HOPEWELL, Va. — Sen. Tim Kaine (D - Virginia) and Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D - Richmond) toured an expanding childcare center in Hopewell on Tuesday morning and talked to parents about the challenges associated with childcare. They stopped by Kids with Goals Unlimited and spoke to Juanterria Brown who will soon open an addition to her existing center.
She credited American Rescue Plan Act dollars for keeping her business afloat during the pandemic.
Brown is adamant about keeping her prices low and affordable while still paying her employees a living wage.
Despite her expansion, she still has a waiting list of eight pages long or more than 70 families looking for childcare.
"I know families coming from Petersburg, Chester, New Kent County, Prince George, and Colonial Heights and they’re all telling me they can’t find childcare let alone in their own district or region. They have to go elsewhere. It’s sad,” Brown said.
Brown hosted a roundtable alongside Family Friendly Virginia, parents, and grandparents who have a vested interest in childcare.
She has discovered about half of her current children are being raised by their grandparents.
Sen. Kaine has introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act that would cap childcare expenses to no more than seven percent of the family’s income.
Rep. McClellan has co-sponsored the House version of the bill.
She told the roundtable that there’s a historic mindset that childcare is not of value because the people that did the work originally did it for free.
“We really have a huge lift to get our colleagues to understand that this is not just about babysitting,” McClellan told Kaine. “This is the most foundational piece of education and economic development.”
Kaine noted that there are many individuals who would like to enter the workforce but can’t find childcare.
“Every employer in the state is telling us we can’t hire workers, ‘What are we going to do? We can’t hire workers.’ If we don’t keep childcare funding up, this problem is going to get worse, not better,” Kaine said.
The lawmakers made the trip to Hopewell polling a recently released report by The Century Foundation.
The report found that without congressional action, a projected 3.2 million childcare slots could be lost and roughly 70,000 childcare programs could close by September 30, 2023.
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