To the editor:
I am hopeful in learning that legislative leaders are making our state’s early childhood care system a priority in this year’s state budget.
They are proposing $91 million more for the childcare system, including much-needed support for workers’ salaries.
However, there is no mention of continued support for the C3 grants (Commonwealth Cares for Children) that have helped stabilize the industry over the past two years. Not funding these grants puts childcare programs in a position of being one disaster away from closing.
I know if these grants were available at the beginning of the pandemic my program might have survived. Instead, we were forced to close, and the families I served had to find another program or quit their jobs to take care of their children.
The childcare system is the backbone for working families and employers who need their workers at work; so why no mention of making the system more affordable for families?
It is my hope that state legislators will really recognize the childcare system crisis that is hurting our economy and make a concerted effort to invest sufficient resources for children and families.
Rosalind Mann
Lynn
