From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, NAEYC has remained committed to understanding and sharing the breadth of the deepening crisis and the challenges child care programs are facing across states and settings. You can access the findings from our surveys of child care providers below.
NEW Brief: Holding On Until Help Comes: A Survey Reveals Child Care’s Fight to Survive
Released: July 13, 2020
The lack of sufficient public investment in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced child care programs, educators, and families into a series of impossible choices with devastating consequences. Only 18% of programs are confident they will be able to stay open past a year without public assistance. 50% of minority-owned programs are certain they will have to close without the help they need. 86% of child care programs who responded to our survey are serving fewer children now than they were prior to the pandemic and 63% of programs across all settings expect to be operating at or below 80% of enrollment past the end of this summer. This data makes it clear that if help doesn’t come soon in order to save child care, there will be little left of child care to save.
- NEW State-by-state data from the June survey is available as a PDF here and can also be accessed via this interactive map.
Child Care & the Paycheck Protection Program
Released: May 12, 2020
A NAEYC brief highlights the experiences of nearly 500 child care programs across the country who have applied for the Paycheck Protection Program. Based on respondent feedback, we have learned that while the PPP has bought some child care programs critical time with which to pay themselves and their employees and cover some of their fixed costs, entire segments of the market, particularly family child care homes, have been essentially unable to access the program and its benefits.
The viability of child care programs—and therefore the viability of our nation’s economy—is dependent on substantial, additional, and direct investments, and we look forward to working with Congress to make these investments a reality.
From the Front Lines: The Ongoing Effect of the Pandemic on Child Care
Released: April 17, 2020
NAEYC releases survey data that explores the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the solutions that have been put forth so far. From April 2–10, 2020 more than 5,000 providers responded to the survey, from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Together, these survey respondents alone serve upwards of 215,000 children.
At this point in time, nearly 50% of respondents reported that their program was completely closed, with an additional 17% closed to everyone except children of essential personnel. Of programs that remained open in some way, 85% of respondents reported that they were operating at less than 50% of their enrollment capacity.
- A State-by-State Look at the Ongoing Effects of the Pandemic on Child Care is available as a PDF here and an interactive map here.
Child Care in Crisis: Understanding the Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic
National Brief released: March 17, 2020; State-by-State Brief released on March 31, 2020
On March 12, 2020, as the country was beginning to recognize the ways in which the spread of the coronavirus would jeopardize lives and livelihoods, NAEYC developed a brief survey asking child care programs to share the challenges they were expecting to face and to comment on what they needed to protect children, families, and our nation’s supply of child care programs.
By March 25, 2020 11,500 individuals from all 50 states and the District of Columbia had responded to the survey, 34% of whom work in center-based child care, and 53% who work in family child care homes.
Ultimately, nearly 50% of respondents noted that they would not survive a closure of more than two weeks without significant public investment and support that would allow them to compensate and retain staff, pay rent or mortgages, and cover other fixed costs. An additional quarter of respondents did not know how long they could close and still re-open without support.
- Initial national data, is summarized in this “Child Care in Crisis” brief alongside NAEYC’s initial recommendations for state action, dated March 15, 2020.
- A State-by-State Look at Child Care in Crisis: Understanding Early Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic is available as a PDF version, as well as on this interactive map.