Young suggested using some of the COVID-19 funding to start a subsidized child care assistance program.
“I like to spend money with a return on the investment,” he said. “If we are to spend this money, I want to make a dramatic impact that would help people help themselves. I think this would help a lot of people.”
Young said he wanted to find a way to use federal funding to benefit people and get them back into the workforce and off public assistance. However, while some with lower incomes are trying to pick themselves up, he said child care costs becomes cost-prohibitive for those people.
“If the private sector was accomplishing this, then the government shouldn’t be getting involved,” Young said. “But they’re not addressing lower cost child care... I understand this is about supply and demand, but it’s out of whack. Maybe this could bring some balance back.”
Young said one idea would be to set up a partnership with the YMCA and community centers to provide funding to those operators if a client meets a certain income threshold. He said it would not be designed for those who make more than $100,000 a year.
“I think its the right thing to do by kids by getting people off of welfare and back to work,” Young said. “It would provide better outcomes for kids.”
Commissioner Shannon Jones, who is also executive director Groundwork Ohio, a child advocacy nonprofit, said the county has assisted schools and childcare programs with CARES Act funding for personal protective equipment and other pandemic assistance.
While the commissioners have talked about the issue in the past, Jones said, “it has not gotten the attention it needs to get to help support families and children.” She said private childcare needs to be shored up which would help support getting the economy going again.
She said the participation by women in the labor force is at its lowest rate in 30 years, with 2.3 million leaving the workforce since the beginning of the pandemic last year.
Jones said lack of high-quality, affordable and reliable childcare is a barrier and is why some women have been forced to leave the workforce. The top reason was actual job loss, followed by furloughs or reduction of hours, she said.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average cost of childcare is $9,697 a year or about $808 a month. A minimum wage worker in Ohio would have to work 28 weeks, from January to July, just to pay for childcare for one child. In Ohio, the annual cost for childcare, about $9,697 a year, is 3.1% more than the average cost for rent, about $9,697 a year.
She said the state will continue to see problems in accessing childcare that won’t be disappearing after the pandemic as Ohio has lost about 200,000 childcare job slots. She said there are a lot of communities that do not have access to high quality and affordable childcare.
Jones said the issue is not a public assistance issue because it’s much broader than that. She said this is a public policy issue facing all levels of government because it is a key economic issue.
“I’m super-excited he’s (Young) is considering it,” Jones said. “The goal is not for government to be in the childcare system. The goal is to help providers to determine if it makes business sense to provide affordable and accessible childcare for families.”
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