Child care workers are an essential workforce who keep our communities running. Child care provides developmental supports for babies and children and helps parents and caretakers get to work, to medical appointments and address other needs.
But, child care workers are among the lowest-paid workers in our community. Because child care workers are majority women, and more likely to be women of color, these low wages exacerbate racial and gender inequality.
That’s why Best Starts is launching the Child Care Worker Wage Boost this year. This wage boost will run through the life of the second Best Starts levy. It will allocate approximately $5 million annually to provide a wage boost to a selected set of child care workers, working with children ages birth to twelve in King County. The research will focus on understanding the impact of the wage boost on employee retention, continuity of care, and worker well-being.
The current model doesn’t work – families can’t afford to pay the true cost of care, and providers can’t cover their costs. This gives us an opportunity to see what happens when government steps up to invest in this sector as something that benefits all of us. Because the Wage Boost Project is going to both administer a wage boost and study the impact, we are working with a group of partners with different expertise areas: those who will design and administer the wage boost and those who are our research partners.
We are excited to announce the awardees who will be leading this project.
Meet Child Care Wage Boost Awardees
The Imagine Institute will design and lead the project.
“We are most excited to see a major county like King County invest in child care wages and observe how it impacts retention, consistent care for children, and the health and wellbeing of child care workers,” said Cate Bridenstine, Chief Executive Officer of The Imagine Institute. “Increasing compensation is one of the most direct ways we can support the child care workforce, who continues to subsidize our child care system with their underpaid labor. They deserve to be recognized and compensated for the complex and highly skilled work they perform every day, which allows families like mine to go to work.”
AidKit, Inc will administer the wage boost payments.
“King County’s Best Starts for Kids Wage Boost program has the potential to make a substantial difference in the lives of early childhood educators and the families they serve. These educators are doing some of our society’s most important work for low wages, and Wage Boost helps to fill the gap between what they are currently paid and the value that they provide to families, workplaces, and society. At AidKit, we’re grateful for the opportunity to tailor a custom solution for Wage Boost. The thoughtful, community-informed design of this program is exemplary and has allowed us to start customizing a system that will best serve providers. From the way application questions are framed to the research and surveys conducted throughout the participants’ lifecycle, every aspect has been developed with input from the community. King County alongside their program partners Imagine Institute and Uncommon Bridges, have laid a strong foundation of trust and understanding, knowing that programs built by and for the people they serve are more accessible and ultimately more successful. We are hopeful that this pilot will result in more permanent programmatic infrastructure and inspire adoption in other places. This initiative represents a significant step forward in shoring up our workforce of early childhood educators and building stronger communities,” said Brittany Christenson, CEO at AidKit.
Uncommon Bridges will lead the work group, which will provide community- and provider-led oversight of the pilot and research.
“This program is so important for the future of King County’s children, as well as its broader economy. We’re excited to work with this group of dedicated providers and advocates who bring different perspectives and expertise on providing child care that are a culmination of training, education, and lived experience. This pilot is an opportunity to understand the obstacles that child care providers face in staying in the workforce and providing continuity of care for children and families, all while trying to take care of their own families and personal well being. We know that these challenges are not just about wages, but are intersectional, and cut across identity and access, as well as competition for state and local resources. A wage boost is one way to address these systemic inequities but there are many others. With strong collaboration among the workgroup members who bring diverse expertise, we can uncover additional solutions that will enhance the pilot’s ability to drive systemic change.” said Ishmael Nuñez, Partner, Uncommon Bridges
Meet our Child Care Wage Boost Research Partners:
Urban Institute will work with Cardea on the evaluation of the Wage Boost.
They will partner with the Wage Boost work group to include community feedback, and report findings within the community and for larger child care policy groups.
“Our team at Urban Institute is honored to join the Wage Boost Pilot partners. We have partnered with Best Starts for Kids since 2022 to think through together what a Wage Boost Pilot might look like, how it can be implemented, and how it might improve the lives of child care workers and families in King County,” said Justin Doromal, Senior Research Associate, at Urban Institute. “We’re humbled to continue this work and, in partnership with Cardea, learn from providers how a wage boost can impact their lives and can be implemented to address child care wages locally and nationally.”
Amanda Winters, Director of Program and Impact, from Cardea echoed the excitement to learn more about how this wage boost will impact child care workers and families.
“Cardea is thrilled to join the Wage Boost Pilot evaluation team with Urban Institute. We are honored and humbled for the opportunity to continue partnering with Best Starts for Kids and child care professionals throughout King County to understand what difference the pilot makes for the well-being of our child care providers, our families, and our region,” Winters said. “We hope to elevate the stories of the people this initiative reaches to support conversations locally and across the U.S. about what works to achieve thriving wages in early care and education.”
