Not exactly sure where we’d put this – maybe advocacy maybe child care partnership or maybe we need a page that talks more about child care the challenges and opportunities???   I don’t really see this page standing alone.  The four essentials does speak to how we prioritize our advocacy, and the projects we work on.  This would apply to our SWCCP the addition this year of a Shared Services component.  Possibly we would add a sentence or two about how we are addressing these four essential components. We should probably talk with the marketing team about this and discuss on we address child care specifically on the website.  I think about what we’ve done in the past (business survey)  the association of Washington Businesses report on child care – I’m just putting my thoughts out there not sure where we want to take it. 

Maybe we even need a statement about child care.  How it supports the local economy, working parents, local businesses. 

Sustainability:  Child care is a business, that supports working parents, so that other businesses have a stable workforce.  We’ve been experiencing a child care crisis for some time now and with the pandemic the child care industry has taken another big hit.  Our region has the highest number of child care closures in the State of Washington.

Accessibility:  Child care closures, limited and a low paid workforce mean that parents can’t find the child care they need, and child care businesses can’t find staffing to open, or increase enrollment. 

Affordability:  Working families struggle to cover the cost of child care – for many of them their child care cost more than their rent or mortgage payment. 

Workforce:  In Washington we are known for high quality standards in child care – which is important we want children to be safe, nurtured.  However, a child care BA is the lowest paying degree in the country.