Together, we are working to help Miami-Dade families with high childcare costs | Opinion
A childcare crisis continues to grow throughout our community, state, and nation, and its solution must be multi-faceted and require consistent collaboration between the public and private sectors.
One of the most expensive costs for families is quality childcare. Research shows that ensuring children under age five are in safe and engaging learning environments prevents academic and social struggles later in life. Childcare is also a workforce issue. As we saw during the pandemic, childcare workers are essential; without them, our economy cannot thrive.
We appreciate the formation of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s Children’s Commission, a collaborative effort of various stakeholders in early learning, early childhood development, and advocacy. This commission works in tandem with the Fiscal Cliff Collaborative, a group of local economic and family-focused leaders, to devise meaningful policy and community solutions.
Solutions are needed across the state. The Florida Chamber of Commerce’s “Untapped Potential” report shows the childcare crisis is costing Florida’s economy nearly $5.4 billion a year by driving parents out of the workforce and reducing tax revenue.
The need for childcare solutions drove The Children’s Trust to create the Thrive by 5 Early Learning Quality Improvement System – a comprehensive approach that addresses various aspects crucial for quality childcare in Miami-Dade, particularly in high-poverty neighborhoods.
From helping drive quality in early learning centers through financial incentives to supporting childcare workers obtain additional education and skills to helping working families pay the high cost of childcare, Thrive by 5 is an effective model that other communities and states are learning from.
Solutions are needed now more than ever. As wages rise, the fiscal cliff (or benefits cliff) continues to be an urgent priority, especially in high-cost communities like ours. Hard-working families are struggling to qualify for the School Readiness Program, a state-run, federally-funded workforce program that subsidizes the cost of childcare for working families.
In Miami-Dade, if two parents have minimum wage jobs and have one or two children, they make too much money to qualify for the School Readiness subsidy.
The Children’s Trust Families Forward childcare scholarships program, run in partnership with the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe helps to cover the costs of high-quality childcare for working families that have too high an income to qualify for the School Readiness childcare subsidy program but who still cannot afford the high cost of care. The waitlist of families trying to access Families Forward scholarships has grown to new heights.
To try to meet this need, The Children’s Trust increased its investment to more than $11 million annually for Families Forward and thanks to the collaborative work happening locally, the program received additional funding to help some of these struggling working families. Through Mayor Levine Cava’s leadership and the support of the Board of County Commissioners, Miami-Dade is providing a $3 million allocation for Families Forward scholarships.
Also answering the call to help from the private funder perspective, the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation stepped up to provide an additional $1 million donation. This enables hundreds of additional families to work and provides their children with a safe educational environment.
We encourage other funders to join forces with us to support Families Forward to alleviate the very real-and-now challenges faced by these working families.
At the same time, we will continue working with our supportive Dade Delegation to continue to move forward on policy changes to help remediate the fiscal cliff for families.
Our shared goal is to support parents in their desire to work while ensuring the safe and prosperous future of our next generation.
James R. Haj has served as president and CEO of The Children’s Trust since 2016. Evelio C. Torres has served as president and CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe since 2007.
