We live in a time where childcare costs more than rent.

As the founder and CEO of a company whose focus is on building communities and a mother of four young children, I see childcare as an economic issue. It’s also an opportunity. As the nation is growing more aware of how this affects parents, particularly moms, we see the importance of asking local parents and child care providers to weigh in on what they need.

At a recent conference, community leaders shared their thoughts on how important early childhood education is. I heard comments about one of the ways to prevent gang violence in our community is to focus on literacy, and we know that early literacy is critical to developing successful readers.

Moms are critical to our economy. The number of female entrepreneurs has grown rapidly in recent years and moms are more likely to be tasked with taking sick days off of work to be a caregiver for their children, which means they are more likely to be impacted by missed work days.