NASHUA, N.H. – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan visited KinderCare at Rivier University in Nashua, where she read to Pre-K students and spoke with staff about their work to support children and families.
“It was great to see firsthand the work that the staff members at KinderCare are doing to help young Granite Staters learn and grow,” said Senator Hassan. “I valued the opportunity to hear about the challenges that they face when it comes to hiring and retaining qualified teachers, even as demand for child care remains incredibly high. The workforce shortage is a main driver in the gap between supply and demand and is key to making and quality child care more accessible and affordable so that parents can enter and stay in the workforce and our businesses can recruit the workers that they need.”
Senator Hassan leads several bipartisan efforts to help more families access and afford child care. Her bipartisan Child Care Tax Benefit Outreach and Assistance Act, which would help more businesses take advantage of existing federal child care tax incentives, recently passed the Senate. Senator Hassan also co-leads the bipartisan After Hours Child Care Act, which would improve access to affordable child care for parents working nontraditional hours. Senator Hassan also helped introduce the Child Care for Working Families Act, which would cap child care costs at 7 percent of a family’s income, make high-quality preschool universally accessible for all 3-and 4-year olds, and increase wages for early childhood workers.
