Who Cares About Child Care?

A chronic shortage of child care is about to become everybody’s problem

Minnesota is now confronting one of the worst child care shortages anywhere in the nation, with more than four children under age 5 for every available child care center slot. Though the state has long had one of the country’s highest rates of workforce participation among parents with young children, a recent study from the Center for American Progress found that more than 3.8 million Minnesotans are living in a community with fewer than one child care center spot for every three kids who need it—a condition defined as a “child care desert.”

Coverage for the Initiative Foundation, I.Q. Magazine, Fall 2017