Amidst a nationwide shortage of child care workers, one North Texas nonprofit plays a vital part in making sure several child care centers get COVID-related federal aid. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Child Care Associates (CCA) is one of the largest child development organizations in North Texas, and they are helping other centers in Tarrant County.
Catherine Worth Davis was recently hired as CCA’s new policy director, and she believes that the funding from federal relief aid is just the first step.
A statement released by Davis said, “This is a critical time in child care and early childhood education in Tarrant County and frankly, for the entire country. I look forward to putting my experience in program strategy and policy to work at CCA to ensure every child, regardless of neighborhood or circumstance, has access to high-quality early learning and care.”
She has hope that there is a way to transform child care work in Tarrant County. According to the Star-Telegram, relief funds will help create models that can thrive long into the future.
“There’s more money on the table than there’s ever been, and […] it gives us a really exciting opportunity […] to incubate new ideas and new models for doing things that can fundamentally transform and quite honestly, save the child care industry,” Davis said.
She began her career through Teach for America, teaching middle school math in Irving.
Davis added, “I think with […] unprecedented amounts of funding coming down from the state and our statewide workforce board, it’s really an exciting opportunity to work with other organizations statewide to advocate for solutions that can really have a multi-generational impact on children.”
According to a Star-Telegram report, the Fort Worth City Council recently voted to give $7 million to CCA so they could renovate and open new child care centers. These early childhood learning centers will be opening in underserved neighborhoods in the Fort Worth area.
Davis told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that her new role would let her spread the word about all of CCA’s efforts. She wants to reach local, state, and national policymakers.
Davis said, “I see CCA continuing to incubate ideas, but then it’s really my job to lift that up.”
The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the problems child care centers were already facing and led to new problems.
According to Davis, “It really caused the supply of child care, particularly high-quality child care, in our highest-need neighborhoods, to shrink. So I think we’re gonna have to take a good hard look at what we call the quality child care deserts and make sure we’re being strategic about how we invest our resources and our time and thoughts and efforts there.”
The relief funds could keep many centers from ultimately going under, Star-Telegram reported, but there is still work left to be done. Davis said making sure there is a strong workforce of child care teachers is essential.
Davis said, “I think there’s definitely momentum, but there’s still a lot of work left to do.”
