Solving Lincoln’s child care crisis will take widespread buy-in and money, panelists say

This story, published by the Nebraska News Service, is being republished by the Flatwater Free Press.

Lincoln has a child care crisis that can only be solved by reevaluating the system from all sides. That was the consensus of panelists Tuesday at a community conversation hosted by the Lincoln Community Foundation and Flatwater Free Press.

The event, which drew 75 attendees, centered on Lincoln’s early child care and education offerings, which are simultaneously becoming fewer and more expensive. Flatwater Nebraska Reporter Sara Gentzler moderated the discussion among people working with legislation, local programs and the Lincoln community.

“They (parents) don’t know what’s going on, they just know they can’t afford it,” said Sam Dov, a Lincoln father who has struggled to find child care for his two young children.

The nonprofit Lincoln Littles estimates that at least 11 child care centers have closed in the city since 2023, negatively affecting affordability for both providers and parents. Bills that seek to ease costs are falling short amid Nebraska’s budget gap.

Lincoln has almost 20,000 children under 6 years old, about 75% of whom have all parents in the workforce, Lincoln Littles Executive Director Anne Brandt said at the event.

The through line for all of the center closures, Brandt said, is a lack of sustainable funding for the entire system.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the closing of many child care centers due to a temporary influx of federal funding, Brandt said. Though eight more centers have opened since then, Lincoln has still experienced a net loss of about 500 spots, she added.

Alternative funding solutions are popping up in Nebraska and other states, Brandt and audience members said during the forum’s Q&A. Lincoln Littles operates programs to help child care providers, families seeking care and businesses that want to offer flexibility to employees with kids.

“We liken ourselves to a chamber for child care,” Brandt said.

Whether parents actually know that help exists, though, is another story, Dov said.

Through his personal experience working long hours as a barber and community activist while his partner shoulders the burden of child care, Dov said he is acutely familiar with the way working parents experience the lack of child care.

“I don’t see numbers. I don’t see reports. I don’t see statistics. I see real life,” Dov said.

A gap exists between the programs and the parents who need them, Dov said. He is in the current class of the Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative’s Parent Ambassador Program, which aims to help caregivers become advocates for their kids and community.

At the end of the day, Brandt said, it comes down to policy and —  ultimately — money.

Multiple bills have been proposed and adopted under different circumstances in recent years, such as LB 304 introduced by Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha. The bill sought to permanently extend the income eligibility level for state child care subsidies at 185% of the federal poverty level. The cutoff line is slated to fall to 130% later this year, which could cause around 2,500 families to lose access to child care, a First Five analysis has found.

“There’s support of concept,” said Katie Bass, the director of policy research at Early Futures Partnership, which operates First Five Nebraska. “But then when it comes time to put the money in, that’s where we might lose some points along the way.”

That is exactly what happened Thursday, as lawmakers pulled DeBoer’s proposal from a larger budget package, which they then approved. DeBoer told the Nebraska Examiner that she still intends to push for her proposal in the remaining days of the current legislative session.

“We’ll just see where the session goes from here,” she told the Examiner.

At Tuesday’s forum, Bass noted that child care costs are a bipartisan issue.

Similarly, Brandt said the breadth of the issue extends toward all sectors, widening the responsibility to find a solution.

“It is everybody’s issue,” she said. 

The Nebraska News Service is the student-powered news website and wire service of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.