“Among those families making difficult decisions is Lisa Russell’s. The West Side delegate for Community Organizing and Family Issues is a grandmother of three who helps her daughter manage her children’s complicated school and care schedule.

‘My daughter was eligible for all three of our kids to go to one school,’ Russell said, ‘and so the 3-year-old is in child care and the other two have went on to kindergarten and first grade somewhere else. That’s where I’m coming in. I got to try to get to this side of town and take these two, then try to get back to town and get the 3-year-old.’

Additionally, Russell said a recent pay raise wound up locking her daughter out from some resources for child care assistance. Russell estimates an after-school program could run $800 per month.”

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Photo credit: Screenshot of WTTW’s Black Voices