August 28, 2023 Update: NAFCC’s actions and advocacy resulted in a letter to the Small Business Administration highlighting this important issue. The letter was led by Rep Suzanne Bonamici & Rep Joaquin Castro with 23 cosigners. Check out the survey and letter here.
The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy and promoting high-quality childcare in partnership with Civitas has surveyed home-based family childcare educators to better understand the true impact Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) has had on family childcare when the repayment period commenced.
Our findings show that the EIDL loans provided much needed economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, where programs needed to remain open in their communities to care for children of essential workers. Because the forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was occurring concurrently, family childcare educators were often confused on the messaging around the structure of the EIDL loan and whether the EIDL would be forgivable altogether. Participants responded that the loans have negatively impacted their financial situation, with 0% of those surveyed feeling very confident in their abilities to pay off the EIDL loans.
There still continues to be lack of clarity on the repayment terms. We call on the Small Business Administration to alleviate the burden of the EIDL and provide immediate relief. We know that childcare and Early Childhood Education field remain in a crisis with child care programs closing their doors, leaving working families to pay more for child care and traveling farther in hopes of securing a slot for their children.
