5 Strategies for Equitable Implementation of Public Investments in Child Care
States received an influx of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to stabilize their child care industries. Key policy strategies that center equity ensure that these funds reach the people who need them most.
The American Rescue Plan Shored Up Child Care, But a Long-Term Solution Is Necessary
The American Rescue Plan provided much-needed funding to protect the child care sector from collapse, but long-term investments are critical to achieve lasting infrastructural change.
Major child care investments pay for themselves through a range of benefits, including improved child and family health, bolstered educational outcomes, and economic recovery.
These state fact sheets provide data on access to affordable child care for families, compensation for child care providers, and economic benefits of increased public investment in early learning.
The Build Back Better Act Substantially Expands Child Care Assistance
The Build Back Better Act ensures child care assistance for 16 times as many young children as under current law, and in some states, it would help state child care agencies reach more than 25 times as many children and their families.
Investing in Home Care and Early Childhood Educators Has Outsize Impacts on Employment
Proposed investments in the Build Back Better agenda would benefit a significant number of workers, particularly women and women of color; transform the home care and early childhood sectors; and lift living standards and employment prospects for millions of Americans.
The Build Back Better Act Would Greatly Lower Families’ Child Care Costs
The Build Back Better Act would ease a significant burden on middle-class families’ finances, lowering their child care costs by more than $100 per week in most states.
