Maria Lara Bregatta, et al There are over 77,000 small businesses in Vermont that employ 61 percent of the state’s private workforce. Small business success has always been the backbone of a functioning Vermont economy. As small business owners, we can confidently say that our success – and the success of our state’s economy – hinges on our employees’ access to child care.
The pandemic exacerbated issues that had previously hummed in the background – most notably a lack of accessible and affordable child care. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, fifty-seven percent of parents nationwide have recently said child care responsibilities had impacted their ability to work.
Of these parents, 73 percent missed more than eight hours of work in a month because of child care responsibilities.
As employers, it’s impossible to ignore these numbers as they not only impact our bottom lines but most importantly, they make clear our employees need better supports for child care. And, that’s why we support the child care movement’s Courage to Care Rally on April 12, when hundreds of Vermonters will gather in Montpelier in support of a child care solution.
Vermonters have always been leaders in innovative solutions. And, when it comes to addressing our employees’ child care crunch, we’ve attempted to implement new policies including child care benefits and stipends, starting in-house child care centers, and even opening our doors to our youngest for expansive “bring your kids to work” days. All have turned out to be band-aids to a broader statewide child care crisis.
Senate passes S.56 to make child care more accessible and affordable
The only real solution is long-term public investment to create a comprehensive child care system that is affordable and accessible for families and one that pays our early childhood educators fairly. Vermonters have always been able to work together to solve our biggest problems and the child care crisis will not be any different.
The past few years and exponentially so this year, hundreds of business leaders from across our state, from all industries, have banded together under a unified voice with Vermont’s Child Care Campaign in saying to lawmakers: It’s time to solve the child care crisis. Vermont’s youngest children are relying on us to get this done, and our economic stability hangs in the balance.
Through live testimony before our state representatives and senators, and through thousands of emails, phone calls, and text messages, Vermont’s business community – alongside early childhood educators, parents and everyday concerned Vermonters – has worked to make child care a top priority for lawmakers and now for the first time all the pieces are in place to make transformational change.
The Vermont Senate just made history by voting yes on S.56, a bill that if signed into law would change the trajectory of our state by making child care more accessible and affordable for thousands of Vermonters and by significantly improving compensation for early childhood educators. We’ve never been closer to solving our state’s child care crisis, but our work is not at all done and we cannot let up now.
Getting this bill over the finish line this year gets us closer to ending the current crisis, and doing so will take courage from every single one of us – employers and employees alike. That’s why we’ll be in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 12 to stand in solidarity with Vermont’s child care campaign at the Courage to Care Rally on the steps of the State House. This is our moment to inspire action and create meaningful, long-lasting change within our child care system, our workforce and our economy.
If you’re concerned about the future of our state, join us, stand with us, and show that you have the courage to care about solving our child care crisis.
Maria Lara Bregatta is the Owner of Café Mamajuana in Burlington; Cathy Armstrong is the Owner of Lake Champlain Closets & Storage Solutions in South Burlington; Drey Ward is the Operational Catalyst at Silver Maple Construction in New Haven; Patrick Dwyer is the Principal Owner of Modern Cleaners & Tailors in Rutland; Kate Trzaskos is the Executive Director of the Brattleboro Downtown Alliance; and Molly Betournay is the Director of Social Research and Shareholder Advocacy at Clean Yield in Norwich.
