Southside Childcare Is an Economic Issue

Originally featured in the Danville Register & Bee

Kayla Fuller said it was a little confusing to hear there’s a large need for childcare throughout the region.

She is with His Kids Childcare Center in Danville, which recently rebranded from Abundant Life Childcare Center.

“Over the past couple of years our enrollment has gone down, so seeing that there’s such a desperate need for childcare is confusing,” she said at Friday’s Southside Early Investment Summit at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

The program that’s open to children under 12 has an occupancy of about 200. Now it’s about half full.

Fuller’s quandary illustrates the complexity of the childcare struggles in the region.

Even if there were enough offerings, many residents cannot afford to place their children in the programs, creating a cycle that experts say hurts the economy with workers stepping away to watch their kids.

Friday’s summit moved beyond the numbers, which first came to light in a Virginia Tech study in 2024. That analysis showed a significant gap in the number of child care slots available versus the children who need care.

Angela Wells, the executive director of the Center for Early Success, told the Register & Bee the major takeaway from the event is that childcare is an economic development issue.

Friday’s participants included business leaders, educators, economic development professionals and community partners.

Wells said the answer to the childcare problem isn’t going to come from just one sector. It’s going to be an all-in approach.

“For too long, early childhood has been viewed primarily as a family issue, maybe even a social service issue,” she said during the summit.

The goal is to shift the mindset to recognize that early childhood development is part of the infrastructure that enables a region to function.

“When families cannot find care, employers feel it,” she said.

Sara Patenaude and Michelle Schmitt, of the nonprofit Reinvestment Fund, outlined some of the statistics during a presentation.

But the main message was beyond the numbers.

“Childcare issues take a toll on businesses,” Patenaude said. “And businesses know his as well.”

Nearly 90% of employees are late or miss work because of a child care issue, according to Friday’s data.

About 65% have to cut back on hours because they aren’t able to find — or afford — child care. Sometimes residents drop out of the workforce because it’s more expensive to find someone to care for a young child while working. Also, many jobs, such as hospitality and healthcare, fall outside the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work hours. For someone working second shift at a hospital, it could be impossible to find a childcare provider.

About 40% of workers rejected a promotion or new job because the hours won’t work or the added income jeopardizes subsidies.

Of employers surveyed, 85% reported that lack of childcare options has an impact on business.

“They generally want to help,” Patenaude said. “But despite the fact that they want to help, they need support in knowing what to do and how to do it.”

Addressing the issues

One conversation for employers is to consider childcare as an added benefit, like a retirement plan or healthcare in general.

Wells said she’s had those kinds of conversations with new employers coming into the Danville area.

“We’d like to see them invested, and maybe that can look in a lot of different ways,” she told the newspaper after the event. It could be something like a small spending account for childcare needs, as an example.

“We’d like to at least have a conversation with them about ways that that could look,” she said.

Stephanie Mann, the director of engagement and program excellence at the Center for Early Success, addressed the financial side of the problem, saying that many families in the region cannot afford child care.

Data show that the median household income needed for child care is $150,000 for a family. In Danville, the average income is $46,000.

“So, if you look at that, it’s not necessarily that the children aren’t there because they are,” she explained of kids needing the services. “They can’t afford it.”

One solution is to increase funding from the state and federal levels to help families.

“We need everyone in this room to talk with your policymakers about increasing the amount of public funding to support those families,” she explained.

Location is perhaps the second highest obstacle to affordability.

Rural areas often have fewer childcare offerings than larger towns and cities. The presentation shows that it also goes further than just where a person lives.

The solution looks different in Richmond than it does in Southside.

While there’s a lot of growth occurring in Southern Virginia, part of the equation is understanding if parents want childcare offerings near their homes or jobs, which could vary household to household.

Seeing glimmers of hope with baby steps

While Wells isn’t a fan of the cliché of taking “baby steps,” she said it does fit in this situation, she told the newspaper.

“If we look at the room today, the improvement is that we’ve got the community coming together on the issue, and it’s not just for the childcare providers in the room,” she said.

Perception is perhaps one of the major needles to move for people who don’t have young children and aren’t experiencing the issue.

“Seeing it as economic infrastructure and not mom’s problem,” is how Schmitt described it.

After a breakout session with participants, some felt a more unified message — perhaps even a script — was needed to bring the issue before the larger community.

Some also felt it tied into a larger problem of underfunding and understaffing of healthcare jobs. Conversations also should be raised around building qualified workers.

However, that in itself can be problematic with low wages for childcare workers. Plus, smaller businesses aren’t able to offer benefits for childcare employees, often causing a rotating door of employment.

Economic growth — like the recent announcements in Danville and Pittsylvania County — will become harder to sustain, and it will be harder to recruit qualified professionals without childcare options.

“We really want you to question it, challenge it, tell us where it confirms what you’re seeing and where it doesn’t,” Wells said of Friday’s data. “Because ultimately, the question isn’t just what the data tells us; the question is now what?”

The Center for Early Success brings the conversations together to build shared priorities to put those in action.

“The question is whether we’re willing to treat it with the same intentionality that we get our other forms of economic infrastructure,” Mann said, stressing the work isn’t starting from ground zero.