New report reveals Virginia’s growing childcare crisis

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - For working parents, childcare is tough to find, pricey and often, it just doesn’t exist where, when and how people need it.

“The cost is way expensive nowadays, it’s almost as much as a mortgage,” expectant parent Robin Contreras said.

Nicole Gilliam, works with children at the YMCA, where the challenge for families is evident.

“I definitely think it is a problem, again we have a sliding scale, we try to work with families and give scholarships and reduce rates based on their income, but without those incentives it would be nearly impossible,” Gilliam said.

It’s a statewide crisis, Gilliam says. And a new report from the Virginia Business Roundtable for Early Education shows that too.

“For many parents it’s just not affordable,” said Mike Chinn, Business Roundtable co-chair. “You’re often making the choice between is it worth for me to work when I might be paying fifteen or twenty thousand dollars a year per child.”

Chinn says the task force behind the report sees childcare as an infrastructure issue. Any real answer would mean building more classrooms, training more educators, and creating better pay.

“I could be concern of the cost all day, but I’m really concerned about the quality my child is going to be watching,” Contreras said.

The report also recommends public-private partnership, like businesses opening childcare onsite or teaming up with centers like the YMCA.

“So, if we want to have access as employers to the largest possible body of employees, then you have to look for obstacles that are keeping people out of the workforce and childcare is definitely one of those,” Chinn said.

Because when childcare works, parents work, and so does Virginia.

For more information and to view the full report, click here.

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