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Task force: Child care constraints threaten Cape recovery

Cape Cod Times - 6/26/2020

Jun. 26--HYANNIS -- Financial and operating constraints facing child care and early childhood education providers could jeopardize the region's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

That was the stark warning delivered Thursday by the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force, emphasizing the need for a financial lifeline for the industry.

The loss of income during the pandemic, combined with stringent reopening safety standards, capacity limits and required personal protective equipment expenditures have many local child care providers struggling for survival.

To address the burgeoning crisis, the task force has convened a child care and early education subcommittee and has designated the issue a priority as it moves forward, according to state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro.

"This has really emerged as a key issue in the work of the reopening task force," Cyr said. "COVID-19 has taken the cracks that we've had across our society and really exposed them as significant fissures. Struggles for working families that already existed on Cape Cod have been made worse by this public health crisis. Child care has clearly emerged as a key pressure point for families, the workforce and businesses as reopening resumes."

Of the 263 child care providers on Cape Cod, only 19 are on the state Department of Early Education and Care list of facilities that can reopen between June 22 and July 7, Cyr said.

"People can't go back to work if there is no child care available for their children," state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, said.

Not good news for a region already suffering a worker shortage because of a ban on H-2B visa guest workers.

The situation is exacerbated, Peake said, by the closure of summer overnight camps, day camps and many town recreation programs.

An investment of $690 million in federal and state funding during the next five months will be needed to bring the early education system out of closure and into continued operation, according to a report issued by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center earlier this week.

"Without significant additional funding from the state or federal governments, the early education system in Massachusetts will be unable to reopen successfully and remain financially viable over the coming months as parents return to work," the report stated.

The report also notes the workforce that could be particularly hard-hit by closures are primarily low-salaried and "almost entirely women, and with more people of color and foreign-born workers compared to Massachusetts at large."

"It is not lost on me that we got here based on misogyny and structural racism that I think has devalued the critical work of early education and child care," Cyr said.

The task force subcommittee has already provided guidance and a list of resources for child care providers at reopeningcapecod.org/child-care.

"This pandemic has presented significant challenges to early education providers, families and local businesses whose employees need safe, reliable child care," said Elysse Magnotto-Cleary, director of community engagement for Cape Air and assistant to Linda Markham, Cape Air president and member of the state's Reopening Advisory Board.

"The Cape Cod Reopening Task Force identified the crucial role early education providers play in our society and our economy and came together to discuss how we can best support providers and families during this crisis," Magnotto-Cleary said. "Inaction, or delayed action, will ultimately keep folks -- most likely women -- out of the workforce."

Follow Geoff Spillane on Twitter: @GSpillaneCCT.

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