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Family Childcare Homes Face Enormous Hurdles

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Family childcare homes, and licensed programs in providers’ residences, receive lower subsidy reimbursements than centers and lack opportunities to get North Carolina Pre-K funding. The statewide number of family childcare homes has dropped by 34% since 2018.

Published

4 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Oakland Post

By Liz Bell, EdNC

Students play a matching game at Modern Early Learning Academy. Photo by: Liz Bell, EdNC

Shalicia Jackson, also known as Shay, has done almost everything there is to do in early childhood education. Jackson has been an assistant childcare teacher, a lead teacher, a Head Start coordinator, a family advocate, and a social worker in public schools. She has worked in nonprofits and at the Durham Partnership for Children in North Carolina, training teachers to better support young children. She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in social work. But when Jackson opened Modern Early Learning Academy in 2022, a five-star family childcare home in Winston-Salem, she entered a new world. “One of the things I didn’t really have experience in was family childcare,” Jackson said on a sunny day in her backyard. “I knew they were out there, but they were — like we are now — invisible. We’re an invisible workforce.” Inside an industry on the brink of collapse, family childcare providers often feel even more devalued than their center-based counterparts. Family childcare homes, and licensed programs in providers’ residences, receive lower subsidy reimbursements than centers and lack opportunities to get North Carolina Pre-K funding. The statewide number of family childcare homes has dropped by 34% since 2018. Yet parents and children often prefer family childcare for its intimate environments, flexible scheduling, and cultural and linguistic relevance. Its business model is also more sustainable than models for center-based care in rural areas, experts say, since often there are not enough children of a certain age in a community to make up entire classrooms. In the years since the pandemic, regional and state efforts have formed to protect the state’s family childcare network, recruit new home-based providers, and provide training and advocacy opportunities.

Jackson’s program is the product of one of those efforts — a 2021 family childcare expansion project from Smart Start of Forsyth County of North Carolina focused on women of color interested in opening a program. Yet hers is the only surviving program of the five that received the project’s start-up grants. “This has been the most challenging yet rewarding career choice to date,” Jackson said. “That’s why I advocate — for the people that came before me and those that will come after me. I have to do my due diligence, because, coming from wearing many different hats in this field, this right here, it’s very hard work.” With even more uncertainty facing childcare in the coming years, Jackson has made it her mission to bring more understanding, respect, and investment to family childcare, starting with her fellow local providers.

Balancing many roles

It was Jackson’s experience as a parent that led her down this unexpected path. After moving from Durham to Winston-Salem for more affordable housing, Jackson planned to commute back to her job in Durham. But, like so many new parents returning to work, she couldn’t find childcare for her toddler son. “I was devastated. Everywhere I called,” she said, the waitlist “was like six months to a year to beyond.” Her sister brought up the idea of opening a family childcare home. It could solve her childcare issue while letting her spend more time with her son. Plus, she had space and early childhood experience. Over the past three years, Jackson has discovered the job’s intensity and multidimensional demands. Family childcare providers are balancing several roles. They are the sole provider not only of care and education, but of food, transportation, and family support services. They are also administrators, making their own curriculum and assessment choices, and keeping up with licensing and reporting responsibilities. And they are business owners, managing the finances of their programs and collecting payments from families. “That is the challenge — wearing all those different hats and having to manage all of that,” Jackson said. “Instead of comparing family childcare providers to teachers, we need to be compared to directors.”

The very thing that got Jackson into family childcare — motherhood — has turned into one of the trickiest balancing acts, she said. Because of the state’s licensing rules, her son KJ occupies one of her facility’s licensed seats. But for three hours during the day, he instead attends another childcare program that recently opened. It was too challenging to create clear boundaries, for herself and her son, she said. “I found it really hard to balance being his mommy and being his teacher, and also he was having a really difficult time trying to manage being home and at school, telling the difference,” she said. That means Jackson is losing out doubly, she said because she is paying for out-of-home childcare but can’t enroll another child in her son’s place. Plus, as KJ enters kindergarten next year, Jackson is struggling with how to move forward. “My reason for opening is now going away,” Jackson said. “My wheels are turning.”

‘A seat at the table’

Though Jackson stumbled into family childcare for personal reasons, she has found a larger purpose in connecting with family childcare providers who have been in the field for decades. Understanding just how taxing the job is, Jackson wanted a space for others in her role to find support and understanding. She formed the Triad Self Care Support Group as that space, an in-person and online support group that provides fellowship, professional development, and a space to share stories, resources, and challenges.

More on childcare

Jackson also shares advocacy tools and opportunities. She had just assembled members of the group to show up to a local conversation with elected officials and representatives from local institutions. By the end of the day, Jackson had a voicemail from a local Smart Start employee she had met at the event, asking how their efforts could include family childcare providers. “It is time for family childcare home providers to have a seat at the table with the people that are making decisions,” Jackson said. “We can no longer afford to sit back and just vent about it. We need to be solution-focused and start joining committees and organizations, start being a part of the communities that are making decisions — going out and showing face. Because if not, then we’re just going to keep being at the bottom of the bottom. They’re going to prioritize other things, and we’re just going to be left suffering again.” Jackson is serving as a member of the steering committee for the Pre-K Priority, a universal pre-K effort in Forsyth County that is expanding access but does not currently include family childcare homes as potential sites. She is also connected with the state chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance to advocate for early childhood investment at the state level. In November, she was awarded an NC Early Education Coalition’s Child Care Heroes award for her advocacy as a family child care provider.

“In my journey of advocacy, I have learned that although I have won various roles within the early childhood field, and have a master’s degree, anyone can be a change agent without needing big titles or degrees, but rather a willingness to raise their voice and advocate for what they believe in,” Jackson said while accepting that award. “Parents and childcare providers play a crucial role in determining what is best for their children. Their guidance and decision-making skills are nothing short of heroic, making them the real heroes. We must recognize their invaluable contributions and amplify their voices.” The children inside her home, and the families she treats as extensions of her own, are the core of the community Jackson has created. “Childcare is my ministry,” Jackson said. “It’s where I was led to. The universe led me here. They keep me going, just to see their improvement, to see the parents happy. That keeps me hopeful.”

‘Not on a good path’

The story of one of the families Jackson has served has stuck with her through her journey of caregiving, educating, and advocating. It’s the story of Cayden and Samantha Black. Cayden attended Jackson’s program after his previous childcare facility closed because of staffing shortages. The program gave the family 30 days to find another arrangement. “They came to me in desperate need,” Jackson said. Fortunately, she had an open spot. Cayden thrived in the program. “I thought it was just heaven there,” said Black, Cayden’s mom. “He was at big daycares, where there’s a lot of children and only one teacher. With Ms. Shay, it was her and only five other kids. So, they all got one-on-one time, and it was more of a home setting. And he liked that.” Both Black and Jackson could tell how much Cayden was growing. “He learned so much there for like the year he was there than he did over the three years he was at the other place,” Black said. After working full-time in retail and at an auto shop, Black went on maternity leave to have her second child. Colt was born with complicated health issues, which made it even harder for Black to find childcare.

At the time, Jackson did not have an opening or the capacity to care for a child with a medical condition. Black said she did everything she could to keep Cayden in Jackson’s program. Her in-laws pitched in to help pay for him to stay. But as she kept facing rejections for a spot for Colt, she could no longer afford to keep Cayden in care without returning to work. “My husband is the only one working,” Black said. “He’s a mechanic. He loves his job, but they do not get paid well.” Black is now struggling to meet her children’s needs as a stay-at-home mother. She not only wants childcare access to work but wants to ensure her children can learn. “I feel bad because he needs friends,” she said of Cayden. “He needs the structure of school.” Black said Cayden was heartbroken to leave Jackson’s program. Jackson felt the same way. “I had developed a relationship, and I’d seen so much progress with Cayden,” she said. “That is when it hit me, I was devastated. I was like, this infrastructure of this childcare system is definitely not on a good path. And there needs to be something done. Her story has always stuck with me. I wish there was something that I could have done more to support the family.”

‘I wish I had an answer’

Jackson is committed to doing her part to fix that broader infrastructure, which she knows is at risk of collapsing further. Jackson opened her program while the state was sending stabilization grants with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Though the job has been challenging, those funds have made it possible. “There is no way that I would have been able to sustain my business to be open this long without the help and support of the stabilization grant and some of the local grants,” she said. Those funds officially ended, and providers are looking toward state legislators to extend them this session. If not, about one in five childcare programs are expected to close within a year, according to a survey from the NC Child Care Resource & Referral Council. Prices for parents are also likely to increase.

Jackson is afraid to face either of those possibilities. She considers herself lucky to have a spouse who helps her financially and emotionally. She is looking for other ways to make ends meet without the burden falling on her parents. “I definitely don’t want to increase those prices, because it’s not fair to my family,” she said. “I do feel like if I just add, like one or two kids for my second shifts, maybe do Uber Eats or something like that, maybe that will help kind of supplement … I don’t know. I wish I had an answer. I’m gonna try to stay in as long as I possibly can. I’m gonna try to maintain.”

Editor’s note: Since this story was first reported, Jackson has had to close Modern Early Learning Academy.

Liz Bell is the early childhood reporter for EdNC.

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Mother and Son, United in Purpose: How Regina and Judah Are Changing the Future of Early Childhood Education—Together

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — This Mother’s Day, we honor not just the love between a mother and her child, but the shared dreams, grit, and determination that can make those dreams a reality.

Published

2 days ago

May 9, 2025

Oakland Post

By Stacey Finkel

This Mother’s Day, we honor not just the love between a mother and her child, but the shared dreams, grit, and determination that can make those dreams a reality. Regina, 44, and her son Judah, 18, are proof that purpose has no age limit—and that it’s never too late or too early to answer a calling. Regina knows what perseverance looks like. It took her ten years to earn her first college degree, an Associate Degree in Early Childhood from Ashworth College. Life, as it so often does, had other plans—plans that called her away from school and into the real world. But she never let go of her goals or her belief in the power of education. That steadfast commitment planted a seed not only for herself but for her son. Now, Regina and Judah are both enrolled in a scholarship program at the Early Childhood Innovation Center (ECIC), housed at Delaware State University (DSU) in Wilmington, Delaware’s only Historically Black College and University. This program allows them to study in any early childhood education-related degree program across the entire state of Delaware. Regina attends Wilmington University, where she is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Education Studies with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. Judah attends DSU and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. They are shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart—committed to equity, access, and the transformational power of teaching.

There’s something uniquely beautiful about a mother and son learning at the same time, not just in life, but in the classroom. They study together, encourage each other, and even bring their academic lessons to life while working at Chosen Children’s Child Care in Wilmington, where they support the development of the next generation of learners. Their shared experiences, both as students and as educators, deepen their bond and strengthen their shared commitment to the children they serve. But what truly sets their story apart is the community surrounding them. The Early Childhood Innovation Center is more than a scholarship program. It’s a lifeline, a launchpad, and a promise: You can do this. The faculty and staff meet students where they are—whether they’re returning to school after a decade or stepping into college for the first time. Regina and Judah both credit ECIC with giving them the resources, mentorship, and belief they need to succeed. For Black families, and especially Black mothers, the road to higher education can be long and often filled with obstacles. But what Regina and Judah show us is that when one person refuses to give up, they can inspire an entire legacy. Education becomes not just a goal, but a family value passed down. “I used to feel like I was falling behind because it took me so long to finish,” Regina says. “But now I see that every step was preparing me for this moment—alongside my son, showing him and others that no matter how long it takes, you can finish. You just can’t give up.” This Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate mothers like Regina, who never stop striving, and sons like Judah, who walk beside them with pride. Let’s celebrate the power of Black institutions like DSU and innovative spaces like the Early Childhood Innovation Center that don’t just educate—they uplift.

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Trump Abruptly Fires First Carla Hayden: The First Black Woman to Serve as Librarian of Congress

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Hayden made history in 2016 as the first woman and first African American to run the Library of Congress. Her firing arrived in the form of an abrupt email in the evening hours.

Published

2 days ago

May 9, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

President Donald Trump abruptly fired the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on May 8. Hayden made history in 2016 as the first woman and first African American to run the Library of Congress. Her firing arrived in the form of an abrupt email in the evening hours. There are fears that President Trump may also target a second prominent Black federal official, Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch, for no other reason than the perceived political bias in a position not known for partisan activity. “Carla, on behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the terse communication to Hayden read. The Library of Congress confirmed that Hayden had been informed she was fired by The White House. According to the Associated Press, Hayden “recently faced criticism from a conservative advocacy group aligned with Trump’s political allies. The group, the American Accountability Foundation, accused her and other library officials of promoting children’s books with what it called “radical” themes.”

Since his return to office Trump’s Administration has been focused on removing anyone who may disagree with their policy agenda. Many of the removals have introduced a sense of partisanship that Washington hasn’t seen in certain sectors such as the Library of Congress. “This is yet another example in the disturbing pattern of the President removing dedicated public servants without cause—likely to fill the position with one of his ‘friends’ who is not qualified and does not care about protecting America’s legacy,” wrote House Democrat Rosa DeLauro in a statement on Hayden’s firing. “President Trump’s unjustified decision to fire Dr. Carla Hayden as the Librarian of Congress is deeply troubling and just the latest example of Trump’s assault on the legislative branch of government. It’s also the latest demonstration of his blatant disregard for public servants who dedicate their lives to serving the American people,” wrote U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California in a statement late on May 8.

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Black America Celebrates African Descent Heritage of Pope Leo XIV

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Pope’s factual anthropological roots are not just symbolic. According to genealogist Jari Honora, his maternal lineage traces directly to the Black community of New Orleans’ 7th Ward, with family ties to Haiti, and census records identifying his ancestors as “Black” or “Mulatto.”

Published

2 days ago

May 9, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Black America is taking pride in a truth shaking up the Vatican and resonating through the streets of New Orleans: Pope Leo XIV—formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago—has Black and Creole roots. The Pope’s factual anthropological roots are not just symbolic. According to genealogist Jari Honora, his maternal lineage traces directly to the Black community of New Orleans’ 7th Ward, with family ties to Haiti, and census records identifying his ancestors as “Black” or “Mulatto.” “By the Europeans’ own ‘1/8th’ rules, we have a Black Pope,” noted author Elie Mystal declared. “Anyway, Pope’s grandfather is Haitian. We kind of got a Black Pope. ‘End Woke’ is not gonna be happy about this.” Further, New Orleans historian Jari Christopher Honora also speaking to the National Catholic Reporter and Black Catholic Messenger, detailed how the pope’s grandparents married in 1887 at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church on Annette Street in New Orleans before migrating north. His mother, Mildred Martínez, was the first child in the family born in Chicago. “The Holy Father’s ancestors are identified as either Black or Mulatto,” Honora said.

The Chicago Tribune and New York Times also reported on Pope Leo’s mixed-race background and Creole lineage, noting that his election marks a defining moment in the Church’s evolving identity. “As a Black man, a proud son of New Orleans, and the U.S. Congressman representing the very 7th Ward neighborhood where our new Pope’s family hails from, I am bursting with pride today,” said Rep. Troy Carter. “This is history! The first American Pope, with Creole and Haitian roots, rising from the streets of New Orleans to the Vatican. As a Xavier University alum, I know how deeply faith and resilience run in our community. We celebrate this moment—with joy, with prayers, and with pride.” Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial called Leo XIV’s background “universal,” saying, “Here’s an American whose ministry was in Peru, who has roots in the American South and also ancestry in the American Black community.” Leo XIV is a member of the Augustinian Order, named after the African theologian St. Augustine of Hippo. His election came from a conclave in which two other leading contenders—Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo—were also men of African descent.

But Leo XIV stood apart—not just as the first pope from the U.S. but as one known for his outspokenness on racial justice, immigrant rights, gun reform, and the abolition of the death penalty. TIME Magazine reported that his selection represented a Vatican rebuke of efforts by wealthy Americans and political operatives aligned with Donald Trump to influence the papal outcome. Known in Rome as “The Latin Yankee,” Leo XIV used his verified X account (@drprevost) to amplify criticism of Trump-era immigration policies, often reposting commentary from respected Catholic figures. The New York Post reported that his last post before his election was a retweet of Catholic journalist Rocco Palmo slamming Trump’s alliance with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele over migrant deportations. Back in 2017, the Roman Catholic leader also reposted a message quoting Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, calling Trump’s refugee bans “a dark hour of US history.”

Though Trump offered lukewarm congratulations from the White House driveway, his far-right allies were quick to lash out. Laura Loomer tweeted, “WOKE MARXIST POPE,” calling Pope Leo “just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.”But outside the MAGA echo chamber, in Black communities across the globe, the emotion is pride. “The pope is Black,” journalist Clarence Hill Jr. said bluntly. And that means something in the Black neighborhoods of Chicago and the Creole corridors of New Orleans. Many said it means representation, resilience, and the reshaping of history at the highest level of the Catholic Church. “We celebrate this moment—not because it erases the struggles of our past, but because it affirms that our faith, our heritage, and our presence matter,” Rep. Carter said. “This is history, and it belongs to all of us.” The. Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. affirmed, “On behalf of the Black Press of America as the authentic voice of 50 million African Americans and millions more throughout the African diaspora, we join to celebrate Pope Leo XVI, a world leader of African descent who speaks truth to power with courage and grace.”