Childcare Is Infrastructure — A Basic Need

COMMENTARY
By J. Glenn Hopkins, President/CEO, Hopkins House

As Congress considers sweeping federal budget cuts, rising tariffs, and inflation that continues to strain family budgets, I join with other nonprofit executives across Virginia in raising urgent concerns. These fiscal shifts threaten essential programs like SNAP, Medicaid, AmeriCorps grants, and childcare subsidies — lifelines for many low- and moderate-income households.

These pressures are already being felt. In rural Virginia, USDA funding cuts have eliminated over 1.4 million meals through food banks. In Northern Virginia, where Hopkins House operates two preschools, early childhood education programs are buckling under the loss of stabilization funds. After-school initiatives, such as Arlington’s Aspire program, are collapsing as AmeriCorps grants dry up. And across the state, up to 630,000 residents risk losing Medicaid access if proposed cuts advance.

The challenges we face today in the nonprofit sector are not theoretical. We are seeing real families — our neighbors — struggling to access childcare, feed their children, and secure healthcare. These are not luxuries; they are fundamental to a functioning, equitable society.

Childcare is a basic need for families, alongside food, shelter, water, and healthcare. Basic needs are foundational for health, economic mobility, and quality of life. Childcare is indispensable to all three. It is the infrastructure that enables parents to work and contribute to the economy while giving children the early education they need to thrive.

Without accessible, high-quality childcare, families — especially low-income households and single mothers — are subjected to considerable financial and emotional stress, and their employment opportunities severely limited. Children fall behind developmentally before they even reach school age. Employers lose productivity, and the nation risks long-term harm to its workforce pipeline and economic vitality. Recognizing childcare as a basic need is not only morally imperative — it is smart public policy grounded in mounds of evidence.

Without quality, affordable childcare, parents — especially women — are pushed out of the workforce, while children lose early learning opportunities that shape their future. This is especially true in Virginia, where much of the early childhood system depends on federal funding to survive.

Virginia’s economy is deeply interconnected with the federal government, with over 320,000 civilian federal employees and nearly 440,000 contractor-related positions statewide. When federal investments are withdrawn, the consequences ripple through the workforce, housing markets, and school systems.

Now is the time for action. We need robust, grassroots advocacy — sharing personal stories, contacting elected officials, and supporting local nonprofits. We must treat childcare, health, and housing not as optional safety nets, but as essential scaffolding for strong communities. The future of Virginia’s families depends on it.

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