Lakethia Clark stands in her son’s bedroom at their home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Clark will soon open his own home-based child care business.
Claire Harbach/NPR
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Lakethia Clark has spent most of her adult life caring for children, first in a church day care center and later in a child care center. She loved her children, but 15 years later she was being paid too little and had too many children to care for.
So, like many childcare workers, she quit her job. Clark took a job as a housekeeper at a hospital, which paid better, but she missed out Her old career.
“It breaks my heart,” she said. “I miss my kids.”
She had long considered starting her own childcare business but always found the licensing process and startup costs daunting.
Today, however, Clark is preparing to return to the job she loves on her own terms. She was setting up her own small business and taking care of up to six children. She’s doing it in her own home.
For months, she’s been trying to turn things around Her three-bedroom bungalow and tree-lined backyard became a wonderland for her children.
Clark was one of the first participants in the 3by3 program. It’s the brainchild of Holly Glasgow, a longtime child development educator at Shelton State Community College.
Her vision for the program is to dramatically increase the number of small family child care businesses, formally known as family child care homes. This program could be important to Alabama because it provides more child care options to help grow the state’s workforce.
In-home child care is not new, but Glasgow has gone to great lengths to provide comprehensive training and guidance, boosting the often invisible child care workforce, drawing attention and even visitors from states like Colorado and California.
In order to go to work, parents need to take care of their children
The initiative is one of many being piloted across the United States as federal and state governments and the business community increasingly recognize that child care is critical to economic growth.
Clark kept a collection of books in her son’s room, and she added more once she began caring for the out-of-home children.
Claire Harbach/NPR
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This is an especially pressing issue for Alabama, which has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country.
To get her project off the ground, Glasgow received creative “mix and braid” funding from multiple sources, including the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Designed to help job seekers enter high-quality careers.
Other funders include the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce and the Women’s Foundation of Alabama, a philanthropic organization dedicated to increasing economic opportunities for women.
“It’s an interesting shift in the narrative that taking care of kids isn’t just the mom’s responsibility,” said Lillian Bland, vice president of external affairs for the Women’s Foundation of Alabama. “For all of us to move forward, it really matters to the entire economy.”
Children’s care needs are seriously unmet
The need for more child care is clear from the figures. Glasgow estimates there are more than 12,000 children under the age of 5 in Tuscaloosa County, but only more than 3,000 child care facilities.
Some of the sites are at community preschool centers on the Shelton State University campus overseen by Glasgow.
While a few children were drawing at the arts and crafts station, others were observing the caterpillar’s journey of transformation. On the other side of the room, more children took turns playing customers and owners in a fictional flower shop.
“Happiness, health and safety are our goals,” Glasgow said.
Holly Glasgow talks to children in a pre-kindergarten program on the campus of Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. Given the high cost of building such childcare centres, Glasgow is focusing on developing an alternative model of childcare – family childcare homes.
Claire Harbach/NPR
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She wants every kid in Alabama to have a place at a center like this. But she knew that was impossible. The main obstacle is cost.
When a nonprofit foundation in Alabama approached her with a fundraising proposal and asked how many child care centers could be built with $10 million, she told them: less than one.
“They were shocked,” she said.
As a result, Glasgow is focusing on family nurseries. She believes these small businesses can achieve the same level of quality as larger centers but at a much lower cost and may be better suited to Tuscaloosa’s working parents.
Diverse child care needs
Top employers in the area include hospitals and manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz and food company Smucker’s, which has been recruiting workers for a brand-new factory not far away.
Glasgow noted that these employers need workers who work around the clock, but few child care providers offer care in the evenings, weekends and overnight stays.
Family childcare centers are often run by women caring for their own children and a few others, and their hours can be more flexible. They can also provide a more welcoming environment, which many parents who work the night shift prefer, Glasgow said.
“Your child is still sleeping in the bedroom,” she said. “They’re still having breakfast on the kitchen table.”
“can not wait anymore”
The first 3by3 participants completed their coursework this spring. These include five weeks of intensive courses on child development, health and safety and how to run a small business.
In addition, there are home visits.
Glasgow visited Lakethia Clark’s home to help her remodel her living area into a children’s play area.
Claire Harbach/NPR
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On a recent sunny morning, Glasgow went to Clark’s corner-lot home to help her reimagine the living area as a space for play and learning, and to make sure everything was up to code.
Glasgow worked quickly, drawing out floor plans and whipping out his laser measuring tools.
“Miss Holly…that lady is wonderful,” Clark said with a smile.
Clark laid out her vision for the formal living room: One sofa moved to one side and another brought out to make room for a child’s table, several rugs and shelves for toys and books.
“I can’t wait to hang something on the wall,” she said.
Glasgow worked with Clark to reimagine Clark’s living room as a space for play and learning.
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Glasgow has $5,000 to $10,000 to spend on furniture and supplies for each new home nursery. Paths for Success, a not-for-profit foundation that initially approached Glasgow about setting up the childcare centre, provided health and safety materials including fire extinguishers, wired smoke detectors, flashlights and cots and crib.
It was the help Clark needed to launch his business. Before that, she said, her finances had always been a hindrance.
Although Clark worked in child care for many years, she never made more than $13.50 an hour. For a while, she worked a second job at Taco Casa to save up for a down payment on a house.
Now, she’s looking forward to becoming a small business owner. There are also tax benefits, including the ability to deduct part of the mortgage as a business expense. She may qualify for Alabama’s new tax credit for child care providers.
Most importantly, she will be her own boss.
Clark jumped at the opportunity and opened his own home-based child care business. She expects to receive her license sometime this summer.
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Looking out into her large, shady backyard, she imagined her children drawing with chalk on her wooden fence, something she loved watching them do at her last daycare job.
“The owner of the daycare center used to be very angry,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just art! It’ll disappear.”
Parents she knew from her previous job had called her to give her their young children.
“They know the type of worker I am,” she said. “They know I always put my kids first.”
With all the paperwork submitted, Clark hopes to receive final approval this summer, in time to welcome the children to school her home.
