Description

The lack of affordable, high-quality childcare strains families, the workforce, and future achievement potential. As employers struggle to find workers, the workers struggle to find childcare options that are both available and don’t cost more than their wages would earn. Parents struggle to find opportunities for infants and toddlers to engage in nurturing, stimulating interactions that engage their critical early brain development. According to a “Ready Nation” March 2024 report, the estimated economic impact of a lack of adequate child care is $2.7 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue annually in Colorado. 

Childcare expert Elliot Haspel, author of “Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It,” shares with us some perspective as to how we got here, what the impacts are and what options exist to improve early childcare access. With a lens towards businesses, public investment and community engagement to solve the problem, this is a community-wide discussion regardless if someone currently has young children or not, with both impacts and solutions extending far beyond immediate families. He is joined by Liz Costaldo, co-Executive Director of Early Childhood Partners, who will give us a local perspective and share the status of Early Childhood Education in Eagle County, as well as what solutions are on the horizon.

This Vail Valley Partnership event is held in partnership with the Vail Symposium. 

Recommended Podcast: Harvard EdCast “Fixing Childcare in America”

Recommended reading available at The Bookworm in Edwards: “Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It” by Elliot Haspel