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Child Care Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on our already fragile child care system. Providers have closed, others are struggling, and everyone it seems is realizing that without child care, America can’t get back to work. (Yes, child care is infrastructure.) Early Learning Nation is covering the field with rigor and nuance from a historical perspective (Universal Child Care was a great success during WWII), to the latest legislative proposals and to ways that we must transform the way we treat our undervalued and largely unseen child care workforce.

Steps to Sustainability: Fundamental Reforms to Our Systems of Child Care and Early-Learning Programs

Our Broken Child Care System and How to Fix It, Part 3

Laura Justice and Mark Swartz·August 4, 2020·7 min read

In this three-part series, Dr. Laura Justice—executive director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at The...

An Electoral “Children’s Wave”

Q&A with Children's Funding Project Founder Elizabeth Gaines

Elliot Haspel·November 17, 2020·6 min read

On November 3rd, seven early childhood ballot initiatives went before voters in cities and counties around the nation. All seven...

Sharing the Findings from Better Life Lab: Improving Child Care Assistance and Investment

Part 4 of a 5-Part Series

Rebecca Gale·August 23, 2022·10 min read

Our country is in a child care crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic, which has shown how difficult it is for...

Child Care is Infrastructure. Biden’s Relief Bill Understands That

Bryce Covert·April 8, 2021·7 min read

After signing a $1.9 trillion relief bill into law, President Joe Biden is taking on his next big policy priority:...

Top Takeaways from the Home Grown Conversation: Measuring Emergency Funds’ Impact in COVID-19

Natalie Renew·October 21, 2020·3 min read

Because we can’t take our Early Learning Nation Studio on the road during this time, stay tuned as ELN recaps...

Bringing Unlicensed Care out of the Shadows

Mark Swartz·January 13, 2022·3 min read

Experts and officials often talk about “child care deserts” to describe regions without enough formal child care, but Maki Park...

Making the Bipartisan Case for Child Care: the Industry that Keeps America Working

Mark Swartz·September 9, 2020·4 min read

Bipartisanship is increasingly rare these days, but even before the pandemic, child care was an issue that could reliably, occasionally,...

Opinion: Child Cares Look Safe — It’s Time To Act Like It

Elliot Haspel·June 10, 2020·7 min read

COVID-19 is a bizarre disease that defies easy answers. It impacts the lungs – except when it doesn’t. It brutalizes...

What Does Accountable and Justice-Oriented Early Childhood Education Look Like?

Part 5 of a 5-Part Series

Ai Binh Ho·September 21, 2022·25 min read

Many immigrant parents express fear around ECE centers. They worry that their child rearing practices, which may be historically rooted and culturally normative, may be viewed as abuse in the U.S. They also fear being tracked, monitored or reported.

Economists Find Investing in Child Care Will Dramatically Reduce Costs, Increase Mother’s Employment and Increase Quality Care

Bryce Covert·June 24, 2022·6 min read

After decades of disinvestment in child care that went largely unnoticed, the pandemic knocked the fragile system even more off...