Here\u2019s a thought-provoking number for parents of young children on the Space Coast: Annual childcare expenses in Florida are more than $22,400.<\/p>\n
Currently the total tuition over four years at the University of Central Florida is about $26,000.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just the cost to parents and individual caregivers. Childcare issues impact the Florida business community by billions of dollars annually, typically involving things like employee turnover and unplanned absences from work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe business community needs to understand that childcare is a workforce issue,\u201d said Laura Gambino, chief executive officer of the Early Learning Coalition of Brevard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gambino was part of a three-person panel Nov. 13 addressing the issue of childcare in Brevard County and Florida, and its impact on working families and employers. Thursday\u2019s briefing at Rockledge Country Club was titled \u201cThe Childcare Industry in Brevard\u201d and it was put on by the weVENTURE <\/a>Women\u2019s Business Center, a program of Florida Tech\u2019s Bisk College of Business.<\/p>\n Childcare is a huge expense for most working families \u2014 a budget item likely second or third to rent and healthcare. Gambino and the other two panelists \u2014 Ric Banciella, director of business engagement for Bosses for Babies, The Children\u2019s Movement of Florida<\/a>; and Susan Povost, Age of Learning<\/a> Inc. \u2014 said the expenses for childcare grow as more data shows that early education prior to kindergarten is vital to students later successes.<\/p>\n Banciella, a former businessman, travels across the Sunshine State educating businesses on the importance of both issues, early learning and the need for better childcare solutions. It\u2019s the latter that he said should be worrisome at the moment for a state and employers who want to retain the best and brightest in Florida.<\/p>\n Childcare costs, along with housing expenses, are what\u2019s driving younger workers (25 to 40 year olds) to other states, he said.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that childcare should not consume more than 7 percent of a family\u2019s household income.<\/p>\n In Brevard, about 15 percent of a person\u2019s annual gross income goes to daycare care for one child. Housing eats up another 30 percent of that annual gross income.<\/p>\n So about 45 percent of a young parent\u2019s gross income is gone just between housing and care for a child.<\/p>\n Panelists noted childcare issues impact women more than men, as they\u2019re the ones taking time off or dropping out of the labor force to stay at home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in an age where more women than ever have a child under the age of 5 and are in the labor force,\u201d said Kathryn Rudloff, executive director of weVENTURE WBC.<\/p>\n The good thing is that Florida businesses can take some seemingly smaller actions (aside from pay) that would make a big difference. They include, Banciella said:<\/p>\n Offering better paid leave programs<\/p>\n Providing flexible work and scheduling<\/p>\n Expanding health and wellness benefits<\/p>\n Providing onsite childcare<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of ways you can address this problem,\u201d Banciella said, \u201cbecause it\u2019s a huge issue for the entire state.\u201d<\/p>\n Wayne Price is director of communications for the Space Coast Health Foundation.<\/p>\n