essential Industry for Economic Recovery,” which is part of the chamber’s ongoing analysis of early education and child care and their impact on the economy.

The report points to three common challenges:

• meeting needs while balancing costs

Providers “are dedicated to providing childcare services. However, decreased enrollment and increased costs have left most providers, both for-profit and nonprofit, in an unsustainable financial situation.”

• managing health risks

“The top priority for providers is understanding how to safely care for young children, understanding that a COVID-19 diagnosis is seemingly inevitable in several geographies, even with the utmost precautions.”

• addressing the interconnected nature of child care

“Childcare is closely tied to — and affected by — how parents return to work and how students return to school. However, many childcare providers are not being included in key discussions with their local school districts or business communities.”

The report also includes voices from the field, among them a provider in Texas who says that many furloughed employees are “making more on unemployment than when they’re working. That put us in a very awkward position.”

A Chicago provider points to the inequities in city, state, and federal funding, noting:

“In the schools, we provided every family with a Hotspot and every student went home with a Chromebook. In Head Start we had guaranteed funding, and in the state, we finally received word that they will give us additional funding to meet these expenses. The concern is that this extra funding is only temporary.”

A home-based provider in California says:

“Sometimes I shop at 11 different stores on one weekend just to locate the supplies that I need.”

And a Miami provider says:

“We have staff with children in elementary and middle school. If the school system goes to a hybrid model, elementary and middle school schedules might not match, so those staff might need to lose their jobs.”

What does this mean for the economy?

“As businesses consider how they can help their employees safely return to work, they must first seek to thoroughly understand their employees’ childcare needs,” the report says. “Many parents have found temporary childcare arrangements in order to continue working, but they still need long-term solutions in order to fully return to work.”

The report also points out that some child care programs are small businesses, largely run by women, that “could benefit from the relationships, network, and support of other local companies.”

“Businesses can support these organizations by investing and supporting these business owners’ development and growth, funding or offering space for operations, providing donations such as personal protective equipment (PPE), office supplies, furniture, services, or championing better policy.”

In addition:

“State and local chambers could also encourage childcare providers to join their membership and integrate more intentionally into the business community, taking providers’ unique needs into account when advocating on behalf of the business community.”

The need is pressing.

“Without sustainable childcare solutions,” the report concludes, “many working parents may be forced to cut back their hours, switch employers, or leave the workforce entirely.”

Please be sure to read the report and share it with businesses and business organizations in your community.