First Five Nebraska’s Post

🔍 Revealed: How Private Nursery Chains Profit from Public Funds 🔍 As public funding for childcare in England is set to surge, a new analysis sheds light on the financial landscape of the nursery industry. Research conducted by the Guardian and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation exposes that over 20% of spending at English nurseries backed by large investment companies translates into profits. This investigation underscores the necessity for stricter regulation to safeguard taxpayers' money and ensure fair treatment of nursery staff. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation calls for "social licensing" of childcare providers, urging commitments on workers' pay and value for money, potentially including a profits cap. Click this link to watch the video https://lnkd.in/em5Ax-6c #ChildcareProfits #NurseryIndustry #Regulation #PublicFunding #FairTreatment #ChildcareProviders #EducationPolicy #EarlyEducation #ChildDevelopment #InvestmentBackedNurseries

The #Toronto High Park #YMCA suspends its infant program due to a severe #ECE shortage. With insufficient wages for educators and looming funding gaps, childcare centres across Toronto are shutting their doors. Heading towards $10-a-day care under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, the current funding formula falls flat—ignoring crucial costs like labor, rent, heating, and food. Not-for-profit child care centres demand a sustainable, long-term funding formula that covers the true cost of providing care to children. Read more on our website at https://b2c2.ca/ #childcarecrisis #ONchildcare #childcare #childcareshutdown #childcarecenter #ongovernment #ecewages #cwelcc #childcarebudget #deficit #nonprofitchildcare #ontario #makechildcareapriority

🚨 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀!🚨 With a new government in place, now is the time to reshape the future of childcare in England. Our latest 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 captures the voices of childminders across the country, and the message is clear: 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 and Childminding UK is fully committed to working with government ensuring that vital messages get through. Ofsted and the government are listening and there has never been a more important time to engage in conversation! Key Findings: 🔹 The demand for equal recognition with group settings. 🔹 Challenges with the current “free” childcare system. 🔹 The urgent need for better support in training, registration, and sustainability. 🔹 Barriers to entry, especially in rented properties. 🔹 Concerns over the decline in the number of childminders. 📊 We received 𝟱𝟬𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 between July 19th and August 4th, reflecting the real concerns and ideas from the childminding community. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 and see what the future holds for childminding: https://lnkd.in/ecAHaadX Together, let’s ensure childminders are at the heart of policy decisions. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀! #ChildmindingUK #ChildcareReform #SupportChildminders #FutureOfChildcare #awardwinning #childminder #training #support #resources #CPD #Ofsted #eyfs #notforprofit #PrincessRoyalTrainingAward #earlyyears #earlyyearsplay #childdevelopment #earlyyearsplay

💡 Jasper County and Falls City are pioneering in securing funding for childcare through innovative means like tax dollars and community funds. Discover how they’re investing in the future. Learn more about ways to alleviate childcare shortages in our latest whitepaper! https://hubs.ly/Q02mz6RL0 #EconomicDevelopment #CommunityDevelopment #Whitepaper #ChildcareShortages

Children are nurtured by various caregivers—parents, teachers, grandparents, and community members. To help them thrive, we must ensure all care providers are financially supported in their vital work. Why this matters: Temporary investments in care providers during the pandemic have proven effective, and there is growing support for better policies to aid caregivers of young children. For example, the U.S. Surgeon General's "Parents Under Pressure" report highlights the strain caregiving places on parents, advocating for a national paid leave program, expanded childcare assistance, and more. Bottom line: The next administration can support caregivers through tax reforms, like permanently expanding the Child Tax Credit and broadening the Earned Income Tax Credit to include full-time caregivers as well as other initiatives. Learn more about what can be done to support caregivers in this blog from CSSP’s Elisa Minoff, Senior Policy Analyst, as part of our Five for 2025—the policy ideas that will help advance a more equitable, family-centered set of solutions—so we can all thrive: https://lnkd.in/enqqrhJn #CSSP5for2025 #economicjustice #healthjustice #familyautonomy #racialjustice #support #familysupport #caregiving 

Childcare is a challenge everywhere right now, including in rural communities. A new report released today by the North Carolina Department of Commerce and NC Child says helping parents of young children get back into North Carolina’s workforce could add up to $7.5 billion to the state’s GDP, generate up to an additional $13.3 billion in annual economic input, and create up to 68,000 new jobs statewide. You can read more here: https://ow.ly/mSsS50TS3sU You can also read our new story about a Rural Center church partnership in Murphy to address the childcare shortage in that community: https://ow.ly/A2zn50TS3sV #Childcare #InvestInRural #SmallBiz

Here are the 3 impacts of the child care crisis on our economy: The USA TODAY recent article highlights the critical issues within the US child care system, emphasizing the impact on children, parents, child care workers, and the economy. Despite the sector receiving a historic $24 billion in federal relief funding, the expiration of these funds last fall has left many child care centers struggling. The lack of affordable child care forces many parents, especially mothers, to reduce working hours or leave the workforce, which affects family income and economic growth. Low wages and high stress levels contribute to high turnover rates among child care workers, undermining the quality of care provided. Inconsistent care can disrupt children's early development, leading to long-term educational and social challenges. There's a clear need for sustainable policy solutions that ensure long-term funding and support for the child care sector. --- Hey #Linkedin Fam, after reflecting on this, how can we create a sustainable and equitable child care system that supports both families and care providers? Share your thoughts and solutions to this pressing issue. #ChildCareCrisis #EconomicImpact #WorkforceDevelopment #PolicySolutions #EarlyEducation #AffordableChildCare #FamilyEconomics #ChildCareFunding #WorkforceParticipation #EducationalChallenges #LinkedinForCreators

People talk about how expensive university education is, but childcare can be as expensive as, or sometimes more expensive than, sending a kid to college. By the numbers: $36,000 One in 5 families spends this amount or more on child care in a single year. 75% According to a federal report last year, that’s the portion of a single parent’s income, in some areas (such as Washington, D.C.), that is spent on infant care. The cost is untenable even in states on the low end (such as South Dakota), where infant care accounted for a quarter of a single parent’s household income. 14.4 million This is how many U.S. children 5 and younger have all available parents in the workforce and thus need care You may ask, why should the government fund childcare? Because then the people who keep the wheels of the economy turning can work, earn a living wage, and keep the GDP up: $122 billion According to a report by ReadyNation, this is how much money is sucked out of the nation’s economy due to its child care crisis. (Disclosure: I work for a childcare company. Increased government funding for childcare may benefit my employer) PS: I wish the headline-writers wrote this differently. The system isn't broken; it is the insufficient funding by State and Federal governments that is causing the problem.

STAGGERING... that's the best word to describe the numbers behind our #childcare crisis. If you don't believe me, check out the article link below. When the average childcare teacher makes less than $15 an hour, what is the incentive to take these jobs? When 20% of families spend $36,000 or more in childcare costs, they must choose if they will enter the workforce or have one parent stay home. With $122 billion sucked out of the economy towards the childcare crisis, the labor pool and businesses suffer. Those who follow me know I have been stressing the need to focus on #childcare for almost two years. Government funding was a necessary, temporary solution following COVID-19, but it can't be the long-term solution. We have much work to do, but innovative solutions exist. This is why the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce continues to have these conversations with our legislators at all levels of government to explore alternative ideas. https://lnkd.in/ex4X83Qy

Especially with summer upon us, this seems to be the biggest seemingly unsolvable problem for some firms with which I work. Whether it's staff centers, stipends for in-home caregivers, attempting more hybrid, everyone is scrambling. With cost of living where it is, the normal childcare center option is seemingly inaccessible to certain levels of staff, yet labor costs are already squeezing companies on budget. It is easy to say that isn't on the leader to figure out, but at the current deficit, good people are being lost over childcare. How is your organization involving itself in problem solving to protect its workforce?