Child care right now essential, in need of more help

On behalf of family child care providers, child care centers, child care staff and administrators, I want to shout out a heartfelt thank you to theMarin Community Foundation for their generous grant of $1 million dollars to support child care in Marin County.

Why did the foundation step forward with this funding? Because it realizes that we have a child care crisis right now. The intricate infrastructure of child care has always been fragile, but right now we have reached a true crisis.

Now is the time for our community, our leadership and our legislators to take a stand and support those who care for the kids we love.

When the shelter-in-place order was issued last March, many child care programs continued to operate to serve essential workers. They had to. The essential workers we all needed — doctors and nurses, police officers and fire personnel — were being relied on to do their jobs during the pandemic. In turn, they relied on child care providers to care for their children so they could work without worry.

While most of us left our jobs and were sheltering in place— in fear of infection, illness and death — child care staff went to work despite the risk to themselves and their families. They did so willingly, as soon as they were needed and before precautions were clear or standards were set to protect them. These child care workers are true unsung heroes.

As the pandemic grew, we have continued to provide quality, reliable child care as well as education, social and emotional support, nutrition, physical activities as well as community connections and resources for the families.

It is a highly stressful time for our early childhood education community, as they balance their own safety while striving to provide a safe, secure and high- quality environment for the children and families they serve. They do it because they are professionals and they do it because they care.

Unfortunately, many programs cannot afford to stay open because their revenue has been slashed. Currently, we have lost about 70% of the paid “slots” in child care centers (69 are open and 71 are closed) and about 40% of family child care slots (121 open; 42 closed).

In addition to fewer children in attendance, programs are running at much lower capacity due to state regulations. Meanwhile, they are facing higher costs due to extra cleaning, sanitation, personal protective equipment and program modifications to support their environments.

One center in Novato is spending an additional $2,000 on cleaning each month. One provider needed four handwashing stations for the children at a cost of $12,000.

To facilitate a sanitary environment, providers are removing soft surfaces and replacing them with hard plastic items that can be easily cleaned. They also have to reconfigure their rooms to provide social distancing. All of this costs money.

Since March, theMarin

Child Care Council has spent over $500,000 on grants for child care providers throughout Marin County. We have provided training for trauma-informed care, organized food banks to help feed the children and set up drive-thrus to handout critical supplies (masks, wipes, sanitizers, air purifiers, touchless thermometers and bleach).

As the pandemic is still with us and vaccines will likely not be available for many months, these needs will remain and the costs are going to continue well into the future.

We need significant and sustainable funding for our classrooms, for our teachers and for the children. We also need a community commitment to child care. We need to recognize that child care is essential — essential for parents and working families, and essential for employers.

Child care providers cannot solve this crisis alone, so I have to ask: Who will stand up with the Marin Community Foundation? Who will lift up preschool teachers, after-school instructors and family care providers? Who will protect child care for working families in Marin? We need you.

Nowis the time for our community, our leadership and our legislators to take a stand and support thosewho care for the kidswe love.