A new resource tool is helping Central Virginia parents narrow the search for affordable childcare. Read more at https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/thrive-birth-to-five-nonprofit-tool-child-care-search/

Nonprofit Thrive Birth to Five has launched Child Care Finder, a new online child care locator designed to help families find quality early learning programs for children from birth to age five.

Senator Lashrecse Aird (D-Henrico) wants to create a cost-sharing program where the state and businesses would put money in the pot to help make child care more affordable for Virginia families. “Families have been complaining about two things — accessibility [and] finding access to child care, and then when they do find it, being able to afford it,” Aird told 8News. The proposed Employee Child Care Assistance Program is designed to incentivize businesses to pay some of the cost of their employees’ child care by matching the amount of money businesses contribute with state funds.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it would rescind a series of Biden-era rules governing one of the largest federal funding sources for child care. The move comes less than a week after HHS confirmed it was freezing all federal funding through that same program.

Eight out of ten Virginia employers say child care challenges hinder hiring and retention.