My name is Kara and I was born and raised in Park City. I am lucky enough to live in affordable housing in downtown Park City with my husband and our 2 daughters. I am a teacher at a local elementary school and cannot emphasize enough the importance of early childhood education. I know you have all the data showing the intense need we have in our community for affordable early education options and the positive impact that it has academically for children. Something that cannot be put in those numbers is the social skills that children gain from participating in early childhood education. I feel like my own children missed out on some of that learning as my husband stayed home with them due to the high cost of daycare.
One of the reasons I have stayed in Park City is because of the amazing community we have. It is a place where people truly care about one another and come together and to help each other. I hope we can come together as a community to show we care about our local families and support education for our children. Education should not be a luxury item, I urge you to support the Early Education plan.
My name is Karen and I live in Summit County. I work in Park City proper full time providing healthcare to our local community. My husband is self-employed and works full-time in Park City providing civil engineering services locally. I am writing to tell our family's story about childcare.
We have two young boys who have been in full-time childcare since they were 3 months old. We were incredibly fortunate to have secured childcare spots at PC Tots and are so grateful that our children are thriving there As a result, my husband and I are able to reliably get to work every weekday to help support our young family and serve our local community. However, had we not had reliable, affordable childcare, one of us would have been forced to leave the workforce over the past 5 years. There are many families in our community who have not been as lucky as us. Some families have had to make the difficult choice to have a parent leave the workforce because they could not find reliable, affordable childcare. Imagine leaving the workforce, with a budding career, for 5 years (age 0-5 until the child is eligible for kindergarten) and then trying to return back to your career to pick up where you left off...?
Please understand how important childcare is in our community. There is a massive funding cliff that is coming and it is going to be very painful for our local families and our community as a whole. I understand that this concept is revolutionary here in Utah, but the change needs to happen somewhere. Thank you so much for your time and for having this conversation.
My name is Kara and I was born and raised in Park City. I am lucky enough to live in affordable housing in downtown Park City with my husband and our 2 daughters. I am a teacher at a local elementary school and cannot emphasize enough the importance of early childhood education. I know you have all the data showing the intense need we have in our community for affordable early education options and the positive impact that it has academically for children. Something that cannot be put in those numbers is the social skills that children gain from participating in early childhood education. I feel like my own children missed out on some of that learning as my husband stayed home with them due to the high cost of daycare.
One of the reasons I have stayed in Park City is because of the amazing community we have. It is a place where people truly care about one another and come together and to help each other. I hope we can come together as a community to show we care about our local families and support education for our children. Education should not be a luxury item, I urge you to support the Early Education plan.
My name is Karen and I live in Summit County. I work in Park City proper full time providing healthcare to our local community. My husband is self-employed and works full-time in Park City providing civil engineering services locally. I am writing to tell our family's story about childcare.
We have two young boys who have been in full-time childcare since they were 3 months old. We were incredibly fortunate to have secured childcare spots at PC Tots and are so grateful that our children are thriving there As a result, my husband and I are able to reliably get to work every weekday to help support our young family and serve our local community. However, had we not had reliable, affordable childcare, one of us would have been forced to leave the workforce over the past 5 years. There are many families in our community who have not been as lucky as us. Some families have had to make the difficult choice to have a parent leave the workforce because they could not find reliable, affordable childcare. Imagine leaving the workforce, with a budding career, for 5 years (age 0-5 until the child is eligible for kindergarten) and then trying to return back to your career to pick up where you left off...?
Please understand how important childcare is in our community. There is a massive funding cliff that is coming and it is going to be very painful for our local families and our community as a whole. I understand that this concept is revolutionary here in Utah, but the change needs to happen somewhere. Thank you so much for your time and for having this conversation.
Karen Riley