Members of the community gathered last week at Northampton Community College’s Pocono campus in Tannersville to discuss the child care crisis.

“Caring For Our Future” was the first advocacy event for Community Foundation of Monroe County, which was founded two years ago. Carbon County Community Foundation and Early Childhood Education Action Committee also partnered on the program.

“It’s an important issue. You will walk away with action items,’ said Sharon Alexander, president & CEO of Carbon County Community Foundation.

The child care crisis in Pennsylvania is amounting to a staggering $6.65 billion cost annually.

“We need sustainable strategies to move out of crisis,” said Colleen Gilbert of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

What’s needed

According to a Pocono Mountains United Way survey of 45 child care providers, 24 classes were closed, 1,058 children were on waiting lists and 87 staff needed to be hired.

Affordability is part of the issue: a living wage for child care workers/teachers, quality child care that doesn’t break a family’s budget, and the viability of the child care industry’s business model, where expenses often outweigh revenue. These three prongs were touched on by Charles Dinofrio, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers, an event speaker.

Employees have left the early childhood education profession and both centers and classrooms have closed. COVID made things worse.

“People call and they cry,” said Lisa Eick, executive director of the Growing Place, regarding wait lists and a shortage of available classrooms, especially infant/toddler. “Our heart breaks,” she said.

The Growing Place Child Care Centers has been based in the West End since 1976, with classrooms also in Stroudsburg.

“It takes a village,” Eick commented. “We can only do what we can do,” she said, noting that centers are often just surviving and operating at a loss.

Desert to success

Carbon County was described as a “child care desert,” with more providers and facilities needed.

One success story in Jim Thorpe was the establishment of an LVCC preschool at St. Joseph’s Academy last year, with the assistance of the local Rotary Club.

Panel member Karen Grimm-Thomas commented that most children in the state and nationwide actually get their care in home-based settings.

“It has always been that way.”

The cost

Eick was one of six panelists who answered questions after the formal presentation. She said providers know it’s important to figure out how to increase wages, stating that their educators with a B.A. might only make $16 an hour. She also noted that many older, dedicated child care professionals will be aging out of the profession soon.

PowerPoint slides showed concerning statistics about average income for child care staff:

• Carbon County — $14.20 an hour or $29,530 annually

• Monroe County — $13.58 an hour or $28,250 a year

• Pennsylvania — $14.18 an hour or $29,480 annually

Plus, there is a huge gap in pay and benefits when you compare a kindergarten teacher’s salary to that of a preschool teacher — even though they both have bachelor’s degrees.

Parents struggle, too. One of the slides showed that one in five parents said there were times in the past year that they couldn’t pay their child care bill.

Providers need help

Providers may need to operate with a skeleton crew, Dinofrio said. He noted that infant classes often operate at a loss and are the first to be cut.

“If nothing changes, programs will continue to be cut,” warned Pam Cho, vice president of Early Learning Resource Centers, Community Services for Children in Allentown. “With fewer classrooms, parents are forced to leave the workforce.” And that can lead to more families in poverty.

Besides Eick, the panelists included: Rachel Strucko of SHINE; Karen Grimm-Thomas, early childhood education strategy adviser for The Pennsylvania Key; and Kimberly Early, senior director of public policy and advocacy for Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children. Kristine Bush of State Sen. Rosemary Brown’s office was also on the panel, as was parent Noreen Artis, whose 2- and 4-year olds attend the Hannig Center at NCC.

“I couldn’t be a teacher,” said Artis, who is a registered nurse. She noted the attributes like patience and nurturing that early childhood professionals possess. “Quality (child care) is priceless,” she added. “You can’t put a dollar amount on it.”

The solution

During the panel discussion, State Rep. Tarah Probst expressed frustration, saying that change needs to come from the state level.

Probst referred to the “hamster wheel” of the state not providing funding and that bills have been passed in the House, only to “die on the other side.” She added, “The state has to do something. There is money.”

Businesses can try to do their part with the crisis.

According to a Monroe County employer child care survey of 34 employers in spring 2024, 85% felt it was at least somewhat important for their business to help their employees meet their child care needs. Fifty-three percent felt that their employees’ child care needs had at least a moderate negative impact on their recruitment and retention in the last year.

The survey had several key findings and was conducted by Pocono Mountains United Way, The Pennsylvania Key and the PA Early Learning Investment Commission.

Panel moderator Tonia Breech said the system was “flawed, not broken.” She is director of education at NCC. Career pathways for the profession was one solution that was mentioned during discussion.

In her closing remarks, NCC Executive Dean Precie Schroyer noted that “quality child care is not available to everyone.” She said that “it is really needed by people who often can’t afford it.”