The Financial Burden of the Summer Care Gap

For working parents, finding good care during the summer is costly and complicated, but Kansas City Public Schools and other local nonprofits can help.

Summertime evokes nostalgic images of kids enjoying a break from school and spending lazy days riding bikes or hanging out with friends.  

In reality, summer vacation has become one more example of how growing inequality makes life harder for low to moderate income families.  

Summer breaks create additional expenses for families to keep kids safe, occupied and well-nourished while school is out. That can threaten families’ financial stability, a key pillar of LISC Greater Kansas City’s mission.  

“The financial burden during summer vacation, or during any breaks from school, is tremendous among the populations we serve,” said Melissa Douglas, McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison for the Office of Students in Transition in Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS). “Most of these families are heavily reliant upon our free lunch program.”  

Working parents often must rely on relatives or neighbors to provide meals and supervision for their children during the summer. If that’s not an option, families look for summer school, day camps, day care or other activities during the summer -- and many are expensive. Nearly half of all American parents say it’s “somewhat or very hard” to afford summer care or camp for their children, according to a 2018 New America report, “The Summer Care Gap.” 

When children don’t have access to good nutrition, or to day camps or other engaging activities, summer can trigger a vicious cycle that threatens long-term economic stability. Poor summer nutrition has been linked with summer learning loss, which can lead to poor academic performance, which ultimately increases students’ chances of dropping out of school.  

Thankfully, families in the greater Kansas City area do have access to helpful resources, according to Douglas. 

Kansas City Public Schools offer a Summer Academy, which any student enrolled in KCPS may attend at no cost. Hot breakfasts and lunches are served daily, also at no cost.  

During the break, most children forget at least some of what they’ve learned during the school year. Teachers call this the “Summer Slide.” However, studies show that children in lower-income families are more likely to fall even further behind during the summer.  For that reason, the district encourages students to attend Summer Academy every day, to keep up the structured schedule and continued learning over the break.  

“We want to minimize that learning loss as much as possible,” Douglas said.  

In addition, KCPS’s Summer Food Service Program provides free meals (breakfast and lunch) at a dozen school sites. No enrollment is required.  

“This program is open to all kids under the age of 18, so we’re not excluding anyone,” said Douglas. Charter school students and others who may not be enrolled in KCPS are eligible.  

Many nonprofits and community centers in greater Kansas City offer day camps and other programs for children during the summer break. The Salvation Army hosts sleepaway camps for a variety of ages during the summer at a very low cost. The Kansas City Public Library, Blaque KC’s Blaque Freedom School, Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, the Front Porch Alliance, Harris Park and Lakeside Nature Center all provide day camps and other summer activities. Many churches have Vacation Bible School, meal programs or other activities.  

“There’s a variety of things going on in the summer that have minimal cost, or no cost associated with them,” Douglas said.  

However, cobbling together a full schedule of activities, all within an accessible distance, can be daunting for parents. Plus, as The New America report noted, summer activities and care are often simply hard to find. Lower-wage families “must be extra diligent, forward-looking and resourceful to find and access what subsidized camps and care exists.”  

For help, Douglas encourages families to call the United Way of Greater Kansas City’s helpline at 2-1-1. Trained professionals staff the phone line 24/7, and can refer callers to thousands of resources, including summer programs for children as well as financial assistance and mental health resources.   

“This is a way for parents to find resources in their zip codes that haven’t necessarily been broadly publicized,” Douglas said.