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Funding for Wisconsin child care providers is promoted during La Crosse event

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A program called, “A Day Without Child Care,” was held Monday in La Crosse. It’s intent was to draw awareness to the need for child care services.

Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Jill Billings visited Sprout Childcare in La Crosse to promote continued state funding for those types of programs around the state.

“We know that 54 percent of families actually experience that they live in child care deserts,” Billings told reporters, “so they don’t have child care in their neighborhoods or in their communities, and often when they do have child care, for some working families, they just can’t afford quality child care.”

Billings wants to see the “Child Care Counts” payments for care providers keep going in Wisconsin. It’s a monthly payment program, which is scheduled to expire early next year.

Sherry Picha, a co-owner of Sprout, said the economy would be hurt if child care wasn’t available to many people.

“Would you be able to see your doctor, if all the doors were closed today, and you had a surgical procedure that you needed to do?” Picha asked. “A doctor would not be able to be there, because they would need to care for their children.

“Same thing with any kind of appointment that you have. Our employers would see a huge earthquake through all of their businesses, if they had employees not show up today.”

Staffers from Sprout were joined at the La Crosse news conference by workers from Little Feet and Helpful Hands and Coulee Children’s Center.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Walden

    May 9, 2023 at 8:50 pm

    Yesterday the bike shop owner, today the day care centers, everyone looking for a handout. That’s why its so tough to get rid of government programs once they get started.

  2. walden

    May 9, 2023 at 9:02 pm

    How many millions in free ARPA money has the County already lavished on these folks? Still not enough?

    It’s embarrassing to watch the groveling.

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