YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Brooke Murray of Austintown works at a Canfield salon, trying to build up her clientele as a makeup artist.
What she really wants to do though, is real estate – and to work more. Her chief limitation for both is child care for her 2-year-old daughter, Matilda.
Murray’s husband is a firefighter at the Warren City Fire Department. He’s also in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and works as a firefighter at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
“I can’t afford full time day care,” Murray says. “Honestly, I feel like I’m paying them to let me have a job.”
Murray’s in-laws help her with child care but finding a quality day care provider was challenging. The family found one they love in Canfield and take Matilda there two days a week while Murray works.
“We can barely afford that with our paychecks,” Murray says. “It’s so expensive.”
She’s not alone. A community needs assessment last year by Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries Inc. and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber found child care to be one of the region’s top workforce development challenges identified by both employers and job seekers.
State Budget
The recently approved state budget includes provisions for pilot programs to address the problem.
The Child Care Cred Program shares child care costs among employees, employers and the state. The state covers 20% while employees and employers each contribute 40%. Employees with annual family income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level are eligible. That means a family of two that earns $84,600 would qualify.
The Child Care Choice Voucher Program is available for families with a gross monthly income between 146% and 200% of the federal poverty level. If a family applies for publicly funded child care and is denied due to income, their eligibility for the Child Care Choice Voucher is automatically reviewed by their county job and family services department.
Business Partnership Grants target community-based strategies to expand access to child care. A business partners with a nonprofit organization to manage the grant and connect with child care providers that have available slots.
So far, businesses have been slow to sign on.
“Child care is a big reason that a lot of moms are not in the workforce,” says Brenda Linert, director of community impact at the Chamber.
And businesses voice challenges about finding and retaining employees, she adds.
“I think that we really need businesses to help us to move the needle on this and in order to do that, they would have to pay part of the child care costs,” she says, referring to the Child Care Cred program.
Linert says 60% of parents cite lack of child care as a reason for leaving the workforce. “And then on top of that, 60% of moms who are working part time say that they would return to full time work outside the home if they had access to not just child care but obviously quality child care.”
Since the release late last year of the Community Needs Assessment, Goodwill hired Carol Holmes-Chambers as community solutions director. She’s working to gather stakeholders to address the employment barriers identified in the study.
An executive committee began meeting in April and subcommittees with representation from employers, those facing barriers, service organizations and others are forming to address specific issues.
“One of those things was figuring out how we engage employers in wanting to take advantage of this pilot opportunity,” Holmes-Chambers says.
Maria Spencer, director of early care and education services at the nonprofit Early Childhood Resource Center, will lead that subcommittee. The center serves as the resource and referral agency for Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit and Trumbull counties. Spencer says staff work to increase awareness of early childhood options among providers, families and community stakeholders.
Different Conversations
Holmes-Chambers says she hears two different conversations regarding the economy. Employers want people to be skilled, so there’s a conversation about upskilling and getting people ready for employment.
Then the other conversation focuses on the barriers people face in getting into the workforce, she explains.
“I’ve been saying to everyone who will listen, ‘We cannot upskill our way out of these types of barriers,’” Holmes-Chambers says. “And so I think the thing is, getting everybody to have the same conversation – employers included – because it shouldn’t be two different ones.”
What’s good for employers and what’s good for the community are both important and can coincide, she says.
And the problem of child care affordability affects people considered low income as well as those who aren’t, the community solutions director points out. She refers to what she calls the missing middle, or ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed.
“There are people who are already employed, but they’re not making enough, or they make too much,” she says. “They’re not making enough, but they’re making too much to be eligible for benefits.”
The money in the state budget to help address the issue is a good start, but Holmes-Chambers doesn’t believe it does enough.
Referring to the voucher program, some people will be paying 20% to 30% of their income for child care, she says.
“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines affordable childcare as costing no more than 7% of household income,” Holmes-Chambers says. “That’s a big difference, right?”
Spreading the Word
Spencer of the Early Childhood Resource Center says the organization is working to get the word out to employers about the pilot programs from the state that help with child care costs. Employers recognize child care as a barrier to people entering the workforce as well as on-the-job problems such as employee absenteeism. They want to help address it, she says.
“But when it comes down to it, to make the investment, businesses have to make the choice of taking away something else in order to provide this benefit,” Spencer says. “They’re taking from one benefit in order to pay for this benefit. And so, I understand that.”
She hopes the Child Care Cred program and Business Partnership grant create awareness within the business community.
“We see this as a need for our families, and we see this as a need for our economy,” Spencer says.
Any employer interested in participating can email Spencer at MSpencer@ecresourcecenter.org.
She says the Business Partnership grant is a pilot by the state and will measure employer interest.
“I really believe that the state wants to see interest and see what kinds of businesses and how many businesses are willing to make this a benefit for their employees,” Spencer says.
Working at a resource and referral agency, she sees the other side as well.
“We see that about 40% of the child care programs in Mahoning and Trumbull counties are not at full capacity because they don’t have enough staff themselves,” Spencer says.
Day Care Workers
Part of filling the gap in child care is recruiting people into the field, training them and helping them apply for the required credentials, she says. That will help to open more classrooms so more parents may enroll their children.
“It’s just creating an awareness that it’s on both ends,” the early care and education services director says. “Sure, employees call off because they don’t have child care. But the other side of it is there are many slots that are not being filled in our community.”
That’s because childcare programs are struggling to find qualified employees, she adds.
The state budget also established the Child Care Recruitment and Mentorship Grant program aimed at increasing the number of child care providers in the state.
At one point, Murray, the Austintown mother, worked more hours at a different job and Matilda was in day care full time.
“But our day care bill got so high, my paychecks weren’t even covering it,” she says. “I actually had to leave that job and not work for a while.”
But she’s exploring options for a real estate career, hoping to secure a license.
“I think that women shouldn’t have to choose between staying at home and being a mom or having a career,” Murray says. “I think that they should have the option to do both.”
Pictured at top: Gregory and Brooke Murray of Austintown pose with their daughter, Matilda. Brooke works two days each week at a Canfield salon with aspirations of a real estate career. The obstacle she faces in either profession though, is the expense of child care.