Crowds of families gathered at the Park City Library in support of the nationwide Day Without Child Care May 12.
The event featured games, popsicles and coloring for children to enjoy with their parents.
The national effort has a local chapter in Park City. Mckenzie Genecov got involved when she relocated from Colorado and had trouble finding someone to watch her daughter while she worked.
She said the day is meant to raise awareness about the need for affordable, quality and accessible child care.
While other chapters may have rallied all day, Genecov said that wasn’t realistic and, in fact, highlighted the need behind the effort.
Instead of asking child care providers to close and parents to take a day off work, the event started at 4 p.m.
Genecov works in economic development and to her, child care is part of that, just like plumbing and electricity. People need child care so they can work and the lack of it harms minorities and women the most, Genecov said.
“From an economic standpoint, having women in the workplace is really huge, especially, you know, for people who want to make more money, increase the GDP,” Genecov said. “But women need to get to work, and we’re often the ones that have to stay home.”
Marcela Lopez Torres arrived in Park City just days ago from Peru. She wants her daughter to have a nice place to grow up and to learn to speak English.
A teacher herself, she said children begin the learning process at 18 months in Peru which is crucial for their development.
“From there they start to develop emotional bonds, communication skills, how to treat other children and to have respect towards one another," Lopez Torres said.
Genecov said the event had two main goals: to thank Park City for its efforts so far and to raise awareness about the continued child care needs in the community.
She said the state legislature passed some initiatives this session but they lacked needed funding.
The group said, by drawing attention to areas where support is still falling short, the state will prioritize child care funding now and in the future.
