With Pandemic Funding Expired, Child Care Providers Seek Solutions to Shortages and Sticker Shock

As noted in our previous reporting, almost half the U.S. population is struggling to find adequate access to child care, according to a report from the Center for American Progress, and the rate is closer to 60% in rural areas.

During the first two years of the pandemic almost 20,000 child care centers permanently closed — nearly one in 10. Many child care workers lost their jobs or left for better options, and while there has been some recovery, the industry still has approximately 40,000 fewer positions than it did in early...