Universal Childcare: We Can Do It (Because Once Upon a Time, We Did It)

Working families deserve safe, affordable, and high-quality childcare, now more than ever. And the solution is right there in the history books.

Hello, Talking About Money Community, how are you?  Really, are you sure?  You can tell me.  😊

Remember how I commented on the fact that in December 2020 100% of job losses were felt by women?  In case you missed that discussion, please check it out in the post called Getting to Your "Why."

In this post I want to discuss a topic directly related to women’s unemployment: universal childcare.  At first glance the thought of achieving universal childcare in the United States might feel akin to establishing a permanent settlement on Mars.  But is it, really?  What would it look like for American families (and moms, in particular) to have safe, affordable, high-quality childcare so that they could go out into the workforce, utilize their talents and skills, and make the world a better place?

Take a moment and visual that.  Looks great, doesn’t it?

Access to dependable childcare might have a direct impact on your financial counseling, education, and coaching clients, enabling them to solve their financial problems and achieve their financial goals more readily.  Heck, dependable childcare might have a direct positive impact on you!  I, for one, can tell you that the trajectory of my career was permanently altered by not having what I thought to be access to safe, affordable, and high-quality childcare (and here I am, self-employed, 14 years later).

What if I told you that the United States had already figured out how to provide safe, affordable, high-quality childcare for most families that wanted it, and that they had mastered this almost 80 years ago?

Yup!

Welcome, dear readers, to the Lanham Act.

What is the Lanham Act?

Here is a brief tutorial on the Lanham Act from Dana Suskind in the Chicago Tribune:

In 1940 Congress passed the Lanham Act in order to fund public works, including childcare, in communities with defense industries. All families in which the mother was involved in the war effort, regardless of income, were eligible for childcare for up to six days a week. Parents paid the equivalent of about $10/day in today’s dollars to send their children to one of the 3,000+ centers funded by the Lanham Act, many of which featured the hallmarks of high-quality childcare programs: they had low student-teacher ratios, served meals and snacks, and taught children arts and educational enrichment activities.

And those were just the benefits to the families.  Look at the advantages to the childcare workers, as explained by Daphna Thier in Jacobin:

The centers were required to meet very high standards. The teachers were well-trained and provided fully funded university-level education. They were well-compensated. The number of children per teacher was limited to ten, a number that is lower than the limit in many states today. Centers were clean. They had a clinic with a nurse and doctor for daily checkups before children entered the space. They offered meals. Center staff bought a mother’s grocery list while she worked to pick up at the end of the day. Center cafeteria workers prepared dinner for mothers to take home at night.

[Okay, please take a moment to read that last part again: “Center staff bought a mother’s grocery list while she worked to pick up at the end of the day.”  “Center cafeteria workers prepared dinner for mothers to take home at night.”  I am swooning.]

Sounds like a dream for working mothers, don’t you think?  But don’t get your hopes up; after the war these centers lost their luster and federal funding dried up.  Most centers closed in 1946 (even after protesters rallied into 1947).

Why Was the Lanham Act Important?

According to Rhaina Cohen in The Atlantic:  “The Lanham program, though, broke ground as the first and, to date, only time in American history when parents could send their children to federally-subsidized childcare, regardless of income. And it was affordable: By late 1944, a mother could send a child of two to five years of age to childcare for 50 cents per day (about $7 in today’s money, adjusting for inflation). That included lunch, and snacks in the morning and afternoon.”

Now, we must be clear that most of these centers served white households since this was the pre-Civil Rights era, though some were integrated, and some served Black households.

What is important to note is that the Lanham Act came about during a period in American history when the populace believed that they were in an all-hands-on-deck situation to defeat a common enemy, that women were needed in the workforce, that children needed to be taken care of by highly trained professionals, and that women-headed households needed extra support in areas like groceries and meal prep.

Can you think of an all-hands-on-deck situation to defeat a common enemy that might be going on right now?  I’ll wait while you ponder this…

Fast Forward to Today: Biden’s Universal Childcare Plan

Enter stage left, President Biden (cue “Hail to the Chief”).  With the global coronavirus pandemic leading to a childcare crisis two-fer impacting both struggling working parents and low-paid child-care workers, something must be done, and your President is the person to do it.

In reporting by Lauren Camera of USA Today, Biden’s short-term plan includes a $25 billion emergency fund to support child-care providers and $15 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant to assist low-income families pay for care.  The plan also proposes an increase in the Child Tax Credit to $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children (and to make it fully refundable for one year).

But for the long-term, President Biden is thinking bigger.

According to Pavithra Mohan in Fast Company, during the 2020 campaign then-candidate Biden offered up a $775 billion 10-year plan to improve care for children (and the elderly) and to improve caregiving jobs.  It included:

• Free pre-kindergarten for three- and four-year-old’s

• Up to $16,000 in tax credits for families with young children

• Supports for the childcare industry, including increased pay and stronger benefits

The all-hands-on-deck attitude of World War II led to more than 300,000 women working in the aviation and munitions industries and provided universal childcare to about a half a million children. As we begin to see the light at the end of this pandemic tunnel and begin to fight the “she-cession” that has stripped away recent gains made by female workers, will the American people show enough moxie to build upon creative childcare solutions from 80 years ago…that worked? 

Without wholesale change, mothers will not regain their footing in the post-Covid economy, leading to lost lifetime earnings.  Now is an opportunity to re-create a structure where both working parents and childcare workers are held in the esteem they deserve, allowing them to use their talents and skills to help America build back better.

What do you say, Talking About Money community?  Did you know about the Lanham Act? (I didn’t.)  What are your thoughts on universal access to safe, affordable, and high-quality childcare?  And what about prepared dinners?  Please share your thoughts with this informed and supportive community.  And if you enjoyed this post, please take a moment to subscribe to our mailing list.  Then forward this post to one or two people who you think might enjoy it too.  Thanks, stay safe, and be well.