268: How Can Child Care Centers Thrive Amid Budget Cuts and Challenges? With Bianca and Trina

Wow, this episode was a real heart-to-heart! You’ll hear from Ms. Bianca and Ms. Trina of Tender Care in Milwaukee, who share their center’s inspiring 46-year journey from a small church ministry to a lifeline for local families. They open up about the tough realities of childcare funding, their creative “hustles” to keep doors open, and the power of advocacy, both big and small. If you care about kids, community, or just want to feel hopeful and resourceful, this chat is for you! 💡

Learn more about their center! https://tendercarechristian.org/

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Transcript

Marie 00:00:03  Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real world strategies, honest talk and a whole lot of support. Whether you're running one center or many. We're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity. This episode is brought to you by our summer partner Child Care Business Growth, your go to solution for filling spots, increasing revenue, and scaling your child care business without the burnout. We're proud to partner with a team that's as committed to your success as we are. Learn more at Childcare Business growth.com. Now let's get into today's conversation. One we think you're really going to love.

Kate 00:00:50  All right so today from Milwaukee we're bringing you not Laverne and Shirley but Trina and Bianca. So and I don't know They don't have any letters on their shirts, but, they, they might like a good milk and Pepsi. Or maybe they're dancing through the streets. And so we are so excited to have a conversation about what's happening in Wisconsin and hear, what's happening in Wisconsin, what's happening in your program, how your program was started.

Kate 00:01:26  All of those things will be great. So let's introduce each other.

Carrie 00:01:31  So each of you introduce the other. That makes it a lot more fun.

Bianca and Trina 00:01:35  Okay, so this is Miss Trina, the lovely assistant director here at Tender Care. She's been here for 13 years, and I absolutely enjoy working directly next to Miss Trina. Awesome. Well, the good one is we call her miss B around here. But Miss Bianca, she is the executive director for Tender Care. She's been here far longer than I have been. and she's great. she's what I call the advocate of or advocates for child care. And she has a great passion for what she does. So I love working with her. And there she is, Miss Bianca.

Kate 00:02:22  Well, okay. We are so glad to have you here. And Kerri was going to say something. I'm sorry.

Carrie 00:02:26  I was I was going to say one of the things that I think is really impressive about your story is the fact that the program has been around for 46 years.

Carrie 00:02:38  Yes. And there's not a lot of programs that have been around for 46 years. And I think that we should talk a little bit about that. Like, why was the program founded, what was the community like and what you know about what has stayed the same and what has changed about your community?

Kate 00:02:57  Well, and I want to make sure you guys talk about the pivot.

Carrie 00:03:01  We'll get there. But let's start at the beginning.

Bianca and Trina 00:03:04  You want to talk to me? I'll start. so basically, Tender Care was founded in 1979 as an entity of Capital Drive Lutheran Church. and. Yeah.

Carrie 00:03:20  So what was the community like in the 70s? Was it primarily stay at home parents or one parent working, one parent not working, both parents working? What was the ethnic mix? Like what was the community like?

Bianca and Trina 00:03:34  So I'm gonna say, I'm gonna go back just a little bit. So, church was founded in the early 1900s. It was built from ground up, early 1900s as a Lutheran churches training started.

Bianca and Trina 00:03:47  And, the Ministry of the Child Care was birthed for originally Sunday school. And, they started this space for the parish as their Sunday school, and Sunday school was a forever evolving thing, but they also their congregation needed childcare as well as the community. Back in the 1970s ish, the community was majority, older white and Lutheran people. this neighborhood is kind of known for well, now it's kind of transition. It was a little bit more Amish and things like that. But, it has kind of diversified itself since then. Majority of now are African-American, and it's very urban right now. But, yeah, they began as a parish for their Sunday school folks and then evolved in 1979 to a licensed childcare center.

Carrie 00:04:47  Wow. Awesome. So that sounds like a pretty significant cultural shift from an Amish neighborhood to a very urban neighborhood like that has got to have been interesting. I know you guys haven't been there the whole time. I know in there for, you know, more than ten years of that position.

Carrie 00:05:09  How did that work for your staff, who was used to one type of family and things were changing? How did that work for the staff?

Bianca and Trina 00:05:19  So when I started 15 years ago as an early childcare teacher, the program was, the Amish community kind of there just honestly a couple of blocks away. And they have lots of centers. It's what it appears very home based centers. And you can see kind of on different blocks, not maybe 2 or 3 blocks north and a couple blocks east. You'll see those, programs still in operation. throughout the days on our walks, we can see them. So they're that close. But, since I've been here within the last 15 years, I would say when I came in, the program was diverse. not really that Amish community because they still have their own space, but, the Lutheran families, there's families that were still attending church. They had, families at the center. But around the time that I got here, we had a larger population of, community folks coming in to bring their children to for care.

Bianca and Trina 00:06:18  So it was it was still a lot of church folks, but a lot of the community we had opened up for community, and they just started pouring in, and we're pretty much community based.

Kate 00:06:29  All right. So with that community based urban, do you have a fairly large percentage then of your students and families who are on subsidy, assistance? All right. That's my segue. You guys know where I'm going with that, right?

Bianca and Trina 00:06:49  Gotcha.

Carrie 00:06:50  Are they mostly self-pay? So mostly self-pay or mostly with some subsidy?

Bianca and Trina 00:06:56  City. Yeah. So a majority of our families, I'm going to say, it was 95. It was 98% for a really long time. But with the ever changing subsidy rates and all those great things, not so great things. we have like a 95%, rate of families that have shares versus our families, private pay families. and so all of our families, all of our families, just about unless they're a foster family, have a, copay or they're severely under the poverty guidelines that don't have.

Kate 00:07:30  so I kind of hear there's some, some stuff happening in Wisconsin with your budget.

Bianca and Trina 00:07:39  There's some stuff.

Kate 00:07:40  As a, as a program. So we didn't really talk about the pivot. So I'm gonna kind of maybe figure out how to work both in. So we know that you guys pivoted drastically after Covid. So as a result, you guys became your own standalone 501 C3 in 2023.

Bianca and Trina 00:08:00  Right?

Kate 00:08:00  Okay. And so now you've finally got that. You've got some long time folks on your board, and then you discover that your state budget has like, oh, tell us what's going on with your state budgets other than it's a mess.

Bianca and Trina 00:08:17  Besides, it's a mess. so in Wisconsin, early childcare has never we're a not a line item in our state budget. Never have been. after Covid, some of those relief funds kind of started funneling through, and providers all across the state could see what that looked like to be, to operate like we're in a state budget to operate, not from a negative.

Bianca and Trina 00:08:44  Com providing care because we're passionate about it, but actually it being an equitable, business to actually open, not just because you care about the kids and all that other great stuff, but you can actually pay your staff for equitable wage and all those great things. And, through that relief funds, folks kind of saw what it looked like. And of course, like everything that happened during the relief and with those funds and the pandemic, those funds have moved out. Well, they'll be in then. I just got a, email prior to coming into this, space. Just got an email saying that June is our last month to, go after the, what is it called, the grant that they have been giving us since Covid? And, that'll be going away. June is our last month and we haven't landed. Well, what they have done thus far is decided that they will not be put in. the request was for $480 billion to be put into our state budget to support our early childcare sector, and they have decided that that is absolutely off of the table.

Bianca and Trina 00:09:45  So we will not be getting those funds and it is going to hurt program severely. I know, people personally, programming Racine will be closing at the end of this month, it's a lot of programs that are going to be closed. And I think it is they're saying about 25% is what I can remember. The last accurate number that I heard of programs will be closing across the state, which is going to hurt us significantly because our state is very unique, like Milwaukee, and our space is saturated with child care centers. I'm not going to say all of them are high quality, but they're saturated with child care centers. And, north northern parts of our state is their deserts, like huge deserts where people are on wait lists before they, they really consider, having children because it's going to take them a year to get off of a child care waiting list. So it's it's it's it's unique. Like I said, it's it's all type of different things. Crazy. So with that already being an issue as far as child care shortages in our state, this 25% of programs in and stay close, and it's going to be a disaster for our state.

Carrie 00:10:57  So people understanding that childcare is the workforce behind the workforce is about to kind of hit the fan. Or when this podcast goes live, it will have hit the fan. And we'll have to see how your state responds, because we've seen it in different states, happen different ways. Missouri has done it in a very not financially responsible way. Kate, what can you tell us about how Missouri handled the fact that they didn't have any money for funding their subsidy program?

Kate 00:11:34  Well, they just kind of didn't tell people. And so people were still invoicing. And so then you ended up with programs that would be like nine months behind and getting their money. And, then they started putting caveats that if you weren't open when they go to cut the check, you don't get it. So you don't even get the in the arrears funds.

Bianca and Trina 00:11:54  Like even though you owe people that have worked for those last nine months with nothing. Oh yeah.

Kate 00:11:59  And in Oklahoma, as of this recording, they've pretty much bankrupt their childcare department.

Kate 00:12:09  they've they're drastically changing the reimbursement rates. Like, every day they're trying they send like, new emails like, hey, by the way, we're just letting you know that if you don't do A, B, and C by June 1st, you're not going to get your subsidy. So instead of having real conversations or try to figure out where to get the funds, they are trying to reduce the number of, quality programs. And as of today, the governor of Oklahoma vetoed a bill that would have made, child care employees who got free child care, something that they were reimbursed from the state for. It was going to be a line item in the budget, and it was passed in both their House and their Senate, and their governor vetoed it, so.

Carrie 00:13:00  That at least there would be funding for the employees whose kids were in child care.

Bianca and Trina 00:13:07  Yeah. Right.

Kate 00:13:08  So, so, like I said, when you're having a bad day.

Bianca and Trina 00:13:13  That is that.

Kate 00:13:14  You're not alone. So what does this mean for your program? Because you guys are a nonprofit.

Kate 00:13:19  Do you have some outside grants that are going to help with those families who might feel that effect? are you going to see an influx of students? What does this mean for y'all personally?

Trina 00:13:31  What does it mean for us?

Bianca and Trina 00:13:33  I've been trying to, give everybody a sense of security. I'm going to just say how I say it, because that's just what I can say. I am a hustler by nature. We will figure it out. I probably can't say on your podcast, but I'm gonna say it because it might give it a little spice hook or borrow. We're going to get it. We'll be fine. Okay. But that's just our program because I am going to. I'm being in spaces in which I'm hearing what Oklahoma is doing. We're continuing to advocate. We have not stopped. But I have a huge faith in God, and I know that our program won't be affected like some other programs because it's going to happen for us, because I believe in God told me that it's going to happen for us, but a lot of programs are going to close.

Bianca and Trina 00:14:14  We do not have outside funders or grants or we've been a mission of the church for so long. That's just what we did. And, literally taking over the, taking over the building and all those great things, I could be transparent. We ran through our, our building is older, so we ran through our savings and with not with not expecting that this would happen. Like, of course they see how great we are. They see how bad they need to stay, see work. The workforce can't operate without us. They're going to fund us like it's going to happen. Like we're just going to keep making sure that they're aware, going to the capital advocate, and we're going to continue to do the work. But they'll see. They didn't see.

Kate 00:14:53  So I mean, where are you guys as far as, like, literally the mayor of Milwaukee? If you guys are urban, I'm a I'm assuming that means that you've got a. How many of your parents both work?

Bianca and Trina 00:15:04  most of our all of our parents work.

Kate 00:15:06  Yeah. So. So you've got probably, what, 98% of your parents work, right? You probably got two parent households working. Yeah. So if all of a sudden you couldn't provide care, how many, how many kids are in your program?

Bianca and Trina 00:15:20  we can we can operate at, not with 90 children. I think we have about 80 currently.

Kate 00:15:26  So how many? So you have 80 kids. How many families?

Bianca and Trina 00:15:29  About 42. Yeah, 40.

Kate 00:15:31  Okay, so you've got 80 people who are who couldn't. Well, at least 40 who couldn't go to work. Right. Because some parent would end up having to stay home.

Bianca and Trina 00:15:40  Correct.

Kate 00:15:41  You know, so if you haven't had conversations with your mayor, your economic development department, your, planning and zoning folks, you might kind of point out and go, hey, you know, we're going to have 40 people who aren't going to have an income. Which means they're 40 times whatever they made. Right? So let's just say it's 30,000 a year, right? That's $1.2 million all of a sudden gone out of the economy.

Kate 00:16:07  In Milwaukee.

Carrie 00:16:08  County, your payroll.

Kate 00:16:09  Not including your payroll, because you're gonna probably have to cut staff if half of your families leave. Right. That part where all your families leave, right?

Bianca and Trina 00:16:15  Half of them are.

Kate 00:16:16  Then you got all those. So sometimes getting business e with those economic development folks, it kind of makes them scratch their head. if you have any major employers making sure those major employers know, hey, we just want to let you know that we've surveyed our parents. And if for some reason we don't get funded, these parents aren't going to be able to work in your in your business, how would you like to help? How would you like to help us? Right. I mean, yeah.

Carrie 00:16:50  I have to say, I know that it feels right now like the the sky is falling because they've said this isn't going into the budget. But imagine you're in a state where the legislature only meets every other year for two and a half months. That's what they're dealing with in Texas, where if they don't get the money into this budget, there is no real way to address it for two years.

Kate 00:17:21  See, we're trying to make you feel better.

Bianca and Trina 00:17:24  That's similar to our situation. So this these funds. Now let me put on record our gov. Yeah. Our governor is doing an amazing job and everybody doesn't agree with me but I don't care. Our governor is doing an amazing job at standing in the forefront with us. He has visited numerous child care centers across the state. He has gotten a team together to really show his counterparts the importance of this workforce and what the work that we're doing here. So I can say that our governor is on our side, but he is outnumbered, but he is willing. He is willing to negotiate. And that's kind of where we're at right now to negotiate some things that some folks want so that he can so that he can get what's best for it. This is the year for the the kid for him. So to get that, he's willing to bend a little bit to because he's not taking it off of the table. He's not it may not look like 48 billion, but it's going to look like something.

Bianca and Trina 00:18:28  That's his stance.

Kate 00:18:29  That is exciting that you have a governor as your champion. And how exciting. So, hopefully folks who are listening get a little inspired by your advocacy story because I'm guessing, Bianca, you've probably made some trips or two since I'm.

Bianca and Trina 00:18:46  14.

Kate 00:18:46  Or 10, And so do you just go to the state level or have you gotten involved locally to kind of, you know, shout at the local level?

Bianca and Trina 00:18:57  I'm grassroots and I'm talking to our parents. I'm having parent meetings, letting them know because you don't know what you don't know. So I'm letting them know how that's going to affect you. And some of our families on shares really didn't, didn't. It did not connect because it's like, oh, well, we get shares anyway. Okay. So this means for you that your parents share is going to go up and they are attacking shares from the federal level. So if if your shares get affected then you don't have child care at all because there is nothing coming in from the state.

Bianca and Trina 00:19:27  So I did kind of break it down to our companies and a lot of our families got it. We're constantly advocating and sharing the messages with our families, having them to support us also in sharing the message, talking to their legislators, talking to their folks like we're doing that.

Kate 00:19:41  So they're also going to the to the Capitol with you or to City Council or. Yeah. Oh how exciting, how We're.

Bianca and Trina 00:19:48  Hosting community conversations with legislators in house. I come in and have a conversation. What do we need to do? I've been everywhere, even to D.C., to the state capitol. I'm here. I think we need to talk about this. This is how it's going to affect us. So I have we have been doing some serious advocacy work, literally from the ground up, because once the people understand their power and position in making this, in this decision making, they can do some of the work as well.

Carrie 00:20:19  And making sure that people are hearing from lots of different types of programs, because I know a lot of the people you went to DC with were people who were like, I've got seven programs, and hearing from both of those programs and people who are like, we're a nonprofit, we're serving 80 families.

Carrie 00:20:41  and and hearing from both sizes is important because otherwise you can have legislators or, you know, politicians at whatever level. Go, oh, this is just those fat cats who are trying to make lots of money off of parents backs. Yeah, but by having that diversity of who is showing up and talking. It really helps them to understand this is not just about people who have six centers, so you automatically know that they're a multi-millionaire.

Trina 00:21:13  Yeah.

Kate 00:21:14  All right. So, Trina, you've been pretty quiet.

Bianca and Trina 00:21:17  well, I introduced her as the advocate of all advocates. Right? So I know you. You've been in her lane.

Kate 00:21:25  I know, but I'm going to ask you a question. So when you hear advocacy other than Bianca, what are the things that pop into your mind? I mean, is there what's your role? How do you get behind other than because, you know, every strong woman needs that that team behind her. so I'm sure you're part of the team with full pom poms, but talk to me a little bit about what you do and how it reflects your personal mission at what you do.

Trina 00:21:57  All right. I can answer that.

Bianca and Trina 00:22:00  So some of.

Trina 00:22:01  The things I do.

Bianca and Trina 00:22:02  I do.

Trina 00:22:02  Do a lot of in-house things. So number one, making sure I'm sharing the same message with, with our staff and with our families, but also making sure that we are providing quality care. So when legislators come out or parents come in and people want to see what's actually happening in the field, in the classroom and our center specifically, that we're able to show that this is needed, it's necessary for the children and the community we serve. So that's my part.

Carrie 00:22:37  I think making sure that people know what quality care looks like is an undervalued part of advocacy because they're like, hey, my, I went to the the lady down the street and she plopped me in front of Sesame Street, and I made it all the way to the legislature. Yeah. And they're like, that's that's what it is. Four hours in front of Sesame Street and Electric Company and Arthur.

Kate 00:23:02  But we don't have that.

Kate 00:23:04  I mean.

Trina 00:23:05  We don't.

Kate 00:23:06  I mean, we have Sesame Street because Netflix rescued it. But, you know, if we don't have PBS, even those kids don't have that.

Carrie 00:23:15  But it's what they remember from their childhood.

Kate 00:23:19  I know I just had to go on my own little, you know, PBS rant here, so. But I do want to say, I mean, so it sounds like and this is where I think a lot of folks, they hear advocacy and they kind of, oh, I'm going to turn it off, because that doesn't apply to me. And we get those folks who are absolutely passionate. Bianca and Cory could sit here all day. Trina and you and I just be back here going. Doo doo doo doo doo.

Trina 00:23:45  Doo.

Kate 00:23:47  but I think that when we start realizing that it's education and it's empowering the families, it's not just what you might think advocacy is. And I and I love the way you guys have paired that together. Oh, that is so exciting.

Kate 00:24:04  That really is an example of, you know, an organization coming together. sounds like literally when I say when they've needed to. And you guys have not done this twice, right? You came together and probably, I'm guessing about 22. I would suspect that 23 didn't just appear like I had this. I'm guessing you knew it was coming and that transition was coming probably from, I don't know, 2020 and.

Bianca and Trina 00:24:33  17.

Trina 00:24:34  Yeah.

Kate 00:24:35  Right. And so you knew that was kind of common. And so you had some opportunity. And here you are five years later, standing tall, going after the next, Invisible Giant. And how exciting. I am really inspired by how you guys have worked together. So, Carrie, I'm going to toss it over to you.

Carrie 00:24:56  I mean, my problem is, is again, like Kate said, like, I could have this conversation for three hours. hearing people who are like, this is an issue in my community, and I'm going to step up and I'm going to make sure that quality care is happening in my community.

Carrie 00:25:14  And it may mean that I have to hustle. And now we're selling plates or, you know, whatever we have to do renting the kitchen out to a catering company in the evening or, you know, whatever we have to do, we're going to do it because this is important in our community.

Kate 00:25:32  Spaghetti dinner nights. Thank you. Breakfast.

Bianca and Trina 00:25:35  You said that so well. Thank you. I, I gotta change my language from hook or borrow because that's not good.

Carrie 00:25:44  I mean.

Bianca and Trina 00:25:44  It.

Carrie 00:25:45  You know, we have different ways of looking at it, but it. I mean, yeah, robbing Peter to pay Paul. You know, there's all of those kinds of phrases that we use that are basically, I'm going to hustle because this thing needs to happen. Yeah. Whatever language we want to use for it, you know.

Bianca and Trina 00:26:05  By any means necessary.

Carrie 00:26:07  Yeah. And I just look, I'm trying to keep us to our time frame.

Kate 00:26:12  I'm trying to.

Carrie 00:26:14  And it is not an easy one for me with you guys.

Carrie 00:26:18  I the first not the first childcare I can remember, but the child care center I attended that made me want to be an early childhood educator was a Lutheran day school. And so I that's part of why I was like, tell me about your community, because my brain was thinking about the community, which was the most ethnically diverse of any program I ever went to. Was that Lutheran day school?

Bianca and Trina 00:26:45  Yes.

Carrie 00:26:45  And I've got I literally have goosebumps I. Okay guys I think that who you have definitely gotten some things from today's episode. I want to make sure that you can connect to Tender Care and their team. So in the W in the comments there will be a link to how to reach out to these amazing ladies. And here's a secret. They are launching a podcast of their own, so you'll be able to hear more from these amazing, amazing women. And if you heard.

Kate 00:27:28  I have a request.

Carrie 00:27:29  Okay.

Kate 00:27:30  Okay. Trina. Bianca, are you ready for this? So your first episode has to be.

Kate 00:27:38  What in the world happened? Okay. It needs to be a. Our governor did X, because that way people listen to this because. So those of you who have listened to us probably realize that we record and then it takes a few weeks, months for it to, to air. So, and that's not because we're slow it just because we have a lot of people.

Trina 00:28:01  Right?

Kate 00:28:02  And we love our guests, and we want to make sure that all of our guests get their, their spotlight. And so, if you get a chance to do that, this is the state of what happened, even if it's your teaser episode.

Bianca and Trina 00:28:17  Okay.

Kate 00:28:18  Yeah. So if you need help figuring out how to launch that teaser episode wink wink nudge nudge. you guys can do that. And we'll share that on our on our show notes and in our newsletter. That'll go out to about 12,000 folks. And so that way we we bring that awareness to everybody. But they also get to go, well, I want to listen to the next one.

Kate 00:28:38  I want to know what happens.

Bianca and Trina 00:28:41  You're encouraging us for a September launch date. That's why I'm here. And you're you're doing. You're doing it. You're doing it. You're doing it.

Kate 00:28:48  I'm doing my job.

Carrie 00:28:50  That's what we need. Prayer piece and podcast. Absolute, guys. So I gotta wrap us up. I don't want to do it, but I've got to wrap this up. So if you learned something from today's show, or if you just want to share this with somebody else who needs to know, share the show, send them an email, send them a text, I don't care. Smoke signal. This is one that definitely needs to be shared out to more people and go in and leave a review so that Trina knows that she needs to talk more on the episode. And then and we will talk to you next week.

Kate 00:29:27  Okay? Wait wait wait wait. Okay, Trina.

Trina 00:29:30  Close us.

Kate 00:29:31  Out. Your governor's name, Governor Evers. Alright. Because I think we should tag the governor of the state of Wisconsin when this episode comes out.

Kate 00:29:40  And I think everybody who's listening needs to go and say thank you for being a champion. Please, without saying and we're sorry you have Putzeys, but at least thank you for being a champion and we're looking forward to hearing y'all's second episode. And so now maybe with that I'm going to hit the the the the stop button.

Bianca 00:29:58  Oh, awesome. Thank you.

Marie 00:30:01  Thanks for tuning in. We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes. And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event, Kate and Cory would love to speak to your audience. You can learn more about their keynotes, sessions, and workshops at Kate and Carrico. If you learned something today. Share the show and leave us a review below. We'll see you next time on Child Care Conversations.