Donate July 8, 2020 – The Association of Washington Business held an important webinar featuring state early learning and business leaders to discuss child care solutions during these times. Washington State First Lady Trudi Inslee joined Child Care Aware of Washington CEO Deeann Puffert and Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families Secretary Ross Hunter to focus on the importance of early learning and child care to our economy and on the ways COVID-19 has impacted the child care market in Washington.
Child care matters to employees who are parents, and businesses rely on working parents. Most children under the age of six in Washington live in homes where all adults work. Without child care, these employees cannot work. Plus, when young children attend quality child care, they experience great early learning during the crucial years from 0-5 when most brain development happens.
Employers can retain talent, protect their investment in employees who are parents and built long-term loyalty by: 
- Allowing for a great deal of work-schedule flexibility for employees with young children
- Training supervisors to support employees with young children
- Allowing employees who can work from home to do so
- Contributing to employees’ Child Care Flexible Spending Accounts
- Providing financial support to employees with children and/or to the child care programs that care for their children
- Share our free child care referral information with families – 1-800-446-1114 https://staging.childcareawarewa.org/families/
- Using your influential voice to tell elected officials to prioritize funding for child care to boost economic recovery (less than 1% of WA’s operating budget is dedicated to child care)
To learn more or to view the webinar, visit AWB by clicking here.