WeCare, a startup founded by Jessica Chang, connects families with vetted home daycare providers through an app. Single mother Reyna Ramirez in California saves about $500 a month compared to traditional centers. Provider Tanetta Riley tripled her income after joining, while WeCare grew 30% month-over-month across three states.
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More than 12 million children under the age of 5 are in some form of childcare here in the U.S. A majority of those children are in home-based daycare, but there's been a significant decline in licensed home providers. Special correspondent Kat Wise reports on a new wave of startups aimed at helping parents.
Start eating, please.
The morning scene at the Ramirez household is likely a familiar one for many families. 2 working parents up early getting breakfast on the table.
Are you done?
Childcare has been a big challenge for 32-year-old Reyna Ramirez, who is a full-time medical assistant. She raised her 2 older children as a single parent. Her community, Moreno Valley, California, about 60 miles outside of Los Angeles, is one of the country's many childcare deserts, where there are 3 or more children for every licensed childcare slot.
You ready?
Ramirez managed to find spots for her first 2 children, now 12 and 6, at local daycare centres. But she didn't like leaving them there.
Back then, I didn't feel like I had too many childcare options. It was just so many kids. The centres were so big. So I felt like they couldn't keep an eye on all the kids at the same time.
The care was also expensive. $350 a week, nearly half her salary at the time. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, childcare that costs families more than 7% of their income is considered unaffordable. Personal nannies and childcare centers where overhead costs are high are often the least affordable options for families. Ramirez and her husband wanted to find a different care arrangement for their 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Jovina.
I could see everything that's going on that day.
Last March, she learned about a new app called WeCare that helps connect families with licensed and vetted home-based care providers in their area.
Morning!
Now she walks Jovina a short distance to a daycare where she's paying about $500 less a month and drop-offs are a lot easier.
Jovina!
Tanetta Riley is one of some 600 childcare providers in 3 states— California, Minnesota, and Illinois— who have partnered with WeCare since its launch in 2017.
You want me to put the glue on it? Here.
In addition to helping families and providers connect via the app, The company also offers services for daycare owners, including licensing support, billing, and tax assistance. WeeCare takes a percentage of the monthly tuition parents pay through the app, usually around 10%.
I don't have to worry about trying to get payment from parents and things of that nature. All I have to do is just focus on teaching them and helping them become good, healthy citizens.
Look at you.
Riley used to work at a daycare where she made just $10 an hour and her family struggled financially. That's a common problem for childcare workers in the U.S., where average wages are about $25,000 a year. But Riley says she's no longer struggling.
My income has tripled. I get a lot more business with WeCare than I would get on my own.
I want early childcare to not be an issue anymore. We've been growing 30% month over month, so yay!
Jessica Chang is the CEO and co-founder of WeCare, which is based in a Chang started the company after having a difficult time finding care for her first child.
We want to increase the supply of home daycares because we actually think that is the solution for early childcare, but we also want to improve the quality. The state of California really licenses for safety. That's the number one thing.
Not quality.
Not for quality, exactly. We definitely want you to be safe, but how do we actually make sure that the daycare is what parents actually want and need for their kids? Chang says she's already seen a big change.
We have an activity that is all movement.
She says WeCare ensures quality by vetting providers for experience, among other things, and caregivers who utilize age-appropriate curriculum provided by the company and receive positive parent feedback are given higher ratings on the app. Chang also wants to help families find care they can afford.
A lot of preschools charge $1,000 to $2,000 a month, while home daycares actually are a lot more affordable. They're about 30 to 40% cheaper than preschools.
For those who have been helped by the technology, life is a bit easier these days. WeCare plans to expand to 15 states in 2020. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Cat Wise in Moreno Valley, California.
