2023 Status Report: Affordable Child Care in ArlingtonThe Arlington Community Foundation (ACF) Shared Prosperity Initiative builds on years of prior County and community planning and civic engagement focused on preserving Arlington’s rich social and cultural fabric and eliminating existing disparities – particularly in the areas of affordable housing and affordable child care. We honor and carry this work forward as we seek to mitigate the displacement of our lowest income residents, especially those residents who make below 30% of our area median income (AMI), or less than $43,000 for a family of four (Read: Why it Matters).
More than ever, the lack of affordable child care in Arlington is putting our lowest income neighbors in an impossible bind. Without affordable child care, they cannot work, and without work, they cannot feed their children or qualify for housing subsidies in this increasingly expensive community.
Our goal with this status update is to re-energize the work and efforts toward affordability initially started with the 2018 Child Care Action Plan. We ask that the County restore the cross departmental position to coordinate its implementation. The report contains many other recommendations on the state and local level. They all connect to 2+ years of extensive data analysis and recommendations from a 22-member CCI Leadership Roundtable as well as a 40-member working group of parents, providers, and other government and nonprofit stakeholders.
This update is organized around 5 action and policy areas that the Foundation, the County, State, and community organizations invested time in between 2019-2022:
For each area, we share insights gained and recommendations for going forward. For questions or press inquiries, please contact our Director of Grants and Initiatives, Anne Vor der Bruegge.
