Parents looking for before- and after-school care for their children are getting waitlisted across the Chicago area as the industry faces a staffing crisis.
Pat Mucha, 28, center, passes a sheet of paper while attending an adventure campus staff training session at the Northbrook Leisure Center on Aug. 11, 2022, in Northbrook. The Northbrook Park District recruited new workers by upping pay rates to $15 to $20 an hour, and offering new hires $1,000 signing bonuses.
“There’s always been high turnover, but now, some people are leaving to take nanny jobs that are paying them the same to watch one kid, versus watching 20 kids,” Riley said. “We’re facing a lot of challenges, because we’ve lost a lot of the workforce, and this is a hard time to bring people back,” said Erik Peterson, the Alliance’s senior vice president of policy.As more employees go back to work in offices this fall, the need for child care is increasing, Peterson said. “I’m hearing from parents who are looking for solutions and options, and lots of folks are having to make hard decisions,” he said.
“I’m just really hoping we get in,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do at this point. I don’t know what other people do when both parents work full time.” Mary Mucci, a recreation supervisor, teaches an adventure campus staff training session at the Northbrook Leisure Center on Aug. 11, 2022. The Northbrook Park District recruited new workers by upping pay rates to $15 to $20 an hour and offering new hires $1,000 signing bonuses.
Around 940 students are enrolled and 80 students remain on a waiting list for the Arlington Heights Park District’s Children at Play program, said Katie Waszak, supervisor for the program and day camp at the park district.The organization has seen child care needs increase as more families now have both parents working, rather than just one, Waszak said.
So when the program paused some of its offerings during the early days of the pandemic, Kotloski anticipated employees would be eager to get back to work once program was back in full force.
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