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Whatcom is a child care desert. How many more spots must be added to help fix that?

Bellingham Herald - 6/1/2021

Jun. 1—A total of 5,817 more licensed child care slots for kids up to 5 years of age will need to be added in Whatcom County by 2025 to meet demand, according to a new report sponsored by United Way of Whatcom County.

In that same time, 6,252 additional child care spots will be needed for school-age children, the Whatcom County Child Care Demand Study said.

Done by the Center for Economic and Business Research at Western Washington University for United Way, the study also surveyed 1,312 people — in English, Spanish and with language interpretation services — to help assess the demand for child care in Whatcom County as part of efforts to expand it and make it more affordable.

"A lack of affordable, quality child care is affecting families, care providers, employers and the local economy," United Way of Whatcom County representative Kristi Birkeland said to The Bellingham Herald.

"The assessment work is part of a collaborative effort to address the burgeoning child care crisis in our community," Birkeland said.

Whatcom County is a child care desert and child care costs here are among the most expensive in Washington state.

Child care is the biggest expense for Whatcom families with young children, according to United Way's ALICE Report, which looks beyond traditional federal poverty guidelines to include a group that is "asset limited, income constrained, employed."

That is, their wages put them above the federal poverty level but they're still struggling to pay for necessities of housing, child care, food, transportation and health care.

In Whatcom County, a family of two adults with an infant and a preschooler in child care pays about $1,842 a month for the service — out of a monthly family budget of $6,529, according to an estimate in the ALICE report.

That's 28% of a family's budget.

The Whatcom County Child Care Demand Study also delved into child care needs based on where families lived in the county as well as on the impact of COVID-19. The study showed that mothers who left their jobs as a result of the pandemic planned to return post-pandemic, and that some who hadn't been in the labor force prior to the pandemic plan to be in the next year.

United Way of Whatcom County paid for the study with a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce. The grant totaled $82,500 and a large portion went to pay for the child care assessment.

The grant money also will cover costs "associated with fostering collaborative partnerships to expand child care capacity in Whatcom County," Birkeland said.

"This includes the formation of the Whatcom County Child Care Coalition and creating a blueprint for child care expansion locally," she said.

Find the Whatcom County Child Care Demand Study at unitedwaywhatcom.org.

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