Low wages and worker shortages are driving ongoing child care crisis
Originally Appeared in NPR's Sound of Ideas
By Jay Shah
September 18, 2023
Like many industries that have faced a worker shortage since the pandemic, the child care industry is in an ongoing nationwide crisis.
A survey conducted this year by Starting Point, a Cleveland child and youth services nonprofit, found that nearly 2,500 jobs have remained vacant since March 2020.
The survey found that low wages were a main driver of the shortage. Now the organization is hoping to engage the community and spotlight this issue at a public event this Thursday morning, called Innovation in Action at the Music Box Supper Club in Cleveland.
We'll begin Monday's "Sound of Ideas" discussing the ways the childcare crisis is impacting providers and families in the region, and talk to some of the speakers involved in this week's event.
Later in this hour, we'll meet a woman who is working to build strong readers in Cleveland's neighborhoods.
Guests:
-Sarah Siegel Muncey, Co-Founder, Neighborhood Villages
-Nancy Mendez, CEO, Starting Point
-Jacklyn Chisholm, Ph.D., CEO, Stepforward
-Shane McTrusty, Administrator, A Kids Only
-Chrishawndra Matthews, Founder, Literacy in the H.O.O.D
