During the COVID-19 pandemic, many childcare centers received federal funding assistance. That money helped keep their doors open and kids taken care of during the day. However, that funding ended on September 30. Childcare providers like Jennifer Washburn, Executive Director of iKids Childhood Enrichment Center, are witnessing the effects.
“Access to quality care deeply impacts parents, and we here in Marshall County for Western Kentucky want to make sure that our families have access to the highest quality care that they can, and having access to that positively impacts our families by supporting them in a multitude of ways.”
Washburn said childcare is vital to all levels of work.
“Childcare is the industry that supports all other industries. If we want to support families and their ability to meet their families’ needs, we have to have quality childcare.”
Washburn says that in some school districts, kids may be unable to receive appropriate childcare through preschool head start programs. She says some children must alternate between multiple childcare providers as those programs only work some days a week for the first half of the day.
Hear more from Jennifer Washburn later this week on Eastern Standard on WEKU.
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