Child Care Affordability

What would it take to make high-quality child care affordable and accessible for American families?

Across the country, high and rising costs for high quality child care strain families’ budgets — even as providers operate on razor thin margins and struggle with workforce shortages. These pressures ripple through the broader economy, shaping maternal employment, child development and economic mobility.

Join us at SIEPR on Thursday, April 16, 2026, for our Policy Forum titled:

Child Care Affordability: Evidence, Policy, and Practice

This event brings together leading policymakers, academics and practitioners to examine the structural challenges defining today’s child care market — and the policy innovations aimed at addressing them.

Together, we will explore scalable, evidence-based solutions look like and discuss both the successes and challenges of recent reforms. Speakers include Elizabeth Groginsky (Secretary of the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department), Mario Cardona (former Senior Advisor, White House Domestic Policy Council) and Lynn Karoly (Senior Economist, RAND), among others.