RICHMOND, Va. -- They are all in public school now, but when Tomashia Cornitcher's three kids were young, getting all of them to daycare each morning was, understandably to most parents, "chaos."
Cornitcher is thankful her family had access to quality childcare through the Headstart program.
"It really alleviated a lot of stress that I already had on me with having three children, trying to have to figure out how to get to three places at one time," Cornitcher said. "If I didn’t have childcare, I’d probably be in a whole different place, and most importantly it helped me stabilize mentally because I knew when I took my kids into that Headstart, I knew they were cared for, I knew they were safe, I knew they were getting the lessons they needed.”
Cornitcher is now lending her voice to a new campaign aimed at helping other families gain access to quality childcare. Dubbed the "Gotta Have Childcare" campaign, elected leaders, business groups, early childhood education providers, and parents like Cornitcher are calling on Virginia to step up.
"The need is severe," she said.
A recent report by the Joint Legislative Review and Audit Commission (JLARC) found that 85% of Virginia families with young children could not afford childcare.
On top of that, the Virginia Department of Education estimates more than 35,000 children will lose access to childcare by next summer as federal COVID funding used to expand access during the pandemic begins to finally run out.
"Without childcare, parents can’t go to work to support their families. Too many families can’t find or afford childcare for their kids," said Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) at the campaign kick-off.
“There is a long-term policy solution here. It’s going to have to take everyone coming to the table and working hard. We’ve done that. We’ve worked hard on issues before, and we’ll keep doing it," said Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield).
Both Lucas and Coyner said they believe their colleagues in the state legislature have an appetite to address the issue. The JLARC report estimated it would cost around $300 million per year to maintain the current childcare landscape in Virginia, which many believe does not cover enough families already.
The "Gotta Have Childcare" campaign said there is an economic argument to be made for greater access even beyond the academic and social benefits of early childhood education. Virginia loses out on $3.1 billion annually in in foregone wages, lost productivity, and unrealized tax revenue because of lack to access, studies show.
Jason El Koubi, CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, said business looking for places to expand often ask about childcare because a lack of it in a region can limit their workforce.
"The availability of affordable childcare is increasingly emerging as a major factor in their decisions. When they talk to communities, when they talk to folks like me: can I find a workforce? What are the barriers to participation? We know that when you invest in affordable, high-quality childcare, that unlocks the tremendous potential of this great Commonwealth," he said.
“This is a societal issue in terms of education, but also in terms of economic mobility and the overall economy of the state of Virginia," said Jennifer Parish, who leads Peake Childhood Center in Hampton.
Parish comes from an education background, serving as a superintendent of schools for many years in Tidewater, and said their wait list for families was more than 400 over the summer. It is a need that they would want to try to meet, but Parish said many childcare centers struggle to attract and retain teachers, mostly related to compensation.
"Our teachers are working with children during the most important times of their lives: 90% of our brains are developed by age five. We need to be able to compensate them the way they should be," Parish said.
Cornitcher said part of her hope with the campaign is that people in power actually pay attention to the needs. She is encouraging any Virginia passionate about the need for greater access to affordable, quality childcare to contact their local leaders and urge them support families and the workers who make it possible.
“People don’t know there’s a crisis believe it or not, and if they don’t know, they won’t take action," she said. "Funding is staying here, but cost of living is increasing, so we got to make sure we equal up to where we’re at so our families feel protected, they feel safe, and most importantly they feel supported.”
You can learn more about the campaign here.
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