Access to affordable high-quality child care isn’t just a family issue; it’s a workforce issue. Parents make up about one-third of the workforce, and more than two-thirds of low-income participants in job training programs have children under the age of six. When child care is unaffordable or unavailable, it keeps parents, particularly mothers, out of skills training opportunities that could lead to better jobs.
What’s the TLDR? It’s that child care is critical infrastructure for both skills training and employment and for helping Americans move forward in their careers.
In Iowa, it is no different. For center-based child care, the average cost of child care for an Iowa infant is $1,014 and $929 per month for an Iowa toddler. For an Iowa family with both an infant and a toddler, annual child care costs can exceed other major household expenses, including housing. This is why state workforce advocates need to push for reforms that make child care more affordable and sustainable.
United Way of Central Iowa has been a leader on child care issues for more than two decades. In fact, in the early 2000’s, their Women United donor affinity group made investments in child care centers after they heard feedback from centers that kids were not “school ready” by kindergarten. As part of its ongoing work to expand access to child care, United Way of Central Iowa, under the leadership of Advocacy Officer Dave Stone, brought together an unlikely group of child care stakeholders to shift how policymakers and workforce leaders think about child care, reframing it from an optional benefit to a part of the infrastructure that enables people to train, work, and build a secure future. Stone was the recipient of NSC’s Dr. Alma Salazar’s Bridge Builder Award in 2025 – an award given annually to someone who brings together uncommon allies in support of inclusive skills policies.
United Way of Central Iowa championed two key policy changes to ensure that families and providers can access affordable, quality child care. In 2021, their team led advocacy efforts to pass House File (HF) 302, a bill that addresses the child care benefits cliff. Like other social benefits, the Iowa Child Care Assistance (CCA) Program eligibility was tied to a family’s income. Once a person’s income exceeds a set amount – even by $1 – they could be abruptly cut off from support. HF 302 fixes this by gradually phasing out assistance as income rises, helping families stay stable as they move toward paying market child care rates.
Prior to HF 302, workers who advanced in their career and earned more money were punished but under the new law, workers are rewarded. Now, parents can accept raises and promotions without fear of losing child care, and they can move toward self-sufficiency at a pace that makes sense. Instead of a cliff, they’re facing a staircase – where parents step down gradually.
Child care affordability is still a core concern for United Way of Central Iowa and in recent years, the organization has framed child care as a workforce and economic issue, rather than simply a social service or family issue. In 2023, they tackled child care reimbursement rates which determine the amount of federal funding reimbursement given to child care providers who serve a child receiving a subsidy. Higher federal reimbursement rates allow child care providers to stay open and attract quality staff by providing better wages. For parents, the higher rates means greater access to child care centers including those that may be closer to their home or work.
Access to high-quality child care centers bolsters employment and has been found to aid in retention in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. In fact, the Early Care and Learning Council has found that job turnover decreases by up to 60% if employees have access to child care. Due in part to the advocacy of United Way of Central Iowa and their coalition partners, Iowa enacted HF 707 in 2023, raising Child Care Assistance provider reimbursement rates to as much as 80% of market rate value.
For nearly a decade, United Way of Central Iowa has united common allies including child care advocates, businesses, and workforce partners to advance inclusive skills policies. In this instance, Stone knew it would be critical to their strategy to galvanize business-minded legislators and change their perspectives on child care to pass both bills. He emphasized that success would depend on bringing together some unlikely allies – C-suite executives, Human Resources Organizations, and local businesses – who were willing to educate their peers to make the return on investment case for other employers and policymakers. Stone noted that one of the key lessons from this work is that the efforts to disrupt the status quo require immense people power and sustained collaboration.
United Way of Central Iowa has an extensive early childhood success advocacy agenda which zooms in on addressing child care workforce shortages and ensures that parents and guardians have access to quality, affordable child care options. Most notably, the coalition’s advocacy is transitioning to focus on child care providers themselves, including professionalizing child care work and securing higher wages to address child care worker turnover. Stone notes that child care workers are the lowest paid in the state, and Iowa is losing child care workers to more lucrative career opportunities. Fixing these issues will continue to make the Iowa child care ecosystem more sustainable. Other states can look at their examples of improving child care affordability and build a stronger foundation for working families.
A new brief by NSC, Making Care Jobs Good Jobs: A Call to Workforce Advocates, reminds us that care work makes all other work possible. It calls on workforce advocates to make care jobs a central part of the nation’s workforce development agenda.
