As Gov. Rauner’s Government Shutdown Persists, Working Families Urge State Lawmakers to Work Together to Pass a Responsible Budget that Protects Child Care and Home Care Services

State Senator Steve Stadelman and Representative Litesa Wallace joined child care providers and home care workers at the Ken Rock Community Center’s child care program to release a new statewide research study from Innovation Illinois that found that the state’s vital services generates enormous economic benefits and creates thousands of jobs.  Child care providers and home care workers spoke about why these programs are so essential to their livelihoods and communities and how their services support working parents, single moms, seniors and adults with disabilities.

For example, some of the dramatic research from the new Innovation Illinois statewide report found that:

• Every dollar of spending on the programs generated $3.74 in economic activity..
• The $1.4 billion invested in child care and home care programs in 2013 generated $5.3 billion in economic activity throughout Illinois.
• Illinois’ child care and home care programs created more than 144,000 jobs directly and 67,000 jobs indirectly.

Child Care Assistance Program

The report found that the CCAP program:

• Directly created 77,000 jobs in Illinois, with 43,000 jobs indirectly created.
• Generated $7.96 in economic activity for every dollar of general revenue spent.

You can read the full study here. 

Here is the breakdown of workers in child care and home care programs by House districts in the greater Rockford area.