Greenville County has been named as the top "childcare desert" in the state of South Carolina.  For at least five decades, improvement in the area of child care has remained stagnant, and if neither the State nor Federal government will take action, it is an economic imperative for us to become innovative to create solutions on a County level.  

One tactic would be to bring Greenville County businesses together, and work on collaborative solutions to offer its employees childcare. Some businesses in our County already provide childcare solutions, including on-site care, stipends or credits, emergency care, and taking advantage of the existing SC tax credit that incentivizes businesses to offer childcare solutions to their employees.  More work is needed. I have started work on this during the past year, and will continue as your County Councilwoman with the support of local organizations and businesses.

 For children:

• The National Bureau of Economic Research recruited a high-risk sample of children ranging in age from 8-weeks to 5-years, and followed them through their mid-30s.

• Boys who attended childcare programs with enriching activities, qualified faculty, & nurturing environment were:

  • 11-19% more likely than boys in lower-quality facility to be employed by age 30.

  • To earn between $19,000-$24,000 more than boys who had been in lower-quality facilities.

  • Less likely to commit costly crimes.

  • 13.5% annual return on investment in early-childhood programs for disadvantaged children.

•  Girls who attended high-quality programs were

  • 13-15% more likely to graduate high school.

  • 13% more likely to graduate college.

  • 8-13% more likely to have job at age 30.

For families:

• Women make up almost half of workforce.

• Woman are the primary or co-bread-winner in half of all families with children:

  • 29.93% Greenville County children are raised by a single female parent

  • 4.98% GC children raised by single male parent

• Women are disproportionately susceptible to facing economic insecurity at all stages of their life through: 

  • Employment discrimination.

  • Overrepresentation in low-wage jobs.

  • Difficulty accessing affordable, comprehensive healthcare.

  •  Greater responsibilities for unpaid caregiving.

  • Women are more likely than men to give up work, and pay steep penalties for doing so if they ever wish to return to work.

 For employers:

• The Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in infants and young children supports the fact that quality child care leads to a more proficient workforce.

• Social emotional competence provided through quality care environment equally or more important to future academic development than learning numbers and letters.

• Parents who have access to quality care and/or schedules that allow flexibility are more productive and happy at work

• Access to high quality affordable care for their young children enables 25,818 parents to work, increasing workforce productivity and family incomes by over $1 billion annually. 

• Conversely, the inability of some parents to access dependable child care costs the South Carolina economy $900 million in foregone wages and absenteeism. 

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