It’s easy to think of the child care crisis in Licking County and across the country as one that mainly affects the families struggling to find or afford child care.
But Gabriel Kelvin, economic development manager for Grow Licking County Community Improvement Corp., said on Wednesday that the crisis is one of economics that is affecting the entire community – especially when parents quit their jobs to care for their children.
“It’s a loss of women leaving the workforce, a loss of skills in the workplace, and a loss of tax dollars to the community,” Kelvin said on Aug. 13 during a panel discussion hosted by the United Way of Licking County at the Licking County Aging Partners facility on East Main Street in Newark.
A Grow Licking County survey of 816 adults in 2024 showed that 540 of them had children, and 67% of the respondents said they had found it difficult to find child care, 56% of them considered leaving their jobs due to child care needs and 46% said they have someone in their household who is unable to work full-time outside the home because of child care demands.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many child care centers closed and never reopened, as well as the challenges being created by state and federal budget cuts.
Yet another hurdle is hiring child care workers, whose median pay in Licking County is $11.88 an hour and often comes with no benefits.
The Grow Licking County survey indicated that a staggering 3,815 new child care spots are needed in Licking County alone.
Kelvin said that 137 of the respondents provided enough detail about their former jobs that he was able to calculate that their departure from the workplace resulted in $13 million in lost payroll and a loss of $600,000 in local income taxes.
“So it’s affecting far more than just working-class families,” he said, adding that his economic development organization sees child care as “a net positive investment in the community.
Also on the panel were Dana Moore, vice president of operations for the Buckeye Valley Family YMCA, whose organization is one of the largest child care providers in Licking County; and Tonya Smoot, program coordinator for the Family Child Care Pre-Licensing Program at Action for Children.
Moore said the YMCA cares for about 300 children a day during the school year in Licking and Muskingum counties – and up to 600 children a day in the summer.
Among all of those summer spots for children, only 20 of them were available for infants, Moore said. At the same time, the Grow Licking County survey representing 850 children needing child care showed that more than a third of them – 324 – are 3 years old or younger.
“Availability is going down, centers are closing, costs are rising,” Moore said, adding that while the YMCA is working to keep costs affordable, it is caught in a difficult position. “If we raise our fees, people can’t afford us, and if we don’t, we can’t pay our bills.”
An annual study by the United Way shows that more than 40% of households in Licking County headed by employed adults are living paycheck to paycheck and are one flat tire away from financial disaster.
| Read more: Number of households struggling is on the rise in Licking, ALICE Community Partners meeting shows
“If they have children, it’s even more difficult to make ends meet,” said Corey Stutes, community impact director for the United Way of Licking County and moderator of the panel discussion. “The impact of the child care crisis affects everyone as it affects the economy.”
He said that U.S. Health and Human Services calculations indicate that the average price for child care in Licking County should be about $147 per child per week – which is $7 more a week than respondents to the Grow Licking County survey said would be optimum for them.
But the actual median cost is about $200 a week per child, which is out of reach for some families. Moore said it’s $275 a week for infant care at the YMCA, “and we lose money on that.”
For all of the challenges in child care, the panelists said there are some signs of hope.
Smoot said Action for Children works to encourage potential in-home care providers to become licensed so that they are well trained when it comes to health and safety, and also so that children in their care are learning in ways that will prepare them for kindergarten.
Action for Children also works with businesses to encourage them to promote child care and to link them with child care providers, Smoot said.
“An influx of cash from businesses would be helpful,” Kelvin said, but navigating the legalities of work rules regarding benefits can be challenging.
He said it’s too soon to provide details, but employers in an industrial park within the county are considering providing space for a child care center on the property.
“This isn’t just a family issue,” Kelvin said. “It’s a community issue.”
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.