“Morning Without Childcare” Rally Draws 350

Preschool teachers led a round of ​“If You’re Happy And You Know It” Tuesday morning — but this time it was adults, not kids, singing along. And they weren’t happy.

The 350 childcare workers and parents (and some young children) were gathered on the New Haven Green to make a point about a funding crisis affecting their classrooms, and to demand help from the state.

The gathering on the Green was one of nine protest rallies taking place in cities statewide under the banner, ​“A Morning Without Childcare.” Several New Haven-area childcare facilities — ranging from large centers to home-based providers — closed from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. to demonstrate what might happen to their industry if the government does not step in.

“If you’re happy and you know it, say ​‘Fix it now!’ ” early educator Devonna Lewis called out.

​“Fix it now!” echoed the crowd, sounding a call for more state funding for the imperiled childcare industry.

The industry has been facing dire staffing shortages, in part because childcare workers, who often need to earn associates or bachelor’s degrees, earn a median wage of $13.45 per hour.

Meanwhile, according to the Economic Policy Institute, infant care is ​“affordable” by federal Health and Human Services standards for only 11.5 percent of Connecticut families. On average, childcare in the state costs more than $15,000 per year per child in a center, or more than $10,500 per year per child in a home-based facility. 

A Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance poll found that 62 percent of childcare facilities are currently operating at a loss and that 89 percent had trouble hiring staff in the latter half of 2021.

Childcare advocates are calling on the state to provide at least $300 million of the $700 million in funding they say is necessary for the industry to survive. The state legislature is currently weighing a bill that would provide some of that funding.

The pandemic accelerated the financial pressure on childcare providers, while heightening the health risks and emotional challenges of their job as they sought to maintain a safe, welcoming space for children.

“We diligently responded to the call of duty when asked to do extraordinary things, such as risk our lives and the lives of our families to remain open … even before anyone really understood how to safely deal with Covid,” said home-based childcare provider Angela Russell. 

Mayor Justin Elicker, whose daughter April attends Leila Day Nurseries in East Rock, said the rally was ​“the first time I heard Leila Day staff this riled up.” He noted that the staffers there have ​“some kind of mystery magic” that immediately calms down his daughter and her peers when they enter their classroom. He said the city is increasing its funding for youth development programs this year, and called on the state to provide more support for childcare centers.

Low funding strained the industry, and the parents struggling to pay for childcare, long before the pandemic. 

“No more are we going to work eight to ten hours per day, plus two hours of night school to earn a degree, and still make the same as a high school student working their first job,” said Hope For New Haven Director Georgia Goldburn, one of the organizers.

“The system is designed to pay women to work in poverty,” said Friends Center For Children Director Allyx Schiavone, noting that many childcare workers rely on supplemental income.

After the rally, Schiavone elaborated that the state should ensure that the necessary influx of support is equitable and supporting high-quality care. ​“We don’t want to invigorate a broken system,” she said. 

Families from any zip code and income bracket should be able to access childcare, including on the weekends if needed, Schiavone said. She argued that state funding should not only expand childcare capacity — it should strengthen classrooms that are currently struggling to function on the bare minimum resources.

“We’re asking programs and providers and educators to provide high quality on 50 percent of what the true cost is,” Schiavone said.

Miriam Johnson, a program head at Fair Haven Heights-based Friends Center For Children who has worked in childcare for more than 20 years, spoke of her experience as a young single mom trying to afford childcare for her now-11-year-old daughter. 

“The wage is just outrageous,” she said. While her daughter received an ​“affordable” childcare slot, the reduced fee still put a strain on her family, Johnson said. 

Friends Center For Children is still trying to fill staffing vacancies, Johnson said. 

Staffers from childcare and early learning centers showed up on Tuesday with the support of parents and children who rely on their programs. The Newhall-based Harris and Tucker School, which hopes to hire four more educators if it receives more funding, was one such center.

Harris and Tucker parent Ashlei Garrett, said she has noticed how much her 3‑year-old, Ace, is learning from preschool. She recalled that Ace came home one day repeating the question, ​“Float or sink? Float or sink?” 

Garrett works as a program manager at the recovery assistance organization Continuum of Care. Childcare has been essential for her to keep working, she said.

Claudine Wilkins-Chambers sent her daughter to Harris and Tucker decades ago. Now, her great-grandson, Kali, attends the school. On Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Kali came home with a photograph of the civil rights leader, whom he has recognized in books and pictures ever since. ​“He’s just bloomed,” Wilkins-Chambers said.