Why supporting early childhood care and education is essential – in Duluth and across Minnesota

Families and child care and early learning providers throughout the Duluth area are sounding the alarm about the ongoing child care shortage in Minnesota, sharing that it is at a crisis point.

This comes after recent announcements that three child care providers in the area will close in the coming weeks – the YWCA Early Childhood Education Center, Building Blocks Learning Center and Observation Hill Children’s Center.

According to a recent report from MPR , the imminent closures will result in the loss of about 200 child care slots – adding to the community’s existing shortage of approximately 1,000 slots.

The impact of this was highlighted by a Duluth-area mother at a recent press conference . She shared that her infant’s child care spot has been eliminated with these closures, and that the soonest she can get a spot elsewhere is in the fall of 2026, when her baby will be well into toddlerhood.

“Through our work with families with young children in the region, we know that finding care for infants and toddlers has been incredibly difficult,” said Zane Bail, chief operating officer of Northland Foundation. “These recent closures are making it even more challenging.”

The issue of child care closures and shortages is not new. In 2016, the Center For Rural Policy and Development reported that “between 2006 and 2015, the number of licensed in-home family child care providers decreased by 27% across the state… [which] translates to a loss of approximately 36,500 spaces.” And a 2023 report from First Children’s Finance highlighted that Minnesota was already short nearly 80,000 child care slots prior to the COVID pandemic.

When the pandemic hit, the shortages were exacerbated. For example, according to the Star Tribune , the state lost nearly 500 in-home child care businesses in 2021, which eliminated slots for more than 10,000 children.

Community-led solutions

Communities across the state have long been advocating for solutions that will build a sustainable system by supporting child care providers, increasing the number of child care businesses and making child care more affordable for families. And while there has been progress in recent years, the current situation in Duluth highlights that much work remains. Northland Foundation is one of many community organizations working to solve this crisis and support families in need. It does so by working to ensure that quality early childhood programs and services are available and accessible, especially for young children and families from historically underserved and under-resourced communities in northeast Minnesota.

Tony Sertich, president and CEO of Northland Foundation, co-facilitated a task force in Duluth that recently shared statistics and recommendations on how to address the child care crisis. It includes prioritizing child care as critical to the economy, supporting and expanding training programs, and advocating for state-level policies that support the development of child care providers and facilities.

“Families in northeast Minnesota and around the state know that quality child care is an essential component of thriving families and economies,” said Sertich. “Sadly, this current crisis is not unique. It’s not solely a Duluth issue or a Greater Minnesota issue. It’s the reality in communities across the entire state and country. The system is broken, and we need significant changes at the state and federal level. In the meantime, we will do what we can to support our communities, because our children only get one childhood. Our kids – and our economy – need all the support we can give them.”

There have also been recent legislative efforts to address the underlying issues within the child care system. Earlier this year, based on recommendations from the Great Start for all Minnesota Children Task Force , the legislature introduced the Great Start Affordability Scholarships program. The program sought to reduce the cost of child care and early learning for 85% of Minnesota families, while creating a stable source of income to keep providers afloat. While the bill did not pass in the 2024 session, legislators are committed to reintroducing it in 2025.

Navigating uncertainty and eliminating barriers

A 2023 survey of Minnesota child care providers highlighted aspects of this crisis, including that 70% of family child care providers and 77% of child care centers said they were unsure if they could remain in business indefinitely.

Among child care centers, this level of uncertainty is due in part to rising costs and the challenge of hiring and retaining educators. A 2023 report from Wilder Research showed that 68% of early childhood educators earn less than $44,000 annually, and that the industry experiences an annual turnover rate of 30%.

There are also cultural and linguistic barriers to acquiring child care licenses and accessing state subsidies to support business growth. Many metro-based organizations have ongoing initiatives dedicated to addressing child care shortages through child care business support.

One such organization is African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS), which supports African immigrant and refugee child care business owners and educators in navigating complex child care systems, while shaping policies that impact their businesses, jobs, and access to quality and affordable child care. AEDS also helps providers with licensing challenges and connects them to loans and other funding resources to sustain their programs.

Another is Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), which has a business incubator program that offers resources, training and systems navigation that support parents and child care providers. They are also building a childcare hub in St. Paul, which will equip family, friend and neighbor child care providers with the resources needed to launch and operate their businesses.

Focusing on a healthy start

Northland Foundation, AEDS and CLUES are three of many organizations supported by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation. Through its Healthy Start focus area, the Blue Cross Foundation works to improve access to and quality of early childhood care and education supports, particularly for vulnerable young children and their caregivers.

“Quality early child care and education helps pave the way for a healthy life,” said Bukata Hayes, chair of the Blue Cross Foundation board, and vice president of racial and health equity and chief equity officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “This work also means that families across the state – particularly families of color, Indigenous families and those with low incomes – receive critical support. We’re proud to support our grantee partners in this work and in their efforts to advance racial and health equity.”

To learn more, visit https://www.bluecrossmnfoundation.org/our-grantmaking/healthy-start/

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