Report Details Massive Economic Impact of Illinois' Child Care Crisis; Business Leaders Call for Greater Public Investments in Early Childhood Priorities
Tiffani Saunders, former Birth to Five Illinois: Region 51 Family Council member and current Alumni group member, participated in the ReadyNation Illinois News Conference.
On behalf of Birth to Five Illinois, Tiffani courageously shared her personal story. She spoke about the challenges of balancing a full-time career while searching for quality, reliable child care to meet the needs of her child with autism. She described the difficulty of finding programs equipped to provide appropriate support, and the stress of receiving repeated calls to pick her child up early due to those unmet needs.
Through her testimony, Tiffani put a human face to the child care crisis—highlighting how gaps in access and support not only impact families emotionally, but also disrupt workforce participation. Her story helped underscore the urgent need for stronger, more inclusive Early Childhood systems across Illinois.
April 1, 2026
Original coverage via Sean Noble, Co-Director, Civic Leaders for Illinois Children.
A lack of affordable, available child care hurts families' earnings and their employers' productivity, annually draining $6.2 billion from Illinois' economy, according to a new report from ReadyNation Illinois organization of business leaders. The report is based on an economic analysis of survey feedback from 400+ Illinois parents, relating their child care struggles in trying to find and maintain work.
At a Tuesday news conference, several ReadyNation members—business leaders from throughout the state—called upon state policymakers to boost investments in not only child care assistance, Smart Start Workforce Grants for child care teachers, and ECACE scholarships for early childhood staff seeking to boost their credentials, but Early Intervention services for young children with developmental delays or disabilities. Business executives also urged federal lawmakers to protect and improve resources for child care and Head Start.
In addition to addressing the effects of insufficient early childhood services on parents in today's workforce, ReadyNation members stressed future workforce concerns: the significance of these programs in laying a vital skills foundation for children's success in school, jobs, and careers. The business-leader network will widely share their report with policymakers in support of greater public investments.
Read the report at https://tinyurl.com/4w89zyu7
Participants in the ReadyNation Illinois news conference, generating widespread radio and TV coverage, were: Mike Murphy, a former GOP state legislator and current President & CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce; Amanda Wike, Executive Director of the Dixon Chamber of Commerce & Main Street; Kayla Edwards, Managing Partner at Express Employment Professionals of Springfield, Bloomington, and Jacksonville; Tiffani Saunders, a working mom from Chatham who spoke of her own struggles to access child care and Early Intervention services for her daughter; and Rudy Valdez, a retired Rockford aerospace executive and President of South West Ideas For Today & Tomorrow.