Child care facilities can now apply to join the Best Starts Child Care Wage Boost Pilot. Applications close March 7.
Eligible facilities will be selected by lottery, and workers at selected facilities can enroll to receive a quarterly payment to increase their income through 2027. An estimated 1,400 child care workers will receive the Best Starts Wage Boost. Full-time workers will receive $2,080 quarterly and part-time workers will receive $1,040 quarterly. For more information, check out the Best Starts Wage Boost website: bskwageboost.imaginewa.org
“I have been an early childhood development and education professional for over 35 years. In the many different roles I have taken on — as a family home provider, center director, and through supporting programs and policy efforts at the state and federal level — I have worked alongside dedicated professionals who care deeply about their work and the children they provide care for. I believe that securing the future of humanity is accomplished when we have the social vision to pay an adequate wage to the caregivers and educators of our children and value their contribution to family stability and social economic sustainability.” said Carolyn Johnson Davis a Child & Family Services Consultant and member of the work group for the Best Starts Child Care Worker Wage Boost Pilot.
The Best Starts Wage Boost was developed with extensive input from child care workers, child care facilities, families, and the community. Families and child care workers told King County that child care was underfunded– that child care is too expensive for families, wages are too low for workers, and facility owners operate on razor thin margins. In its second levy, Best Starts introduced the child care investment, directing more than $163 million toward the Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy to help families afford child care and $25 million to the Best Starts Wage Boost Pilot to study the benefit of government investments in the child care workforce.
“Child care is a basic need, critical infrastructure, and a public good. Not only is child care essential for a thriving economy, it also supports the well-being of children, families, and community. But it is not funded like other vital infrastructure,” said Best Starts for Kids Co-Lead and Child Care Policy Lead, Jessica Tollenaar Cafferty. “Child care workers are experts in their field, providing essential and nurturing care to our children, but they are some of our region’s lowest paid workers. The Best Starts Wage Boost Pilot was born from input and feedback from the community and is an opportunity for King County to respond directly with funding and research to inform future policy decisions and investments.”
Best Starts is partnering with The Imagine Institute to design and lead the project and AidKit Inc, to administer the wage boost payments. Best Starts for Kids is also partnering with organizations to facilitate a workgroup and lead evaluation of the pilot. Cardea and the Urban Institiute will evaluate the impact of the pilot and report findings. Uncommon Bridges will lead the workgroup, which will provide community- and provider-led oversight of the pilot and research.
