Solving the Childcare Crisis

Policy Committee    February 21, 2025

HARRISBURG, Feb. 21 – Affordable childcare is no longer an option or even available for many Pennsylvania families and residents because of staffing shortages and a lack of support. Despite recent work by House Democrats and the governor’s office, including tripling the child and dependent tax cut and other measures, experts detailed how decades of inaction by the General Assembly created a childcare crisis. Rep. Justin Fleming hosted this House Majority Policy Committee hearing, exploring potential solutions to staffing shortages. 

• Host: Rep. Justin Fleming, D-Dauphin
• Testifiers:
  • Lisa Whitworth- Director, Little Learners’ Child Development Center, Inc.
  • Mariel Campbell- Administrator, Mikayla’s Place: Child Development Academy
  • Jen DeBell- Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children

Agenda + Testimony

• Hearing agenda and testimony: Solving the Childcare Crisis

Media Release + News Coverage

• Fleming, Policy Committee highlight childcare crisis, February 21, 2025
• MyChesCo, Pennsylvania’s Childcare Crisis Deepens: Families Struggle as Workforce Shrinks and Costs Rise, February 23, 2025

Video + Photos

• Click here to view the entire hearing
• Click here to view photos of the hearing