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The Suffolk Early Childhood Development Commission (ECDC) hosted a roundtable on Wednesday, June 18, to discuss the city’s childcare crisis. A few city officials attended the invitation-only event, including other stakeholders such as parents, childcare providers, and ECDC members.

Executive Director of Minus 9 to 5 Jane Glasgow presented challenges associated with the childcare industry and the gaps between families and childcare providers.

Launched in 2015, Minus 9 to 5 is a collective impact initiative with a goal of bridging the gaps in current child care systems and work to expand care to all families in need of prenatal and postnatal health care in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. More than 100 advocates work together to achieve these goals.

“The vision for Minus 9 to 5 is that every family in Hampton Roads will be equipped and supported to raise children who are healthy, thriving and ready to learn,” Glasgow said. “That doesn’t happen when moms are unstably housed, when moms or families are dealing with economic challenges and don’t have consistent income coming in. They don’t have consistent food. It’s really hard to have a very healthy baby when you don’t have access to fresh, healthy food.”

Minus 9 to 5 is also the Ready Region Southeastern lead agency and “is responsible for on-the-ground coordination and integration of essential early childhood care and education (ECCE) services and resources,” according to the Ready Region website. They must also partner with school divisions, social and human services, quality improvement networks, and ECCE programs. 

According to the website, in Southeastern Virginia, there are 74,403 children under the age of five, 68% of children under the age of five have all available parents in the workforce, 73% of children under the age of five are income-eligible for publicly funded ECCE, there are 10,127 publicly funded ECCE slots for children under the age of five, and 81% of income-eligible children under the age of five are not served in publicly funded ECCE.

Additionally, the median total price of ECCE services for one child from birth to age five in Southeastern Virginia is slightly over $74,000. Therefore, the minimum household income for the median annual price of ECCE services for one child to be affordable is $211,838.

During Glasgow’s ECDC presentation, she highlighted how these numbers compare to Suffolk’s.

In Suffolk, she said there are just over 6,000 children under the age of five in 2023. Of those children, 73.5% have parents in the maternal workforce. That is about 3% more than the Southeastern Ready Region.

In order for children to be ready for school, Glasgow stressed it’s important to start preparing at the “minus 9,” or the beginning of pregnancy. She said 90% of a child’s brain development occurs from birth to age five.

In Virginia, Glasgow said 40% of children are not entering kindergarten with the skills they need to be successful. This percentage goes up for people who historically face more challenges, such as Black and Hispanic students, low-income students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. 

In Suffolk, about 40% of students are meeting overall readiness benchmarks as measured by the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program. This is the same as the regional data.

“We really have to focus on that, because we know that children who enter school without the skills that they need, statistically, are very unlikely to ever catch up,” Glasgow said. 

Minus 9 to 5 is in the process of collecting data on the gap between the supply and demand of ECCE in Southeastern Virginia. With its current supply, the region has enough capacity for 76% of children under five.

In Western Tidewater, which includes Southampton, Franklin, Isle of Wight, and Suffolk, there is enough ECCE capacity for 75% of children under five. There are 110 licensed providers with a total preschool capacity of 5,900 and a total infant and toddler capacity of 1,200. Over half of those providers are centers with the rest being home providers and school programs. 40 providers in the region participate in the Child Care Subsidy Program.

An estimated 9,300 children are in need of child care services in Western Tidewater — 3,600 are at the preschool age and 5,700 are at the toddler and infant age.

In Suffolk, there is a mix of areas with high and low ECCE availability. 

Suffolk’s target number for children on child care subsidy is 531. There are currently 254 children five years old or younger and 137 six years and older waiting to be approved for subsidy.

For Suffolk, the average cost of infant child care is $15,756 compared to $18,460 for the region. The price continues to decrease for both the region and the City as the age increases.

Glasgow said the Childcare for Working Families Act states families should not be spending more than 7% of their income on child care. If a family is spending that much on child care, their annual income would have to be about $225,000 in order to afford the average cost of infant child care in Suffolk. According to Data USA, the average household income in Suffolk in 2023 was just over $90,000.    

“I mean, I think the reality of it is that oftentimes people do not have any idea what child care costs,” Glasgow said.

Glasgow highlighted that since 2020 there has been a steady increase of children being enrolled in publicly funded ECCE programs. She mentioned that increased childcare enrollment might also contribute to lower unemployment rates. 

At the end of her presentation, Glasgow mentioned a new family day home pilot program funded by Minus 9 to 5. Suffolk was determined to be an area in high need of family day homes and four out of the five pilot spots are being allotted to programs in Suffolk.

Minus 9 to 5 is allotting $6,000 each to the identified day homes who are interested in getting their facility licensed. They will get six sessions of business training as well as a new laptop equipped with child care management software. 

“For somebody who owns a business, or wants to open up a business, to come up with $6,000 to start that business, that could be a lot of money,” Glasgow said. “So we are really excited.”

The program started in February, and so far two places have gotten their state licenses for a child care program, and one is waiting for her licensing inspection.