By Marc Casale, CEO

Photo by Frank Oudeman from Archello.com

A Very Real Tension

In our work, I often find myself struggling with tension between ambitious, systemic reform and pursuing pragmatic, short-term solutions that could help right now. It’s not that we lack ideas. It’s that we get stuck choosing between bold redesigns and practical steps forward. It’s a tension many of us feel. But maybe we don’t have to choose. Maybe it’s not a choice at all. Where can we strive for bold, ambitious transformation while making meaningful progress today?

At Kinetic West, we believe that change for our communities can't wait, even as the problems we face are complex. Childcare is a sector caught in this bind. The market is fundamentally broken. Providers can’t earn a living wage, childcare centers aren’t profitable, and families face high costs.

Even when families can afford care, it’s often unpredictable, limited in hours, hard to find nearby, and rarely aligned with the realities of dual or single parenthood households…in other words, it doesn’t work for the people it’s meant to serve.

Making headway on solving the childcare crisis isn't just about fairness—it’s about economic growth and stability.

At Kinetic West, we have a proven track record in workforce development, supporting education institutions and workforce organizations as they prepare students for careers and help employers find the talent they need. But talent pipelines don’t operate in a vacuum. One critical, often overlooked piece of the ecosystem is the infrastructure that supports students and workers outside of the classroom or workplace. Childcare isn’t just a family issue—it’s a workforce issue, a student success issue, an employer issue, and a systems issue. In this interconnectedness, there is possibility.

Recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found meaningful childcare reform that capped families’ expenses at 7% of their income would save a typical Washington family with an infant $12,414 per year. That’s 12.7% of their post-childcare income freed up for other necessities.

Parents would also have more opportunities to enter the labor force. If childcare were capped at 7% of income, an estimated 31,742 more parents in Washington alone would have the option to work. This reform wouldn’t just help families—it would expand Washington’s economy by 0.8%, generating $6.8 billion in new economic activity.

Win-Wins Within Reach

The childcare solutions that feel genuinely within reach can align the interests of employers, families, policymakers, and educators—and they make economic and political sense in ways that haven’t always been the case. These are practical, win-win approaches that leverage existing resources, redistribute costs, and create real momentum toward a more sustainable system. Here are two specific ideas that could move us forward:

1. Employer-Supported Childcare

For decades, companies have provided perks to attract and retain talent—think free lunches, wellness stipends, and commuter benefits. This has ramped up with employers trying to attract workers back to the office and policymakers trying to support Downtown Reactivation. What if the most powerful workplace benefit was reliable, affordable childcare?

Practical, employer-supported models could include:

Employer Subsidization: Companies offering on-site or near-site childcare as a benefit, helping parents stay in the workforce while improving retention and productivity.
Commercial Real Estate Utilization: With office space sitting empty in the wake of hybrid work, businesses could transform underused areas into childcare hubs, benefiting both property owners and working families.
Tax Incentives: Policymakers could encourage businesses to invest in childcare infrastructure as a workforce development strategy, reducing barriers for parents who want to work.
Co-Op & Fractional Models: What if businesses took a cooperative approach to childcare, mirroring the rise of fractional roles in the workplace? Companies could pool resources to create shared childcare programs, allowing parents with flexible or part-time jobs to contribute to caregiving in exchange for reduced costs. Fractional childcare roles could also create new job opportunities, with trained caregivers working across multiple employer-sponsored childcare sites.

2. Leveraging Underutilized Public Schools

Public schools sit at the heart of communities, yet in the wake of post-covid enrollment challenges, many have unused classroom space that could be repurposed for early childhood education. What if we learned from and expanded innovative models and pilot programs—like those used by Seattle Public Schools and others across the country—to maximize existing resources?

Enhance Kindergarten Readiness: By integrating childcare into public schools, we create a seamless early learning pipeline, ensuring kids are prepared before they ever step into a kindergarten classroom.
Increase Public School Enrollment Affinity: Families engaged with public schools from infancy may be more likely to stay in the system, helping stabilize enrollment numbers in districts facing declining student populations. These programs can also create better infrastructure for before- and after-school care to better support dual-income and single-parent households.
Maximize Existing Infrastructure: Rather than pouring money into new facilities, we optimize and repurpose existing public school spaces, reducing costs for both providers and families.
Create Youth Apprenticeship Pathways: Having a center within a district can serve as a site for work-based learning, exposing high school students to careers in early childhood education. Programs like ECEPTS in San Francisco are already piloting youth apprenticeships in early childhood education—models that could be replicated and scaled.

Moving Forward

Pilots and incremental solutions matter. They create momentum. They give us proof of concept. They help surface what needs to be fixed—like outdated regulations or workforce pipelines—so that when we’re ready to go big, the foundation is already in place.

The question isn’t whether we should wait for a full system overhaul or settle for less. It’s how we can act now in ways that are meaningful, measurable, and expandable. If we know the current model is failing both providers and families, why wouldn’t we start implementing creative strategies today?

Get in Touch

At Kinetic West, we help organizations turn big challenges into actionable solutions.

If you're looking to navigate the complexities of childcare policy, workforce development, or innovative employer-supported models, reach out at contact@kineticwest.com to learn more.

Systemic Change or Incremental Progress?—We Know the Childcare System Is Broken–But So Is the Way We Talk About Fixing It