Charles: Our state has created several successful initiatives. A couple of years ago, we started free child care for child care workers. Under the program, a licensed child care worker who works in a licensed child care facility and meets all of the non-income requirements can waive the income requirements and be eligible for free child care.

It’s been remarkably successful, with around 5,000 individuals participating in this program. The feedback we’ve received from child care providers has been extremely positive in terms of attracting, recruiting, and retaining child care workers.

State funding of the program has been increased for the two upcoming fiscal years. Several other states have adopted this model. It’s only a piece of the puzzle, but one that’s moving the needle.

In 2024, the state legislature built momentum for addressing the issue of child care. But there wasn’t a lot of cohesion around viable solutions. Several legislators shared that they were interested in helping with the issue, but felt inundated with different solutions they did not have the expertise [to understand].

This led to forming a state partnership called the Kentucky Collaborative on Child Care. The state brought together child care advocates and people who are on all sides of this issue. It’s important to bring folks to the table who disagree with you and identify points of consensus. That work brought a lot of new voices to the table and led to some big successes.

The state has seen about $135 million in state investment in child care for the next two years, which includes covering programs like our free child care for child care workers program, strengthening our subsidy system, funding early childhood education scholarships, and funding research and improved child care data. I believe our ability to make a strong economic argument and then bring coordination to advocacy efforts has spurred some change.

In Louisville, which is Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area, there’s a new initiative called Thrive By 5. It was initiated by the mayor of Louisville and eventually became an independent nonprofit. What I like about that initiative is it’s very nimble and strategic in how it approaches some of the issues that we’ve been talking about.

For example, part of the work that Thrive By 5 is doing is focusing on coaching local child care providers to help providers move up on quality. It’s also created scholarship programs to target families who aren’t eligible for subsidies but don’t make enough money to afford child care. The program also focuses on recruiting and retaining child care workers, both of which are critical to supply and access.