Low-income students, especially youth of color, are placed at a disadvantage from an early start due to the lack of investment in early childhood education. For children who belong to low-income households or live in poverty, high-quality accessible and affordable childcare is monumental in combatting the achievement gap that persists within the U.S education system. However, for working-class families the cost of childcare is a financial burden. With the average annual cost of childcare within the U.S at $9,589 - equivalent to the average annual cost of in-state college tuition at $9,410 - families are left without any viable options. To make matters worse, a study by the Center for American Progress examined 22 states and revealed that half of American’s live in childcare deserts. Families face a harsh reality in trying to provide their children with the needed care they deserve and we must do our best to change this narrative. Regardless of a child’s socio-economic status and ethnicity, a child’s circumstances should not determine their ability to flourish in this world. If we want to eradicate this pervasive inequality that exists between high and low-income families, we need universal high-quality childcare to help shape vulnerable youths’ learning trajectory for the better.

Families face a harsh reality in trying to provide their children with the needed care they deserve and we must do our best to change this narrative.

Research indicates that the first few years of a child’s life are the most formative since they lay a foundation for a healthy cognitive development that fosters critical thinking and socioemotional abilities for the future. Unfortunately, low-income children at an early start tend to be exposed to a range of toxic stresses –poverty, food-insecurity, under-resourced communities – that harms their mental and physical development. The National Center for Children Poverty reports, “25 percent of children under age six live in poverty and 12 percent live in extreme poverty” in the U.S. There is an urgent need to provide quality childcare for children to develop nurturing relationships, gain the attention needed to combat adversity, and increase their potential for future success.

Working-class families are compelled to make tough decisions pertaining to their child’s education due to financial constraints. With only 11 percent of the nation’s child care establishments accredited by the National Association for Family Child Care, families who cannot afford the upfront costs of quality childcare or lack even access to a facility often have to rely on substandard or unregulated facilities that do not provide sustainable, long-lasting, high-quality child care. Moreover, New America highlights the discrepancies in family assistance programs given that, “the existing child care subsidy program reaches just one in six eligible families.”

To address these problems, we need a holistic approach. First, we need to increase the number of high-quality accredited facilities in low-income urban and rural areas. While simultaneously, financially assisting working-class families to reduce childcare costs to at least 7 percent of their income as recommended by advocates. Additionally, we must work to reduce the high turn-over rates within the childcare field that disrupts a child’s early education. To do so, we need to advocate for a livable wage for childcare providers. Most importantly, we must provide childcare providers with educational support to gain cultural competency and learn evidence based practices that best support learning development.

Conversations surrounding childcare never tend to fixate on whether children deserve to have access to affordable high-quality childcare, but rather arguments arise regarding where we expect to gather the funds needed to provide childcare subsidies. Universal Childcare becomes a contentious topic when solutions involve raising the government’s deficit or raising taxes. One approach we could take is to propose a budget offset to free up funds for childcare. Scholars at Brookings Institution suggest that limiting or cutting back on the charitable tax deductions, which only benefits the most affluent, is an avenue to gather additional funds.

Families in low-income communities, predominately people of color communities, encounter a number of institutional barriers. For starters, youth of color tend to lack access to quality educational resources in comparison to their white peers. As a result, low-income children of color fall behind academically in the long-run, which impedes them from gaining socio-political economic mobility. Eliminating the achievement gap starts by reevaluating early childhood education and reforming our childcare system. Affordable high-quality education provides a huge financial relief for families and propels their children’s mental development. While simultaneously allowing parents to pursue job and educational opportunities to advance their own careers. If we want to guarantee our next generations success, the time for childcare reform is now.

Resources to learn more about the child care crisis in the U.S.