I know what it feels like when child care fails. When my daughter was 2, her early learning and care program closed with one week’s notice. The fear, the scramble, the sense that everything you’ve built could fall apart — it stays with you.
Today, thousands of Illinois families are facing that same fear as federal child care funding is frozen. But this time, the stakes are even higher. We are not just watching families struggle. We are watching the foundation of our local workforce crack in real time.
Child care is the infrastructure that keeps every other industry running. When it fails, employers lose staff, productivity drops, and communities absorb the economic shock. The U.S. already loses $122 billion annually due to inadequate child care. Without intervention, that number will rise — and Oak Park and River Forest will feel it first.
Programs like The Day Nursery are holding the line, but we are doing so under extraordinary strain. More families qualify for assistance, yet too few centers accept it. Costs are rising. Staffing is harder. And families who do not qualify for support are paying more for child care than for housing.
This is the moment when high-capacity donors make the difference between stability and collapse. Your investment not only supports a program but also protects the workforce, strengthens the local economy, and ensures that children and families are not left behind.
If you believe in community resilience, this is the time to act.
Please visit www.thedaynursery.org and donate today
https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/01/08/child-care-funding-freeze-causes-anxiety-for-chicago-area-parents
Catherine Eason
Executive director, OP-RF Day Nursery
