[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We now welcome Cynthia Rice, Senior Policy Analyst for Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

Their website will be up.

Cynthia, good to see you again.

- Nice to see you as well.

- We've been part of a group of folks.

You're the advocates.

We are attempting to provide public awareness around childcare issues.

Reimagine Childcare will come up on the screen, our longtime initiative, to talk about the importance of accessible, affordable, quality childcare.

We just did an interview earlier today with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, fighting on the federal level to fight from, fight New Jersey and the nation falling off what has been called the childcare cliff, meaning if the feds don't come in with a certain amount of money to support childcare, a lot of childcare centers are gonna close.

Not hyperbole, not being dramatic, that's real.

We're taping at the end of September.

We'll know when the show airs whether that happened.

It's a long-winded way of getting to this.

What is your view of the federal government's role?

Everyone in Congress says they're all committed to childcare.

Where's the resources, please?

- You know, I think that during COVID, the federal government stepped up to the plate for childcare, and what it did was it looked at the whole system and supported the whole system.

In fact, it really was a lifeline to programs that we've known were essential to working families and to our economy.

And the problem is that money is going to run out, a little bit later for New Jersey, because the governor has put money in to extend it to next year, but make no mistake about it, that cliff is here without the federal government stepping up and making childcare the public good that it is, and funding it that way.

- Well, what would happen, Cynthia, people would say, well, what does that mean, the childcare cliff, you fall off the cliff?

Let's pray that it gets funded.

If it were not to be funded, make it clear what falling off the cliff means, not just to those who operate childcare centers, but to parents, but especially for children and communities that desperately need quality, affordable, accessible childcare, please.

- So first, you know, we're still reeling from the pandemic.

In fact, nationwide, one in 10 programs closed and never reopened.

We're still down 40,000 childcare staff.

The biggest issue is staffing.

It's hard when you're funded either through federal dollars or private pay, you know, tuition parents pay, it is not sustainable, and it's very difficult to attract and retain staff.

So what does that look like for a parent?

Well, the Century Foundation recently put out a report and said what will happen if we actually experience the cliff effect?

And what we know at least in New Jersey, is that more than 100,000 childcare centers will close.

I'm sorry, 100,000 children will lose their slots, and 1,300 childcare programs will close.

And who does that most affect?

Well, it'll affect parents, but mostly it affects mothers, and we need women in the workforce, and the reality is when there's an inadequate supply of care, it's the mothers who struggle with trying to balance either going back to work part-time or leaving their jobs entirely, and so that has an incredible pressure on our economy.

- I'm just trying to understand some of these numbers, put these numbers in context.

150,000 infants and toddlers live in New Jersey where all adults are working.

The capacity of our center-based programs is 68,000.

- Yes.

- Only 55,000 children are actually being served, because we don't have enough staff.

- That's right, and that's an ACNJ report.

And what it looked like, what it looked at was, well, how many children actually need care?

And this is just for children under three.

This is not looking at the entire early childhood system.

Under three, that's the most expensive period in a child's life for care, and as a consequence, and it's hard work when you're thinking about one adult for four babies.

It's very hard work.

And yet unfortunately, for the most part, our priorities in making sure that we have quality, that we can pay for quality staff to be in those classrooms is very, very difficult.

It's hard to imagine working for $14 an hour, our current minimum wage, for what?

For caring for and educating babies, four babies per adult, and as a consequence, they're going elsewhere, and really, who can blame them when there are offers in Amazon and Target providing higher salaries and often benefits, which many childcare programs cannot provide.

- Let's put the dollars in perspective, not only in terms of what childcare professionals workers are paid, $14 an hour compared to what is out there in the marketplace.

You made it clear, and it's obvious how difficult it is, or why someone would, why wouldn't they go make more money?

That being said, your report, the Advocates for Children of New Jersey, by the way, their website is up.

Go on their website to find out more.

We can only do so much in a particular segment.

The average cost for childcare for one infant is $1,400 a month?

- Yeah.

- Who can afford that?

- Now think if you have two children, and that is the problem is that, you know, our federal government has often focused, and rightfully so, on our low income working families, and that's important.

But at the end of the day, whether you live in Newark or you live in Summit, if you're a childcare center, you are struggling, because centers in more affluence communities, they really can't raise their tuition, because families, even those who aren't eligible to receive assistance through childcare, they can't afford childcare.

If you have, you know, two children, it is just too expensive, and that's the problem.

It's the whole system that needs support, not just those programs that support low income working families.

That was the beauty of the COVID dollars.

It looked at everything.

- So check out our website.

You'll see the website, SteveAdubato.org up.

Go back and look at, I suggest that anyone who cares about this childcare issue actually go back and look at the series of interviews that we did with State Senator Teresa Ruiz who was leading the effort in the state legislature.

That's not endorsement, it's just a fact.

She's fighting for more dollars, more programs, more resources.

Cynthia, can New Jersey, through the efforts of Senator Ruiz and others who support that effort, can we do this alone as a state, so state by state, or do you have to have the feds, please?

- So this has to be a team effort that no one state, as strong an advocate as the senator is, no state can do it alone.

It's just, it's a heavy lift, and that's why it has to be both the federal and state government.

Senator Ruiz has an incredible package of bills that begins to look at childcare, the totality again of the system, but the dollars, the dollars that support what we know children need is not there, and that's why we turn to the federal government, and we have great advocates at the federal level.

Congresswoman Sherrill is really leading the charge in her recent, a recent bill that was introduced in Congress, the Childcare Stabilization Act.

It is looking again at making sure it's not just one segment of the system that gets support, but the whole system.

And she's asking, she and her colleagues are asking for $16 billion.

That's no small amount of money, but that's what's needed.

- We will monitor that, Cynthia, the work of that's going on in Congress or not, and the work going on in the state legislature or not, along with the executive front office, Governor Murphy's team as well.

Cynthia Rice, Senior Policy Analyst for Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

We thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

We'll talk to you soon.

- Thank you, Steve.

- You got it, stay right there, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato Is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

Johnson & Johnson.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

Operating Engineers, Local 825.

And by The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Promotional support provided by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

And by New Jersey Globe.

- At the Turrell Fund, We know childcare creates transformative early learning experiences for young children, and helps families succeed.

Childcare is essential for the economy, driving financial growth and sustainability across all sectors.

The Turrell Fund envisions a New Jersey in which every infant and toddler has access to high quality, affordable childcare In order to grow, develop and thrive.

Our children are our future.

For more information, visit TurrellFund.org.