Upwards

Two years into our child care scholarship program in Park City and Summit County, the numbers are in, and so are the stories. PBS Utah has followed this program since it launched. For this second report, they went back to look at the data, talk to parents, and sit down with local leaders again. Here's what two years built: $1.56 million invested in child care scholarships turned into $6.61 million in economic impact. A 325% return. Behind that number: families who stayed in the workforce instead of leaving it. Kids with a stronger start heading into elementary school. A waitlist, because more families need this than the program can currently serve. Summit County Utah Council Chair Canice Harte said it best: "There's an absolute correlation between this program and the financial success of the county." He's also hoping local employers, including the ski resorts whose workforce depends on this kind of support, will grow into funding it alongside the county over time. Two years of data now back up what families here already knew. Proud that Upwards has been the partner administering this program since day one! 📹: https://lnkd.in/gZypNuqX See the link in comments to read the article.

A working mom almost turned down a job because she couldn't find child care. She works the ramp at one of the largest airports in the country. Starts at 5am. Leaves home at 3:30am. Needed someone there for her kids by 3:00 in the morning. She has four kids, two with special needs. Finding care that actually worked for her family had cost her jobs before. Her employer offers child care benefits through Upwards. When she found her provider through the app, she said something I keep thinking about: "Oh, you do exist." The relief in that sentence. Her provider shows up at 3:00am. Gets her kids ready. Drops them at school. Picks them up after. She's on the emergency contact list. That's what the right caregiver match actually looks like. Affording care was its own obstacle. She applied for public assistance programs and an Upwards representative reviewed her application before she submitted it, making sure nothing was missing. She was approved. Without that, she told us she would have been working just to pay for child care. Now she says yes to overtime. She comes in early. She told six coworkers about the program. She said: "I feel this has secured my job. It has given me a clearer mind at work." Employers in aviation, healthcare, and logistics spend real money on hiring. Less time is spent asking why people leave or why they never fully show up in the first place. For shift workers, child care isn't a soft benefit. It's the difference between keeping a job and losing one. If you're an employer who wants to offer this to your team: https://lnkd.in/gRkzNjQc #ChildCareBenefits #WorkingParents #EmployeeRetention

Choosing child care in LA can feel overwhelming. Thousands of licensed providers and a lot to weigh. LAist (home to LA’s largest NPR station) just published a helpful guide to walk families through it, and our CEO and co-founder Jessica Chang spoke with journalist Sabrina T. Sanchez about family child care homes, why they're worth considering alongside centers, and what they can offer families: smaller settings, more personal attention, and often a more affordable price. Read the full guide here: https://lnkd.in/gZ9aS8N5 And if you're a California family who needs help paying for child care, you may qualify for state assistance through Upwards. Link in the comments.

Upwards is now a featured perk on Mercury, one of the most trusted banking platforms for startups and growing companies. Mercury customers can now get 20% off all Upwards membership plans — monthly, quarterly, or annual. If you're a Mercury user and your team is struggling with child care or elder care, this one's for you. No setup fees, no hidden costs, cancel anytime. 👉 Redeem through your Mercury Perks dashboard. https://lnkd.in/gzb66WYF

Big news! Upwards has been named "Overall Early Childhood Education Solution Provider of the Year" by the 2026 EdTech Breakthrough Awards. Selected from over 3,000 nominations worldwide, this recognition reflects what our team works toward every day: making child care more accessible, more affordable, and easier to navigate for families, providers, and employers across the country. Child care isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation that makes everything else possible. We're honored to be recognized for the work we're doing to solve it. Congrats to the entire Upwards team. 🙌

In our data at Upwards, summer-related child care requests more than doubled from April to May. And the majority of parents are still scrambling to book care right before summer begins, even though most camps filled up in February. Here's what that patchwork actually looks like for a working parent: Two weeks of camp. Then a gap. A family member who can help for part of July. A babysitter who might be available. Maybe a daycare drop-in for a few days, if the center isn't closed for their own two-week summer break. Repeat until September. Babysitter requests on our platform are up 25% year over year. That's not because more people are suddenly choosing them as a preference. It's because they're filling gaps. Now ask yourself: what happens to your team's focus and productivity while they're managing that? Summer is a seasonal spike in child care stress. It hits every year. And most employers, especially small businesses, don't have anything in place for it. You don't need to build a corporate daycare program. You don't need a benefits budget you don't have. At Upwards, we built something specifically for SMBs because we knew most solutions were designed for companies with HR teams and Fortune 500 budgets. Flexible, cost-effective, and built for the real world your employees are living in, including the messy middle of June through August. If your team is heading into summer without support, now's the time to change that. Click the link in comments to set up a child care benefit for your team for less than the cost of an Amazon Prime membership.

Heading to ASHHRA 2026 in Savannah? Stop by booth #311 to meet our very own Greg Crisci and chat about solutions to some of healthcare’s biggest workforce challenges — from staffing shortages and call-outs to supporting working parents and improving retention through child care benefits. #ASHHRA26 #Healthcare #HealthcareHR #HumanResources

How are cities building sustainable, community-driven child care solutions in a rapidly changing policy landscape? Join the next webinar in the National League of Cities’ Early Childhood Leaders Peer Network Series to hear directly from local leaders doing the work — including Park City Municipal Corporation, whose child care scholarship program, operated by Upwards, is emerging as a leading example of local child care innovation. Park City’s model demonstrates what’s possible when municipalities treat child care as essential infrastructure for economic resilience and community well-being. 📅 Wednesday, May 20 ⏰ 2:00 p.m. ET 🔗 Register: https://lnkd.in/gt9J-Zad P.S If you haven’t seen it yet, read our Year 2 Impact Report to dive deeper into the economic ROI of the program: https://lnkd.in/gWTMtRw5

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you proving every day that love can carry more than we ever imagined possible 💙

To the caregivers, teachers, and child care providers who hold our communities together: thank you ❤️! You make childhood feel safe, loved, and possible. You also make families’ work and daily lives possible. To everyone in the Upwards network, and to every educator and provider caring for children today, we appreciate you more than words can say. #ChildCareProviderAppreciationDay #ProviderAppreciationDay