We at the Policy Institute have been closely watching the Build Back Better Act, which the House is preparing to vote on soon. Among other items, the Build Back Better Act includes $450 billion for child care and early learning to help ensure most families do not pay more than seven percent of their income on child care, provide a living wage for child care workers, improve facilities, and expand access to affordable, high-quality child care for families no matter where they live.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, we launched the Hurricane Ida Recovery Fund in partnership with Agenda for Children, designed to offer child care providers most heavily impacted by the hurricane recovery funds. We have currently raised over $260K and providers will begin receiving funds via grants within the next couple of weeks. If you would like to contribute to this Fund, which will provide our child care providers with the money they need while awaiting insurance payments and other forms of relief, please do so here.

It is imperative that Louisiana’s child care sector recovers as quickly as possible. We cannot afford to leave a generation of children academically, socially, and emotionally underprepared due to a lack of critical early care and education infrastructure in the face of hurricane and pandemic recovery.

As always, we offer our organization as a resource to answer questions related to our research around early care and education in Louisiana. Thank you for your commitment to Louisiana’s youngest learners!

Best,

The high costs of child care are hurting low- and middle-income working families and our youngest learners. Now is the time for our country to allocate the proper funding towards this essential industry so we can fully recover from the financial strains of both the pandemic and Hurricane Ida. Click here to contact your Congressmembers about passing the Build Back Better plan

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a new report on the state of the child care market that highlights the causes and ramifications of insufficient supply, causing shortages in communities around the country. The study underscores the need to pass President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, which would make child care more affordable by offering universal preschool to all 3- and 4-year-old children, expanding the tax credits for child care, and providing access to high-quality child care for low- and middle-income children. Click here to read the press release which also has a link to the full report.

Justice from the Start is a three-part webinar series hosted by the Build Initiative featuring leaders who are advancing specific prenatal-to-three early care and education, family support, and maternal and infant/toddler health strategies. The first webinar on early care and education will take place later today, Thursday, September 30th, 2:00 to 3:15 pm CT, and feature LPIC’s Executive Director, Libbie Sonnier, Ph.D. Register for the webinar here.

LPIC Executive Director Dr. Libbie Sonnier discusses the local implications of the national child care crisis.

- WWLTV

“We continue to hear that families need safe, reliable child care so they can focus on rebuilding their lives, but countless early child care facilities have been deemed inoperable at this time due to damage sustained from the storm."

- AP News

“The numbers are staggering: The child-care services industry is still down 126,700 workers — more than a 10 percent decline from pre-pandemic levels, Labor Department data shows. While many industries complain they can’t find enough workers, the hiring situation is more dire in child-care than in restaurants right now.”

- The Washington Post

For more information, contact Libbie Sonnier, Ph.D. at [email protected].