NewDEAL Forum Launches the Caring for Families Task Force in Next Phase of Project on Affordability Issues
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NewDEAL Forum today announced the launch of a new Caring for Families Task Force, which will bring together state and local leaders, policy experts, and advocates to advance practical solutions that address the cost and accessibility of what Americans need to take care of themselves and their loved ones.
Launched as part of the Forum’s broader Affordability Project, which kicked off last spring with a Housing Task Force, the new initiative will focus on addressing rising costs, persistent workforce shortages, and limited supply that have left families and communities across the country struggling to find reliable child care, healthcare, eldercare, and more. Along with today’s announcement, the Task Force is releasing an initial child care policy memo based on ideas shared at the recent NewDEAL Leaders Conference. (More information below.)
In big cities, suburbs, and small towns, families face a range of challenges from forgoing healthcare due to rising costs to leaving the workforce due to the unaffordability or inaccessibility of child care in their regions. Meanwhile, providers struggle to pay competitive wages, and entire regions face “child care deserts” or limited healthcare provider options that also constrain economic growth. While state and local officials cannot completely fill the void of leadership at the federal level, they have opportunities, and the responsibility, to pursue practical solutions that will improve lives in their communities.
The Caring for Families Task Force will be co-chaired by four elected officials who are leading the way in advancing pragmatic solutions and addressing current affordability challenges facing families:
Kyle Gay, Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, currently serves on Delaware’s Interagency Early Childhood Education Services Committee and has led efforts to expand child care affordability, strengthen oversight, and improve access to reproductive and preventive health care.
Grant Hauschild, Minnesota Senate Assistant Majority Leader, has championed the Great Start Affordability Program to ensure families pay no more than 7 percent of income on child care and has been a leading voice on rural health care access, including securing state support for rural ambulance services.
Natalia Macker, Vice-Chairwoman of the Teton, WY County Board of Commissioners, is leading her county’s strategic initiative on child care and is an advocate for rural healthcare solutions and policies that support working families.
Dr. Megan Srinivas, Iowa Representative, an infectious disease physician, brings a frontline healthcare perspective to her work on advancing impactful public health policy on issues like reproductive health, mental health, and opioid harm reduction.
“Affordable and accessible family care – from child care to eldercare to healthcare – are central to the economic success of communities,” said Jonathon Dworkin, Executive Director of the NewDEAL Forum. “But more than that, this care is essential to Americans in a deeply personal way. I'm thrilled that Lieutenant Governor Gay, Senator Hauschild, Commissioner Macker, and Representative Srinivas will lead this task force. They are at the forefront of smart, thoughtful policy ideas to address these central issues that are impacting the cost of living for hardworking American families.”
The Task Force will elevate best practices from across the country. Key focus areas of the NewDEAL Forum Caring for Families Task Force include:
Child care: expanding supply, strengthening the workforce, and removing unnecessary regulatory barriers that limit availability and affordability.
Healthcare: increasing access to affordable, high quality care, especially in rural and underserved communities.
Care Workforce: improving training and pipelines across child care, health care, and elder care.
Family Leave and Caregiving: advancing respite care and elder care policies to provide sustainable care for loved ones.
As part of this work, the Forum is also releasing an initial policy memo on Expanding Access to Child Care, outlining actionable lessons for policymakers drawn from sessions at November’s NewDEAL Leaders Conference.
The latest memo highlights how states are pursuing durable solutions, including:
long-term funding mechanisms, such as trust funds and endowments;
zoning and permitting reforms to expand capacity;
investments to raise provider pay and support benefits;
workforce training and credentialing pipelines; and
tools to target investments in child care deserts.
Featured models include Connecticut’s Early Childhood Education Endowment, New Mexico’s universal child care program, Maine’s workforce stipend, and Montana’s dedicated revenue account.
This report follows other recently released affordability memos coming out of the November Conference examining state and local strategies to lower costs and improve quality of life in key areas, including:
Additional reports and recommendations from the new Caring for Families Task Force will be released over the coming months.
The full child care memo is available here.
Quotes from the Task Force Co-Chairs:
Delaware Lt. Gov. Kyle Gay: "I am excited to be a co-chair of the NewDEAL Forum task force focused on child care, health care, and elder care affordability. Creating smart policy that centers people and is data driven can allow us to demonstrate that access to quality and affordable care is a priority. This task force is an opportunity to share successes from Delaware and learn about wins across the country we might use to support Delaware's families. I'm proud to be joined by co-chairs who share the belief that affordability is not a slogan, but rather a guiding principle for good policy."
Minnesota Senate Assistant Majority Leader Grant Hauschild: “I am excited to launch the Caring for Families Task Force, which will bring together many voices on this important topic that matters to everyday families struggling with rising costs. When child care or nursing home options are scarce or unaffordable, it creates a community vibrancy issue where it is harder for seniors to retire with dignity or young families to live and work in our communities. I am looking forward to sharing promising policies such as my Great Start Affordability Program, which creates a subsidy to level the playing field for annual child care costs.”
Teton County Commissioner Natalia Macker: “Having faced affordability challenges myself, I am excited to join my colleagues in leading the NewDEAL Forum task force and exploring innovative ways to fit early childhood education into our communities. In Teton County, we are focused on improving accessibility and affordability by building partnerships between the business community, local government, and families to generate more public investment. By working with leaders from across the country, in both urban and rural settings, we can identify solutions that cover a variety of ideas and address the needs of different types of communities. Everyone has a role to play in addressing the rising costs impacting families and finding solutions to help retain and attract families to start their lives.”
Iowa Representative Megan Srinivas: “I am proud to join the Caring for Family Task Force focused on making care more affordable and accessible for families at every stage of life. Affordability must be at the center of our policymaking, whether it’s fighting to lower healthcare and prescriptions costs, expand access to maternal health care, or strengthen child care support for working families. This task force is an opportunity to share practical solutions and learn from leaders across the country as we work to ensure families can get the care they need without sacrificing their financial stability.”
About the NewDEAL Forum
The NewDEAL Forum is a Washington-DC based non-profit organization that identifies and elevates innovative, future-oriented state and local policies that can improve the lives of all Americans. By facilitating the identification and spread of policy ideas, the NewDEAL Forum seeks to foster economic growth, reduce barriers to opportunity and promote good government in communities, cities, and states throughout the country.