Child care is a huge issue for families, many of whom spend as much as a third of their income on the service; for workers, who are frequently underpaid; for women, whose careers are disproportionately affected by child care struggles; and, of course, for children, who can benefit enormously from high-quality care in their early years.
Families today typically spend between 9 and 36 percent of their income on child care
Child care costs more than $900 a month in many states. In several states, care for an infant costs more than the average rent.
Working Families
Affordable Housing
The shortage of affordable housing has reached a crisis point in Florida. Millions of households in the Sunshine State are paying between 30 to 50% of their income on housing, leaving precious little for other necessities like costs related to healthcare, transportation, and utilities. The construction of affordable homes would stimulate local economies by boosting growth. Developers would hire local workers to build these homes and use local retailers to purchase supplies. The tenants of these homes, no longer strapped with housing costs in excess of 50% of their monthly household income, would have more discretionary funds to spend in their communities, further improving the local economy.
Vaccine Distribution
As the COVID-19 vaccine became available and community resources slowly increased, The Common Ground Project transitioned to a second phase to our initial Emergency Pandemic Relief Effort, to ensure that all Floridians, including our most vulnerable communities, receive the critical support needed to begin the long road to recovery and that these recovery efforts are safe and equitable.
Healthcare
About 30.4 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2018, up from 29.3 million in 2017, according to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey. That means about 1.1 million more Americans lost insurance coverage. A Gallup survey found that Americans borrowed $88 billion to pay for health care last year, and one in four people skipped care because of cost.
