CLEVELAND — Child care can be a major expense for families.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Mike DeWine announced a voucher that would help some people afford child care 

  • Child care affordability is one of the many issues with child care across the state. Lack of accessibility also causes barriers for parents to get back in the workforce 

  • The hope is that the state's new initiatives can help parents find good and affordable child care 

“The average person pays nearly $10,000 per year for child care,” said Renee Timberlake, the director of economic mobility for the United Way of Greater Cleveland. “For a lot of people, it’s more than a mortgage.”

Parents currently need to make less than 145% of Ohio’s poverty line to qualify for publicly funded child care, she said. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has announced he is changing that.

There is a $140 million voucher program for those making up to 200% of the federal poverty level and it will cover their child care costs. Timberlake said it helps part of the issue, but that it also brings up another problem, a shortage of child care centers and child care workers.

“The problem is that we already have a shortage of child care places and so by increasing the number of people who can put their children in child care, that does not solve the problem of the number of child care providers and teachers,” she said.

Timberlake said that one of the biggest barriers preventing parents from joining the workforce is the lack of child care accessibility and affordability, a problem she hopes can change with some of DeWine and state lawmakers’ initiatives.