Day without Child Care: NC providers set to close for one day for demonstration
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Rodney Moore is like many parents who depend on child care.
“Child care is crucial for my family because we work during the day,” Moore explained.
He says early childhood education is important for his three kids, especially for two of them in child care.
“They have to learn, or they won’t succeed,” said Moore.
Dee Dee Fields is the owner of Landeeingdam Daycare in Durham.
“The kids keep me going because they’re just kids,” said Fields.
Fields’ business started 32 years ago with five employees including herself.
“Right now, I don’t have a teacher and I’m here by myself. I can’t blame her for finding better opportunities,” said Fields.
This is a familiar situation when it comes to pay for many child care centers, including Primary Colors Early Learning Center’s Director Michelle Bass on Riddle Road in Durham. She has 34 years in this industry.
“I have seen the good, bad, ugly and what in the world,” said Bass.
Members of the National Domestic Workers Alliance will join the members of Child Care for North Carolina for a Day Without Child care on Thursday. This one-day demonstration will lead to the closure of many child care centers across the state for workers and advocates to highlight the loss of federal pandemic era funding.
“If those grants stop, we have to figure out where that money will come from to continue paying employees,” said Bass.
The NDWA says the loss of funding could lead to the closure of 1,500 child care programs and nearly 92,000 child care slots in North Carolina.
Right now, these educators are just hoping lawmakers will listen along with taking a stand and realize childcare is an essential investment.
“We want to be respected and a lot of times we are not respected,” said Bass.
The demonstration is set to start with a registration at 9 a.m. with the event starting at 10 a.m. until 2PM at Halifax Mall in Raleigh.
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