President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan comprises exciting historical investments in children and families. These investments are critical to the well-being of our nation as we continue to endure the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic going into the year 2022. The Early Childhood funding packages provided in the BBB framework highlight the essential role quality early childhood systems play in restoring a robust workforce and vibrant economy in the United States.

The legislation provides for Child Care Assistance as well as Universal Pre-K. The Child Care Assistance aims to address child care deserts, scarcity of resources, family affordability, and workforce compensation and development challenges. The program is inclusive of all family-based programs, center-based programs, family-friend-neighbor (FFN) providers, as well as faith-based and local schools. Typical families are expected to save $100 a week or more on child care expenses. Additionally, states are required to use payment rates that cover the entire cost of high-quality child care in their communities, market rates will no longer be a factor. Universal Pre-K will be administered on the federal level by the Department of Health and Human Services. At the state level, each Governor will have the option to opt into the program and then determine which state agency the funding will funnel through. Universal Pre-K will be available to a string of eligible providers including but not limited to Head Start agencies, family providers, FFN programs, faith-based programs, and licensed programs. It is intended that this program will be inclusive of all of the programs families rely on at the local level. Children who are 3 and 4 years old become eligible for the Universal Pre-K program based on the school-age enrollment date determined by the Local Education Agency (LEA). Additionally, this bill requires that states create data systems, administer statewide needs assessment, and provide a livable wage for providers.

The new investments the BBB plan provides for Early Childhood pave the path for Arizona children to thrive in the upcoming years. It provides funding that fills significant gaps in our early childhood systems that will translate to stronger Arizona communities. We urge Governor Doug Ducey to support Arizona’s children, families, workforce, and economy by opting into these vital programs.

As the COVID-19 crisis approaches its 18th month, we are just now beginning to get a full picture of the damage the pandemic has done to our children and families, our schools, institutions, and our communities.  Initial data gave us a frightening look into how the pandemic might permanently damage the early childhood infrastructure and threaten the ability for parents to return to work as we emerged from the pandemic and as time has worn on, we are now able to see that many of our fears are coming true.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) surveyed child care providers early in the pandemic and recently released a follow-up survey in late July Progress and Peril: Child Care at a Crossroads of 2021.  The Arizona state-level data became available last week.  Not surprisingly it showed that federal and state relief funds have “helped stabilize child care programs and prevented more program closures. However, staffing shortages, low wages, and a broken market mean that substantial, sustainable public investments are needed for this essential sector to recover and rebuild”.

The key takeaway here is that while the federal COVID relief packages were essential for immediate relief, it is vital that Arizonans, and our policymakers, support additional federal assistance like the $3.5T reconciliation proposal (also called the Biden Build Back Better plan) currently making its way through Congress. In addition, it is vital for the Arizona Legislature to support state investments to sustain the progress and assure that this essential service remains available to all of Arizona’s families and children.

Contact your congressional delegates

Big thanks to the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) and the Governor’s Office for recently launching the Arizona Child Care Stabilization Grant Program. The program was made possible with funds from the American Rescue Plan, the most recent Biden Administration COVID relief package passed by Congress in March 2021.

To help sustain Arizona's child care system which continues to be severely impacted by the COVID pandemic, this DES grant program will provide a consistent funding source to help early child care and education providers to cover the increased costs and other challenges brought on by the pandemic. Funds can be used for a variety of expenses like rent, supplies, and utilities. Also, the funds can cover teacher salaries, benefits, enhanced wages, and/or bonuses + incentives to help address the workforce shortage that continues to plague the industry.

Licensed child care providers, DES non-certified relatives, DES certified family child care, DHS certified group home, and tribal and military regulated providers. Once approved, providers will receive automatic, monthly flat payments of up to $10,000 per month through July 2023. Apply by August 15 to receive the first payment at the end of August 2021.

More information about the grant program

Grant applications

The pandemic has raised awareness of several issues and gaps in the early childhood system that have long existed. Much focus has been placed on the needs of preschool and school aged children and the gaps in access to high quality child care, but we do not want to forget our babies and toddlers who have entered the world during this tumultuous time. To help accomplish that, earlier this month a bipartisan group of Senators reintroduced the Resilience Investment, Support, and Expansion (“RISE”) from Trauma Act. This legislation is aimed at supporting children who have been exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma.

We have long known that healthy, nurturing relationships with parents and caregivers are the key to a baby’s social and emotional development, also known as infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH). Policies and programs that address promotion, prevention, and treatment can provide parents and young children with support to promote social and emotional development and prevent and treat mental health issues as early as possible. Intervening early is the key to giving all our children the best chance at success in life.

The RISE from the Trauma Act would award grants to eligible entities to establish a national network of IECMH training institutes. Additional grant funds can be used to create scholarships and other supports for trainees, with emphasis on recruiting, retention, and career placement of trainees of color, who are underrepresented in the IECMH clinical workforce. The historic legislation places an emphasis on collaboration that will reflect diverse partnerships, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Tribal Colleges, and State Associations of Infant Mental Health.

Additionally, the legislation would:

• Increase funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Health Service Corps to expand the reach of available mental health clinicians in schools and community-based settings;
• Enhance trauma-informed and resilience-focused practice among general education, special education teachers, and early childhood educators;
• Enhance coordination between the Department of Health and Human Services and appropriate stakeholders with trauma-informed subject matter expertise to develop accessible and easily understandable tools for use by frontline service providers; and
• Establish a National Law Enforcement Child and Youth Trauma Coordinating Center to aid state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in interacting with infants, children, and families who have experienced trauma

It is fast and easy to contact your members of Congress today and let them know that you support giving young children the best chance at a healthy and successful start in life.

Contact your members of congress

For months, the early childhood community has experienced a workforce shortage crisis, and as more Arizonans return to work, it has been a challenge for child care providers to hire enough staff. For health and safety reasons, child care providers must maintain strict child-to-staff ratios, and with no new staff onboard, many have had to turn away parents seeking care for their children.

But help is now on the way!

On Friday, to coincide with Child Care Provider Appreciation Day, Governor Ducey and DES announced the release of $9M in remaining CARES Act funds for the Child Care Workforce Retention and Recruitment Grant program. These grant funds can be used for salaries and benefits for employees or bonus incentives for hiring and retention. Child care group homes and family child care homes without staff may utilize funds for a variety of expenses including licensing fees, liability insurance, tuition and registration relief for families, lease and mortgage payments, utilities, classroom materials, and supplies. Also, providers will receive additional supports and training on improving business practices that will help save time, money, and improve the quality of the services they deliver.

Special thanks to Governor Ducey for making these funds available. While the program will not completely solve the crisis we currently face, it is an important first step to assuring a competent, highly skilled workforce to care for our children.

More information about the grant program.

In mid-March, Congress passed the American Recovery Act (ARA). The legislation was the latest in a string of COVID relief bills intended to assist families, businesses, and communities through the pandemic. The Act set aside $39 billion to help the child care system which has struggled to remain afloat for the past year. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) recently released its estimates for how much child care funding will come to each state to help the damaged child care system. Arizona’s share is expected to be just under $1 billion. The full estimates are included HERE.

This funding comes just in time to address a growing crisis in the child care workforce as 1 in 6 jobs in the child care sector have been lost during the pandemic. Despite increased signs of returning to a new normal, the staff who previously filled those jobs are not coming back. Child care providers must meet expanded health and safety requirements including strict student/teacher ratios. Even if they have the physical space to serve more children in their programs, they often do not have the staff to provide the care. Desperate parents returning to their previous work settings do not have the same options for child care that they had before. There was an existing shortage of child care workers prior to the pandemic. Child care workers are largely underpaid and undervalued. In 2018, typical annual wages for a woman working full time, year-round in the child care industry were $29,900 per year as 1 in 10 child care workers had incomes below the federal poverty line and twice the poverty rate for workers overall. As programs begin to reopen, many former workers are choosing to return to jobs with higher wages, fewer requirements, and with less risk for contracting COVID.

Ronnie Armstrong, executive director for Children's Campus and Premier Children's Center has provided child care in the Valley for nearly 35 years says, “The pandemic has accentuated the problems in an already broken child care system. Families are returning to work and our enrollments are growing every day. We do not have the quality, committed staff to meet the needs of families. The child care industry is in a hiring crisis which seems absurd considering the rate of unemployment in our country. We desperately need quality, committed staff to meet the needs of the children and families in our community.”

The Arizona Early Childhood Alliance (AZECA) is working collaboratively with DES to bring together stakeholders to make recommendations on how the state should spend the new federal ARA funds. Those recommendations will undoubtedly include ways to incentivize workers to return and remain in the child care workforce. We encourage the Governor and the Department to take these recommendations to heart and release the funds as soon as possible to avert this looming crisis.

While the state of Arizona is making strides toward increasing teacher pay, one group has been noticeably left behind, early childhood educators. A new report out by the Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment highlights that early childhood educators in Arizona are still lagging far behind. The field is largely made up of women and often women of color, and despite the fact that we ask them to provide care to our most vulnerable citizens, they often make poverty wages. During the COVID pandemic, it has become clear that child care is an essential service, yet the policy response at the state and federal level has largely ignored the educators themselves. Unfortunately, this was an existing problem that has only been made worse in the last 12 months. According to the report “The burden of school closures and parents continuing to work falls on child care providers. We need to be properly recognized through appropriate funding, PPE, and support systems. The government is largely ignoring the particularly unique burden that is put on child care during this pandemic.”

The Arizona data shows that the median wage for child care workers is $11.97 and even those with a bachelor’s degree make 21% less than their counterparts in the K-8 education system. And worse, the POVERTY rate for early educators is over 20%, double that for other Arizona workers. The gap in pay is an issue of parity in the education field, but it is also an equity and access issue. We cannot continue to expect the ECE workforce to bear the burden of care during this education crisis in America without compensating them adequately for the important work that they do.

Read the full report here.

Read the Arizona profile data here.