Jennifer Legere’s Post

Great article shedding light on the significant negative impact of the lack of child care on small businesses nationwide. It's an eye-opening read! Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gJkyFvQV.

NEW POLL: A recent survey from Small Business Majority found that small business owners support legislative action to make child care more affordable and accessible. Find out more about how child care challenges are impacting families and the economy: https://lnkd.in/eUX45HGz

In partnership with the NC Chamber and NC Child, we researched how a lack of child care access hurts the state’s economy. According to our Senior Director Aaron Merchen, “The child care challenge that we have right now is akin to quicksand. If you notice you’re in quicksand right away, you can take a low-level intervention and get out of that situation. The longer you wait, the more serious the situation becomes, the harder it gets to get out of that quicksand.” Read more about the $5.65 billion annual loss here: https://lnkd.in/eyeXE3hB Learn more about our Untapped Potential reports here: https://lnkd.in/e2XnchbS

The Federal fiscal year runs September to September. We are currently on a 1 TRILLION Dollar ANNUAL run rate for interest on all of the Federal debt we have issued and outstanding. For comparison this is the same, or actually a bit more than was recently budgeted amount to fund our whole defense department! We will be paying more to finance all of our borrowings than to outfit and care for every member of the arm forces, to maintain every tank, ship and plane, to maintain every armed services base domestically and abroad, and not for nothing to aid and supply our allies world wide. It seems to me, if we can commit that level of funding and organizational support to those endeavors, national child-care should be a walk in the park. We’ve commented on it before, here,  https://lnkd.in/e7CHmsnE and here. https://lnkd.in/eyssejmX The problem is getting worse with no wide ranging viable options in sight.  We need to acknowledge what the pandemic shutdown made clear to every employer in the country, and what every school aged parent already knew, the US grade school and middle school systems are a de facto national child care entity allowing working parents to, you know, actually work, acquire spendable income and generate income tax revenue for states and federal governments. "Child Care is Infrastructure" Biden Harris White House plans here https://lnkd.in/en4Ehkhz This “oversight” that exists for kids from ~8am-3pm needs to be expanded to ~7am-~5pm and expanded to ages ~6 months to ~12-14 years of age. The benefits of access to quality, very affordable childcare for parents who choose to work will have likely have much higher economic and societal benefits than building the next Ford Class aircraft carrier or borrowing hundreds of billions to fund profligate spending. The country is currently awash in underutilized or empty corporate and retail structures than can be easily converted to day care facilities. As traditional youth employers like fast food etc. go digital and self-serve, more people will be available for this kind of work. Imagine generations of young people who get a real world taste of responsibility, oversight and parenting before they actually become parents! Clearly the Federal government has no qualms about borrowing eyewatering amounts for “needed” items. It is hard to argue anything is more needed nor a better investment than in our kids and their futures, full stop! #childcare #minimumwage #workfamily #savingforretirement #livelihoods #liveablecities #business #childhooddevelopment #moms #economy #labormarket #jobs #workingparents #workingmoms #daycare

I found this article on child care very insightful - how have you been affected by the child care crisis? Costs in child care have gone up 15-30% since Covid - how are families able to adjust? Meeting with a qualified financial strategist, someone who has your best interests in mind and not theirs, may help overcome this hurdle. Brainstorming with an expert never hurts! https://lnkd.in/ghYFDcy2

Today's #StartingEarly tackles the critical need to build bridges and take bold action to support families and young children in New Jersey and beyond. Programs like nurse home visits, expanded paid family leave, and universal pre-K aren't just policies—they’re lifelines that strengthen families and create a more equitable future.   This issue also explores how efforts like these are gaining traction, thanks to champions on both sides of the aisle. Future Caucus, led by Layla Zaidane, is a bipartisan group of young state legislators that’s leading the charge to advance forward-thinking policies that prioritize children and families, showing that shared values can overcome political divides.   We also spoke with Joe Waters, CEO of Capita, who shares his vision for a child-centric society and the systemic reforms needed to prioritize families. We agree with Joe — now is the time to bridge divides, align values, and push for policies that give every child a fair shot at success. Look out next week for a deeper dive with Joe.   Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e5AfabEB And subscribe to receive future issues of Starting Early: https://lnkd.in/gupUwZGr

CCC-Supported Legislation Making Moves & What’s Next In early June, the legislative session of the New York State Legislature ended for summer. At the state level, conversations mirrored a lot of what’s been and is still being discussed at the city level: lack of affordable child care access, high housing costs, and more. While there is still significant work to be done to uplift New York families overall, there was some really good progress made with state legislation that CCC supported. Reflecting on this year’s session, we are celebrating several legislative victories that promise to advance our collective goals, especially in supporting child care in New York State. Read our latest Insight to learn about the bills and more: https://bit.ly/nysleg24

We have talked about the challenge of rising Child Care costs with our Clients and Team Members for well over 2 years now. This article from the Atlanta Business Chronicle supports what we have learned. So many great employees have had to either leave or change their employment from full to part time because of rising child care costs. What is your firm doing to rise to this challenge?

Our partners at Iowa Health and Human Services recently presented at the Senate Finance Committee hearing on leveraging federal investments in early learning and child care to support families and providers. Experts emphasized the role of affordable, high-quality child care in workforce participation and economic growth. Discussions highlighted bipartisan support for federal solutions to improve access and affordability. Check out this summary of the hearing and learn how Iowa is using data to drive decision-making on child care to help families and children! https://lnkd.in/guTgSdaF

Register for this webinar to learn about the programs Win creates to help families transition to a better life outside of our shelters.