Parents and providers experiencing Traverse City’s childcare crisis now face even more obstacles. A new survey from the Great Start to Quality Northwest Resource Center indicates that 30 percent of northern Michigan childcare centers will not be open this summer -- and might close for good. This issue -- paired with liabilities related to COVID-19 risk, restrictions on government relief funding, space limitations exacerbated by social distancing, cancellations of local summer camps, and inconsistent return-to-work policies across local employers -- is amplifying Traverse City’s childcare shortage and putting local daycare providers in a position of significant uncertainty.

“They’re uncertain about what their enrollments are going to look like [after the pandemic], and that's a huge challenge,” says Candice Hamel, the organization’s executive director. “Daycares operate on such a narrow revenue, and when they're not sure if their families are going to come back, that can really make them go under easy.”

Great Start to Quality is a statewide organization that assesses early childhood programs with a quality rating system and helps match daycare-seeking families with providers based on their needs. The organization’s Northwest Resource Center serves the 10-county region.

Consider Traverse City’s Angel Care Preschool & Child Care, with 73 kids across two locations prior to the pandemic. Their Old Mission location announced in February it would close at the end of the school year due to difficulties in finding qualified staff. The main Angel Care location, on Hastings Street, reopened on May 27, but was only providing daycare for eight kids as of last week, compared to a pre-pandemic number of 44.

“I would say only 30 to 35 percent of my families know when they're going to be called back to work, or if they're going to be called back to work,” Angel Care Executive Director Karin Cooney tells The Ticker. “And then I would say about 25 percent of my families are still trying to make a decision on what they want to do. Do they feel comfortable sending their child into a childcare center at this time? People are grappling with that question.”

Even if they want to, most daycare providers aren’t even able to accept new families because of a restriction placed on Child Care Relief Fund grants, a state program backed by federal CARES Act dollars and intended to help childcare providers cover costs during the pandemic. In order to be eligible for that funding, daycares must hold spots for children who were enrolled with them prior to the pandemic and are not permitted to charge a fee to families to hold these spots. Daycares must also discount their rates by at least 10 percent to make daycare more accessible and affordable. Both of these policies are required to be in place “for at least 30 days from the time the provider applies for a grant.”

Cooney says she’s applied for a grant through the Child Care Relief Fund and is observing the aforementioned requirements, but has not yet been approved due to delays at the state level. These factors, along with extra social distancing concerns that may affect Angel Care’s capacity, are making it difficult for the daycare to accept new kids or achieve a sustainable cash flow.

Corrine Nagel, program director at Central Day Care Center, is facing a similar problem: she has a waitlist 400 families long, but is simultaneously holding spots free of charge for 28 kids who don’t currently need care. She hasn’t gotten word back yet about whether Central Day Care will receive state funding.

Now consider parents in search of daycare who already had few options, including many who have been displaced by daycare closures. The Cub House at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa announced recently that it will close its 2,000-square-foot center permanently. Matthew Bryant, general manager for the Resort, says he and his team thought long and hard about the decision, but ultimately felt it was necessary due to the liability risk of running a daycare during a pandemic – particularly in a hotel building that sees a lot of traffic from members and guests. Bryant says there have been cursory discussions about leasing the Cub House to a third-party daycare provider, which would then shoulder the liability risk itself. At this point, however, there are no official plans for the space.

The other factor Hamel expects will impact demand and capacity for local daycares this summer is the cancellation of summer camps. Under recent guidance from Governor Gretchen Whitmer, summer day camps actually are allowed to reopen beginning June 8, provided they follow extra safety rules and regulations. However, some camps -- including The City of Traverse City’s -- have already been called off and have not indicated plans to reverse those decisions. With fewer options on the table for summer activities, Hamel says more parents are looking for daycare for their school-aged kids – something Nagel is experiencing firsthand.

“We’ve been getting calls every day for care, and the biggest thing I’m seeing so far is demand for school-aged care,” Nagel says, noting that her number of school-aged kids has increased from 10-12 a year ago to 18-20 now. “I’m trying to help as much as I can, but we can only hold 74 children a day at our center.”