(Courtesy of Virginiamercury.com)
After more than a year of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosalind Cutchins is braced for a busy June as she prepares to reopen two Head Start programs at her child care centers across the Hampton Roads region. But she’s been confronted by a staffing shortfall — 22 unfilled positions across eight different locations.
It’s a challenge providers are facing across the commonwealth as businesses reopen and Virginia moves into the recovery phase of its post-pandemic economy. In many ways, it’s already ahead, with a revenue surplus and an unemployment rate, at 4.7 percent, that’s more than a full percentage point lower than many of its closest neighbors.
