VIDEO: US. Rep. Deborah Ross touts new funding for childcare in NC, but says more is needed

@cardinalandpine

The new spending bill passed by Congress last month includes $1 billion to address the childcare crisis across the country. That’s the good news. The bad news? It’s like throwing a single bucket of water at a raging wildfire. Once federal pandemic-related funding expires in June, the very real problem is going to get much worse. That was the consensus at a roundtable discussion at a Raleigh childcare center on Thursday featuring Congresswoman Deborah Ross, a Democrat representing Wake County, and childcare workers in Raleigh. The recent funding will help, but it’s nowhere near enough, they said. In the discussion, held at the Raleigh Nursing School downtown, Ross and the childcare workers called on the North Carolina General Assembly to move quickly when it returns to session in late April to replace the COVID-related funding with state resources. Without new funding, 30% of childcare centers in the state could close and more than 90,000 young children in North Carolina would lose care. “Now is the time to shine the light on this issue so that the legislature will do the right thing,” Ross said.

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The new spending bill passed by Congress last month includes $1 billion to address the childcare crisis across the country. That’s the good news. The bad news? It’s like throwing a single bucket of water at a raging wildfire.
Once federal pandemic-related funding expires in June, the very real problem is going to get much worse.
That was the consensus at a roundtable discussion at a Raleigh childcare center on Thursday featuring Congresswoman Deborah Ross, a Democrat representing Wake County, and childcare workers in Raleigh.
The recent funding will help, but it’s nowhere near enough, they said.
In the discussion, held at the Raleigh Nursing School downtown, Ross and the childcare workers called on the North Carolina General Assembly to move quickly when it returns to session in late April to replace the COVID-related funding with state resources.
Without new funding, 30% of childcare centers in the state could close and more than 90,000 young children in North Carolina would lose care.
“Now is the time to shine the light on this issue so that the legislature will do the right thing,” Ross said.