MINNEAPOLIS — A new documentary - set to premiere in St. Paul next week - provides a rare view of Minnesota's childcare crisis at a critical time.
The film, Labor of Love: Stories from the front line of the childcare crisis, follows three childcare providers in the Twin Cities and one in the town of Esko, near Duluth.
For one of those providers, Monique Stumon, director and owner of School Readiness Learning Academy in north Minneapolis, taking part in the documentary offered a way for her to show why state support is critical for the industry right now.
"I think our voices need to be heard," Stumon said. "We need to be sitting at the table with some of these decisions that are made."
From her location in the heart of north Minneapolis to her emphasis on heartfelt learning, Stumon says her entire mission is driven with intention and purpose.
"School Readiness Learning Academy, the name, we chose by design because we want our children to be ready for school," she said. "I read an article many years ago that African American children are coming in 70% behind any other race. I made it my mission that I'm going to be in this community and I'm going to make a difference in this community."
That mission has expanded to include multiple centers over the years, but in the face of our state's childcare crisis, it's still not enough.
"We have a two-year waiting list," she said. "We have families trying to get in our centers because of the shortage. You have people leaving this field because they don't make enough money."
At the same time, she says 80% of the families with kids at her centers depend on state reimbursements to help cover costs. That means raising prices can sometimes be worse than a zero-sum game.
"We have families that have large co-pays and sometimes they're not able to pay it," Stumon said. "That comes out of my pocket."
And she is far from the only one struggling or speaking out.
"I'm just grateful to these providers for letting me into their space," said Sam Fathallah, director of Labor of Love. "These folks are on the front lines of the childcare crisis, so you get to see everything that's going on in their world. It is crazy, it is busy, it is hard, but it is really rewarding all at the same time."
Stumon says the documentary is set to premiere as the fate of a key state program that has helped retain staff hangs in the balance.
Amid the pandemic, Minnesota started a childcare stabilization grant program, which helped centers boost staff pay and keep their doors open. That program is now set to expire next month. Whether it continues, gets reduced, or is eliminated entirely depends on negotiations in the next few weeks.
"We decided to give our staff pay increases (with the grant money)," Stumon said. "I gave the increase hoping they would do the right thing... continue to do the right thing. I don't know that it's going to happen, but I gave the increases anyway. Whether or not they do it or not, my staff deserves it. So I have to cut in other ways."
Her intention is to find a way forward regardless, but her worries go far beyond her own walls.
"People are getting out of this field, so who is going to do it?" Stumon said. "If people keep getting out of this field, we won't have early education, we won't have the support that we need to give these children all that they can to be ready to go to school. You know who is going to suffer the most? Little black and brown children and it's just not fair."
The Labor of Love documentary will premiere at 6 p.m. on Monday at Christ on Capitol Hill, 105 University Ave W., in St. Paul. The premiere is open to the public, and Monique and the other providers will be there to answer questions after.
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