The child care world has had its ups and downs. It’s important to recognize our achievements and give credit to the State for supporting working families.

As CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central NH for 22 years, we evolved from a K-12 drop-in center that Boys & Girls Clubs are renowned for, to the State’s first fully licensed Boys & Girls Club for children from six weeks old through high school.

When the pandemic hit, the State and Federal government took steps to ensure child care remained a viable. This included the paycheck protection program (PPP), and several rounds of funding. These grants assured staff they would remain employed, and gave us the confidence to stay open when demand dropped.

When the economy rebounded, new employees were be hard, if not impossible, to find. In retrospect, keeping staff employed was the right thing to do and critical to our survival.

In this tight labor market, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services stepped in, helping us with grants for signing bonuses and other incentives.

The pandemic exposed the frailty of a business model that cannot generate adequate revenue without a burden on working families. The past few years, the state spent tens of millions of dollars ensuring parents had access to care so they could work.

We need to transition from a mind-set of funding revenue gaps to funding infrastructure, so the industry remains viable.

One option might be to assist child care centers with mergers and acquisitions. Like many industries, child care organizations benefit from economies of scale.

The government shouldn’t be the sector’s primary source of funding. The responsibility for building viable businesses rests on us. Government’s role should be helping ensure access, affordability, and provide tools for centers to build strong, sustainable businesses.