Childcare Walk-Out, Rally Readied

Facing an industry-wide implosion, childcare providers across Connecticut plan to close down for two hours on Tuesday morning to protest for more funding.

Childcare programs across the state will shut down from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. for a ​“Morning Without Childcare.” Providers are planning to rally in nine Connecticut cities during that time, including on the New Haven Green.

“We are shutting down programs for two hours in the morning to highlight what is about to happen when 60 percent, or possibly more, childcare programs are shut down permanently,” said Georgia Goldburn, who runs the Hope For New Haven childcare center and the CERCLE coalition of childcare providers serving Black and Latino families. ​“This industry is on the brink of collapse and it will be catastrophic for the state of Connecticut.”

Goldburn and Marina Rodriguez, another local child are advocate, appeared on WNHH-FM’s ​“LoveBabz LoveTalk: radio show on Monday to speak about the upcoming walkout. They said the pandemic has accelerated a long-term crisis looming over the childcare industry, which has long been undervalued and underfunded as a sector that relies on the labor of women of color.

Providers had contemplated shutting down for an entire day, Goldburn said. Then they decided that a day-long walkout would place too much of a burden on parents and children. 

Childcare centers are facing staffing shortages across the state, with many early educators leaving for better-paying jobs at employers like Target and Amazon. While childcare workers often obtain bachelor’s degrees for their work, they are compensated at or slightly above minimum wage. And while the minimum wage rose in recent years, Goldburn said, funding for childcare centers hasn’t kept up. 

So centers — including Goldburn’s own — are struggling to keep open classrooms and accommodate the demand for children. Hope For New Haven has admitted only three children off its waitlist since September, Goldburn said — not for lack of space, but because of a shortage of educators.

Meanwhile, parents are already straining to pay for childcare. According to Goldburn, the average cost for infant and toddler care — an age range on the less expensive end of the spectrum — is $330 per week.

Childcare providers are advocating for at least $300 million in additional funding across the state. Read a previous story about their advocacy here.

Goldburn pointed to the history of childcare as a role historically assigned to Black women. ​“Childcare came out of slavery, where women were required to deliver unpaid childcare,” she said.

“This is labor that was extracted from women of color — that is the foundation of childcare,” said Rodriguez, a senior director and mentor coach at the family childcare advocacy organization All Our Kin.

A wage gap persists within the childcare industry, which overwhelmingly employs women: Black childcare workers earn $0.78 for every dollar that white childcare workers earn.

Many families rely on childcare in order to work, noted LoveBabz LoveTalk host Babz Rawls-Ivy, adding that her sister had to quit her full-time job because the cost of childcare was higher than her mortgage.

Rodriguez and Goldburn emphasized that quality childcare is more than simply watching children: it’s about teaching and nurturing kids at the developmental stages that matter most for their long-term well being.

“This job is the most important job,” said Rodriguez. ​“It is rocket science. [Childcare providers] are building the brains of children. They are fostering those core sensitivities that children need to be citizens later on. Their role has been undervalued. It’s time to put the money to really support our children.”

Watch the full interview with Rodriguez and Goldburn in the video below.