A new federal program dubbed “SUN Bucks” will give eligible families $120 per child for summertime grocery spending. Thirty states are participating in the program, including Ohio. 

Tuned In is taking a break next week — see you again on July 12!

QUOTABLE & NOTABLE

FACT OF THE WEEK

A survey by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices found that child care challenges are impacting the ability of small- and medium-sized businesses to recruit and retain talent. According to the poll, which surveyed 1,200 small business owners including some in Ohio, 38 percent said that a lack of child care has had a negative impact on their ability to operate and grow their businesses.

Federal 

The Biden Administration is working to update the rules for Public Student Loan Forgiveness to allow early childhood educators who work for the private sector or their own child care business to qualify for student loan forgiveness.

In Lexington, Nebraska, two out of every three residents are Spanish-speaking, yet until recently the town only had one licensed Spanish-speaking early childhood teacher. The Hechinger Report describes how several advocacy groups partnered with Spanish-speaking women to become early educators and business owners, offering classes to those interested in becoming early educators and offering support through the child care licensure process.

Ohio Capital Journal reports on efforts in several states to offset the costs of child care for child care workers themselves — a benefit modeled after the first such program in Kentucky.

WHAT WE'RE READING

Frameworks Institute, a nonprofit think tank that studies how people view social issues and offers strategies on best practices to frame those issues, published a new brief outlining framing strategies for children’s issues. The brief recommends that we, as a society, talk about caregiving as a collective responsibility — one that requires explicit policy action and change — and one centered on the needs of all children, not just our own kids.

The New York Times reports on the impact that male teachers can have on boys struggling in kindergarten. Research shows that boys can benefit from being taught by a male teacher, especially when they share the same race, yet only 3% of kindergarten teachers in the U.S. are male. Reporter Claire Cain Miller interviewed 12 male kindergarten teachers across the nation. One teacher (Keith Heyward Jr. from Charleston, South Carolina) spoke on the impact of being a Black male teacher educating Black students, “I try to be a voice for children who look like me, act like me, sound like me.... I often tell my parents, when I have those children who do express themselves like that, ‘Do not let your boys be diminished. Do not. The next thing you know, your child’s lost their voice.’” (Article is behind a paywall.) 

An op-ed by Cincinnati philanthropy executive Jill Miller and Groundwork Ohio’s Shannon Jones summarizes how families are struggling to pay for child care and businesses are struggling to retain their workforce. They urge that businesses must be part of the solution by providing predictable and flexible work arrangements, offering child care benefits for their employees, and advocating for government investment in child care.

This edition was written by Jamie O’Leary and Janelle Williamson.

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