Investing in Childcare

Childcare is not a fringe issue. The brain builds 80% of its foundational architecture by age three. Childcare is infrastructure — as essential to a functioning economy as roads and broadband. Childcare costs have skyrocketed, averaging $10,000–$15,000+ per year per child in many states, exceeding college tuition in some areas. Childcare workers earn a median hourly wage of $15.42, less than parking lot attendants whose median wage is $15.72 per hour. In 2018, at least 42% of South Carolinians lived in a childcare desert (areas with more than three young children per licensed slot), but that figure is likely higher, since SC is the fastest growing state in the country.

Here is what I will fight for in Congress:

• Free technical college tuition for persons seeking certification in early childhood education.

• Federally funded Universal Pre-K.

• Expansion of Head Start / Early Head Start.

• Federal wage floor for childcare workers.

• National paid family and medical leave.

• Incentivize companies to add childcare centers when they build or open factories or office buildings

• Require federal office buildings over a certain size to have childcare centers for their staff and the community anytime federal buildings are built and/or renovated. This would be modeled after the child development centers operated on military bases.

“When we invest in childcare, we invest in children, in parents, in workers, and in the economy all at once. There is no smarter investment we can make.” - Eunice