2024 Report: An Unstable Foundation: Low Pay and Inadequate Funding Are Roadblocks to Building the Universal Child Care and Early Education System Chicago Families Need

Right now child care in Chicago is in crisis. Workers can’t afford to stay in the field due to low wages and lack of benefits. Meanwhile, parents can’t find and afford child care. These dual crises are rooted in a common cause: the failure to invest the resources our child care and early learning system requires to deliver this essential service. This leaves children without the child care and early learning they need, forces child care workers to leave the profession they love, and leaves parents without critical support required to stay in the workforce.

Our new white paper, “An Unstable Foundation: Low Pay and Inadequate Funding Are Roadblocks to Building the Universal Child Care and Early Education System Chicago Families Need,” examines how the failure to invest in the early childhood education workforce in Chicago has led to child care shortages that are impacting children and families across the city, and lays out a vision for how Chicago can become a leader in providing high quality universal child care and early learning.

Click here to download and read our white paper.