DEAR YMCA FRIENDS

Even prior to 2020, the child care sector in Texas was straining from the effects of low pay, low reimbursement rates, high operating costs and high employee turnover. The ensuing pandemic only served to heighten the structural weaknesses, bringing the entire system to the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, Child Care Relief Funding from the Texas Workforce Commission threw a life preserver to providers across the state. With these new resources, YMCAs across Texas - collectively the largest child care provider in the state - were able to increase pay, improve program quality and enhance health and safety measures.

But there’s still much more work ahead. Tens of thousands of families remain on waiting lists. Shifting health and safety regulations have dramatically increased costs. And a historically tight labor market has driven pay rates higher still, with competition for workers at a premium - workers who are caring for our most precious possessions: our children.

Affordable and enriching child care is the hidden foundation of the Texas economy. Without it, parents’ ability to work outside of the home is dramatically limited. Preschoolers enter the classroom at an academic disadvantage, helping widen the opportunity gap. And without it, elementary students spend out-ofschool hours lacking structure, guidance and positive role models.

With your help, we can address these challenges and build future generations of Texans from a solid foundation. The following report gives you a look at the obstacles we’ve overcome...and the road ahead.

Working together, we can rebuild and reimagine our child care system so that it works better than ever before, yielding dividends to the Texas economy... and delivering prosperity to the people who drive it.