Child Care Matters: Built to Break

Poor child care costs America over $172 billion dollars a year. What can we do about it?  In the final episode of Child Care Matters: Built to Break we look back across the series to try and answer this question. We look through all of the interviews we’ve done and try to find stands of hope and progress.  In this episode, we cover the highlights of the series, from the structural bureaucracy of t...

In Episode 7 of Child Care Matters: Built to Break , host Jamee Herbert, CEO of BridgeCare, examines one of the most pressing questions in the child care debate: what is the true cost of insufficient child care,  and who is really paying it? Throughout this episode, we look at how the breakdown of the US child care system has ripple effects far beyond just individual families, we examine how insuf...

In Episode 6 of Child Care Matters Built to Break , our host Jamee Herbert looks at one of the most complex questions in early childhood education. What does quality child care look like, and how do we define it? In this episode, we examine why the concept of “quality child care” is so contested in ECE in America. We also investigate how it’s defined, measured and rated in the US, and why even wel...

In Episode 5 of Child Care Matters: Built to Break , host Jamee Herbert, CEO of BridgeCare, explores a critical but often overlooked issue in early childhood education: the data gap. Why is it so hard for families, providers, and policymakers to access the information they need, and how is that making an already-strained system even harder to navigate? Throughout this episode, we explore how the f...

In Episode 4 of Child Care Matters: Built to Break, host Jamee Herbert, CEO of BridgeCare, examines how policy and legislation impact our child care system. We look at the history of federal child care policy efforts and how a lack of a strategic and holistic approach to legislation has helped contribute to the broken child care system we have today.  You’ll also hear how well-intentioned policies...

Child care providers do this work for the love of children, not money. Yet razor-thin margins are making it harder to stay afloat. In this episode we look into why. Why is it so difficult for the people who are caring for our children to keep the lights on?  In Episode 3 of Child Care Matters: Built to Break , host Jamee Herbert , CEO of BridgeCare, looks beyond funding and into the day-to-day rea...

Many child care providers are struggling to make ends meet, but they can’t pass costs onto families, knowing parents simply can’t afford more. That raises the question: who really pays for child care, and how does the money flow through the system? In Episode 2 of Child Care Matters: Built to Break , host Jamee Herbert , CEO of BridgeCare, follows the money through our early education system, from...

For parents, finding affordable child care can feel impossible. For child care providers, keeping their doors open can feel unsustainable.  The child care system in America touches every working family, but it often feels impossible to navigate. In the first episode of Child Care Matters: Built To Break, host Jamee Herbert, CEO of BridgeCare, asks the most basic question that many parents are aski...

Why is it so hard to find high-quality, affordable child care in the United States? And what would it take to fix it?  Child Care Matters: Built to Break is a new narrative podcast from BridgeCare that shines a light on America’s early education system and what it will take to rebuild it. Across eight episodes, host and CEO of BridgeCare, Jamee Herbert, speaks with industry experts, parents, and p...