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Alaska childcare providers, families and employers are under intense strain with the lack of childcare availability and funding, according to advocates. They are calling for major state investment in the childcare industry and seeking policy changes under the next governor and Alaska State Legislature.

Leaders with several non-profit groups held an online webinar Wednesday focused on barriers and potential solutions to what they called “Alaska’s childcare desert,” which included advocates with the Alaska Children’s Trust, Southeast Childhood Collective and thread, an Anchorage-based resource and referral organization. 

Advocates described a patchwork funding system of federal, state and some local municipal grants for childcare providers, which has resulted in a lack of childcare spaces to meet demand, long waitlists, high costs for families and a lack of qualified childcare providers, who also work for low pay. 

“It’s a battle right now,” said Candice Vialpando, marketing and communications director with thread. “But every little bit helps, and every bucket of money that we are getting, we’re just putting out into the field to try and help, and keep programs open.”

Alaska has seen a wave of childcare centers close in recent years. Last year, one of Anchorage’s largest childcare facilities, Bright Beginnings Learning Center, closed due to rising costs and a shortage of workers, displacing 125 children and 35 staff. Since 2019, 25% of childcare facilities have closed, according to thread. 

The organization estimates 50% of Alaskan families cannot fully participate in the workforce because they lack access to childcare. They estimate the average cost Alaska parents pay is nearly $14,000 per year per child.  

Advocates are pushing legislators and state political candidates to make childcare a priority in this election. 

“Alaska is a childcare desert,” said Blue Shibler, executive director of the Southeast Childhood Collective, which provides resource, funding and workforce development support throughout Southeast Alaska. “The good news is, advocates like us on here have been working for years on this issue, and there is quite a bit of framework systems development that could turn all of that around pretty quickly.” 

She said that the state could make big changes quickly if a new executive branch and motivated legislators were open to their policy and funding ideas. 

Shibler said childcare providers are struggling to recruit childcare workers and pay liveable wages, which can result in long wait lists for care. 

“Childcare providers cannot charge families enough money to pay competitive wages in this labor market, and so they’re limited at how many kids they can take based on that,” she said. “So we’re working to improve that.”

This year, the Legislature approved $6.4 million to help boost pay and retain childcare workers, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it. 

“That really hurt us,” Vialpando said.

Dunleavy also vetoed Legislature-approved increases of $355,000 to the family support program Parents as Teachers, a $3.7 million increase for Head Start programs and a $3 million increase for infant learning programs to support children with developmental delays or disabilities.  

A spokesperson for the Dunleavy administration, Jeff Turner, said by email Thursday that “substantial funding was provided,” for childcare. He pointed to the governor’s approvals in this year’s budget for $13 million in Head Start grants, $475,000 for Parents as Teachers and $12.3 million for early intervention and infant learning programs.

“Governor Dunleavy also proposed legislation for funding and opportunities to expand workforce training, unfortunately the legislature chose not to pass his legislation,” Turner said, referring to a bill that would have expanded the unemployment insurance trust fund.

State assistance grants, licensing and economic impacts

For state childcare assistance grants that are paid out to providers and families, Vialpando described issues with delayed payments, which can cause children to lose their spots. 

Vialpando said one issue is if families miss renewal dates, they have to reapply for assistance all over again. “It’s not just a quick renewal. It’s like a whole new application period, which takes a very long time,” she said. 

“And during that application period, they’re not getting assistance, so their childcare provider is not getting paid, so they don’t have care for their child during that time. And it’s like, does this person care for the kid without getting paid? Does the child stay home?” she said. “It’s a really bad effect that is happening, so I think that needs to be addressed: prompt payment.”

Officials with the Alaska Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment on state assistance delays on Thursday. 

Nonprofit groups are working to boost childcare worker support and professional development opportunities, including apprenticeship programs, and helping new providers with licensing and regulatory standards for new childcare programs. 

Shibler and others said providers continue to struggle with licensing issues and regulatory hurdles, and the Department of Health could do more to ease the strain.

“A lot of the licensing regulations are just really old and outdated. They just need a review,” she said. “To figure out how many of these are really important to maintain health, safety, and quality, and which ones are just sort of extra that we don’t need to be dealing with and putting on providers.”

With support from an Anchorage initiative directing marijuana tax revenue to the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund, Vialpando said thread is able to provide some childcare providers with healthcare benefits. “Which is huge in a sector where people do not have healthcare,” she said. 

Teresa Wrobel, director of policy and advocacy, Alaska Children’s Trust noted childcare is becoming a priority issue for employers, as there’s a loss of hours as employees need to tend to childcare needs. She and others acknowledged lack of childcare is a major factor in some families leaving Alaska.  

Wrobel emphasized the Alaska Children’s Trust – which is focused on reducing child abuse and neglect — is advocating to address childcare issues to help alleviate stress on families. “Neglect happens with families when there is stress in the family, and we just know that childcare is one of those methods that can reduce stress on the family,” she said. 

Shibler and others expressed hope that future state leaders will address the state’s growing childcare gap. 

“So there’s all these little band-aids out there, you know, trying to fix the problem because nobody wants to take off the big bite, which is we really need to invest $50 million into a compensation system in Alaska,” Shibler said. 

“Childcare is a public good: it needs a public subsidy,” she said. “We subsidize public goods all the time. We’re just not doing it for childcare for some reason.”

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