Before her daughter started school, Brittany Masters would spend as much as $650 a month on childcare alone.

“As a parent with a young child that was very tough for me. You know, we were in a single-income family, and on those five-week months that child care bill could have been more than any other expense I had including rent.”

Another huge problem is lack of supply. Is childcare hard to find in your town? Is your provider struggling to find employees?

There are solutions for this challenge too. A workforce development organization in Michigan is helping families access affordable, quality childcare by fixing ongoing staffing shortages in the childcare sector.