Holding a box with more than 1,800 signatures inside, activists rallied at City Hall Wednesday to call on Mayor Brandon Johnson to take urgent action to address childcare accessibility and affordability.
"Right now, childcare in Chicago is in crisis. Parents can’t access affordable childcare and workers are struggling to get by on low wages and lack of benefits," Toni Frazier of SEIU healthcare said.
"I love what I do, but for a while I was not paid enough to afford my mortgage, car payment and other monthly bills," Frazier said. "My car was repossessed, and I lost my home to foreclosure after 17 years. No one, absolutely no one should ever lose their home doing what they love by helping others."
According to the Illinois Child Care for All Coalition, one in five childcare workers in Illinois live in poverty. Over 95% of these workers are women, and the vast majority are women of color.
"Chicago must use every tool in the toolbox to invest in childcare workers," Frazier said.
The group said 58% of the population in Illinois lives in an area where there aren’t enough nearby childcare providers to meet the need.
"Parents like me are struggling to find child care options that are affordable, and accessible," parent Rosio Garcia said. "I had to go outside of my own neighborhood, 20 minutes away, that’s 20 minutes there and back, 40 minutes every single day."
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Wages in childcare are among the lowest nationally, according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics.
During a press conference, the group, which also included several Chicago aldermen, said despite the high demand for care across Chicago, parents and families are being turned away from providers due to a lack of qualified, supported educators.
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Ald. Michael D. Rodriguez of the 22nd Ward, a father of two, says he believes Chicago can be a leader in solving the child care crisis.
"Our city council, along with the mayor, has raised wages for restaurant workers, has increased paid time off for a lot of workers across the City of Chicago. I think he's in favor as well of raising wages for our child care workers," Rodriguez said. "We want to make sure those working in that field, stay in that field, they feel valued, they feel like their wages are going up but their working conditions are good as well."