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SALT LAKE CITY — Based on recommendations from a 2017 statewide early childhood survey, leaders and policymakers wish to pass House Bill 319, which would create a coordinated state advisory board addressing concerns for pregnancy until age 5.
The survey, which was created by the Women in Economy Commission, YWCA and the Kem Gardner Institute at the University of Utah, explored barriers to women's employment. The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck (D-Salt Lake City), said, "We went out into the community, trying to figure how women can optimize their full potential." After statewide focus groups, literature reviews and other surveys, one big barrier continued to surface: childcare.
Chavez-Houck described some of the statements from women around childcare. "They felt like they had to choose. They felt there were only so many offerings for childcare. … Time and time again, when we have these conversations, there's a major wall that women and families run into around the availability of care."
HB319, Early Childcare and Learning Coordination Amendments, seeks to address the barrier of childcare by creating the Early Childhood Utah Advisory Council with 15 voting representatives from educational agencies, the State Board of Education, the Department of Health, the public and more. In addition, the bill would create a Governor's Early Childhood Commission in the Department of Workforce Services.
"Utah's early childhood system is very siloed," said, Tracy Gruber, director of the Office of Child Care. "There are multiple government agencies and nonprofits that run the early childhood system in Utah. The goal of the commission is to bring agencies together to develop a more coordinated and aligned system."
The commission would have a diverse group of stakeholders to look at the situation holistically. Erin Jemison, director of public policy at the YWCA said, "There's a lot of focus on kindergarten readiness and early childhood … there's other bills looking at that … (but) this is the one where we're looking at the whole system."
Utah has a particularly need for this type of early childcare coordination, Gruber said. "We have the highest birthrate in the nation, we have a large 0-5 population. More kids experience intergenerational poverty from 0-5. … When you invest in young children and you make sure their needs are met … you are going to get a very high return on that investment."
Rep. Chavez-Houck can speak personally to the importance of childcare. She utilized it for her two children. When her son was young, she dropped him off at the YWCA while she would go to meetings. "I feel so amazingly fortunate that my mother was retired before my daughter was born. But not everybody has that.
"I want people to understand that people need childcare, that's the reality of the situation," she said. "Seeing that's the reality … all we're asking the commission to do is make sure there's quality, that there's accessibility, that there's a certain benchmark parents can expect. It is what it is. Every single family has this situation." Carrie Rogers-Whitehead is the CEO of Digital Respons-Ability. In addition, she is a college instructor and co-owner of Wizarding Dayz. Carrie is an advocate of STEAM, education and equitable access. She can be reached at carrie@respons-ability.net
