{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcbride.house.gov/media/press-releases/photo-release-rep-mcbride-lt-governor-evans-gay-convene-delaware-childcare", "PHOTO RELEASE: Rep. McBride, Lt. Governor Evans Gay Convene Delaware Childcare Roundtable on Access and Affordability", "2026-08-27", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "DE", "Sarah McBride", "M001238", "mcbride.house.gov", "mcbride", "https://mcbride.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "DOVER, Del. \u2014 Today, U.S. Representative Sarah McBride and Lt. Governor Kyle Evans Gay (both D-Del.) brought together advocates, childcare providers, and local leaders for a conversation at Delaware State University on lowering childcare costs, expanding access to care, and strengthening Delaware\u2019s childcare workforce.\n\nRep. McBride was recently selected by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to co-lead the House Democratic Caregiving Working Group, which is charged with helping develop the House Democratic Caucus\u2019s legislative agenda on caregiving. Today\u2019s discussion further informs that work, bringing the experiences and priorities of Delaware families and childcare providers directly into creating bold federal solutions to caregiving challenges facing families in the First State and across the country.\n\n\u201cChildcare costs are increasingly unaffordable for working families in Delaware and across the country,\u201d said Rep. McBride. \u201cAccess to affordable, reliable childcare must be at the center of our economic agenda at both the federal and state levels. Today\u2019s conversation brought together providers, advocates, and local leaders to talk about what it will take to lower costs for families, expand access to care, and recruit and retain the childcare workers our communities need. As we develop a caregiving agenda for the next Congress, I\u2019m going to make sure the voices and experiences of Delawareans are front and center.\u201d\n\nThe discussion focused on four key challenges facing Delaware families and childcare providers: affordability for families; access to and availability of care; financial, operational, and workforce pressures facing providers; as well as state and federal policies that could help address those challenges. Participants also discussed gaps in infant care, care during nontraditional hours, rural childcare, and care for children with disabilities, as well as barriers providers face in recruiting and retaining workers and expanding capacity to meet demand.\n\n\u201cFor too long, we have approached early childhood education in Delaware as a collection of individual programs \u2014 each with its own funding stream, requirements, eligibility rules, and priorities. But parents don't experience government that way. Educators don\u2019t. And children certainly don\u2019t,\u201d said Lt. Governor Kyle Evans Gay. \u201cWe have an opportunity right now to think differently \u2014 to move from fragmented programs toward an aligned and coordinated system with sustainable investments. We have the opportunity to design a system around the people that we serve. As Chair of the IRMC, I am committed to that work\u2014and to making sure the we have the honest conversations about governance, financing, coordination, and accountability that this moment requires so that our youngest Delawareans have access to the education and care they need.\u201d\n\nAffordability was a central focus throughout the conversation as families continue to face high childcare costs. According to a recent report, the national average annual price of center-based infant care was $15,570. In Delaware, families are paying approximately $17,252 per year for center-based infant care.\n\nJoining Rep. McBride and Lt. Governor Evans Gay were representatives from:\n\nChild Care for Every Family Network\n\nDelaware Association for the Education of Young Children\n\nYMCA of Delaware\n\nDelaware State Education Association\n\nDelaware State University's Early Childhood Center\n\nDelaware Department of Education\n\nDelaware Department of Health and Social Services\n\nRepresentatives shared concerns about workforce infrastructure and the increasing costs of providing care, as well as squeezed bottom lines across the board. Each spoke about challenges facing the affordability of childcare \u2014 reinforcing the broad effects across every aspect of the economy and workforce \u2014 and shared invaluable perspectives about the way families are navigating childcare access and costs across Delaware.\n\nRep. McBride has long worked to strengthen support for working families. In Congress, she is a cosponsor of the Child Care for Every Community Act, which would create a universal childcare program, and the American Family Act, which would increase the value of a monthly Child Tax Credit.\n\nWhile serving as a Delaware State Senator, Rep. McBride passed the Healthy Delaware Families Act with bipartisan support, providing paid family and medical leave to workers across the state. In Congress, she has continued to lead on strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and expanding paid leave nationwide. She has introduced legislation including the FAIR Leave Act, the Flexible Leave Act, and is an original cosponsor of the FAMILY Act, helping ensure workers and their families can access leave when they need it most.\n\nPhotos from the event can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-29T11:31:28Z", "2026-08-29T11:32:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcbride.house.gov/media/press-releases/photo-release-rep-mcbride-lt-governor-evans-gay-convene-delaware-childcare"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3657400850206614, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}