New Hampshire is pricing out families
New Hampshire is my home—it’s where I grew up and where I chose to return to raise my own family. After time away, what I’m seeing now troubles me: the New Hampshire I returned to is increasingly out of reach for many families trying to do exactly what I did.
Our childcare crisis isn’t just about statistics, though many families now pay more for infant care than in-state college tuition. It’s about whether the next generation will have the chance to build lives here. When childcare costs drain family budgets and cost our businesses an estimated $56 million annually in lost productivity, we’re watching the promise of New Hampshire slip away from the people who have called it home.
As a first-time mom, I called multiple daycares, joined every waitlist and repeatedly called back to stay on those lists. As time was winding down before I returned to work — while caring for my newborn and going through postpartum — we were still scrambling for options. Thankfully three weeks before returning to work, my son was welcomed into a wonderful daycare with outstanding teachers and staff. But not every family has this outcome. Affordable childcare should be accessible to all.
We need to elect local representatives who will address this crisis — leaders committed to making childcare affordable for families, ensuring quality early education for our youngest residents and paying childcare workers the living wages they deserve. New Hampshire’s future depends on our leaders choosing to support families and education over corporations and profit.