{"id":319666,"date":"2026-06-25T18:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319666\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:14:09","slug":"donna-deegan-spotlights-jacksonvilles-childcare-access-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/319666\/","title":{"rendered":"Donna Deegan spotlights Jacksonville&#8217;s childcare access gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jacksonville.gov\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Jacksonville<\/a> has room to improve its access to childcare, according to Mayor <a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/803150-jwb-real-estate-leads-parade-of-early-june-donna-deegan-donors\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Donna Deegan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">She says it isn\u2019t just a family issue. It\u2019s also infrastructure for the workforce and the community.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jacksonville families are paying on average $1,000 to $2,400 per month, she said, forcing \u201cimpossible choices\u201d between that and other costs for lower and middle-income families.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Almost 2\/3 of people with children have missed work because of childcare complications. And roughly 15% of people have reduced work hours or left jobs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Though the city has hundreds of childcare providers, she said staffing is tough given the average $37,000 salary for employees, which is less than half of what a family of four would need to be economically secure.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/modernagalliance.org\/state\/florida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-773706 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MAA-2502_EduRefresh_DigitalSponsorship_SafeEffec_FL_728x90_Final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To that end, the city is creating a program called River City Care to focus on access and affordability, upon the recommendation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jacksonville.gov\/mayor\/child-care-solutions-task-force\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Child Care Solutions Task Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">She wants employers, philanthropists, providers, parents and faith communities \u201cat the table on this very important issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The city\u2019s Kids Hope Alliance puts in $3.5 million for early learning, money matched by the state.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deegan says she\u2019s not looking for new taxpayer money for childcare, but wants to see people work together on solutions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Task force Chair Lynn Sherman noted that funding currently isn\u2019t available for task force recommendations. She urged people to \u201cwork differently\u201d and \u201cbuild partnerships\u201d to address what she called a \u201cshared responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/modernagalliance.org\/state\/florida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-773706 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MAA-2502_EduRefresh_DigitalSponsorship_SafeEffec_FL_728x90_Final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Per Sherman, the task force says childcare needs to be more affordable, more accessible especially in \u201cneighborhoods with the greatest needs,\u201d and partnership with employers for family-friendly workplaces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville has room to improve its access to childcare, according to Mayor Donna Deegan. She says it isn\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3068,5890,116,118,117,132737],"class_list":["post-319666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-childcare","tag-donna-deegan","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-lynn-sherman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}