Jessica Yellin Instagram – Huge props to @juliaboorstin and @secraimondo @cnbc #cnbcchangemakersfor putting this issue front and center. Hard to believe it needs this much explanation in 2024 but…it does. Here Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, pushed for CHIPS Act funding for semiconductor plants to be tied to plans from CEOs to provide employees access to child-care services. Raimondo said at CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers Summit on Thursday in New York that any person, politician, CEO or otherwise, who says child-care policy is social policy is “deeply misguided.” Jessica Chang, founder and CEO of Upwards, which provides access to child-care benefits and services to Amazon, the U.S. Army and other corporate and government clients, pointed in a separate Changemakers’ session to a recent Boston Consulting Group study that reports the return on investment from child care has been measured at between 90% and 425%. Note: she’s not saying businesses need to provide child care. Nor is this an economy wide mandate. Her dept is giving away billions to massive companies that make semiconductors, and she’s saying it you’re benefiting from all this public $$, your company needs to have plans in place that allow women workers to excel there too, Per CNBC: Raimondo, who is overseeing a Commerce Department budget that has ballooned from a historical average of $10 billion to $150 billion. Raimondo noted that half of Americans live in a “child care desert,” with not enough services available at a cost that is affordable. “I’m trying to raise my voice that this is a commercial issue, not just a women’s issue or social issue,” said Raimondo, who will host a Commerce Department child care summit in June. #cnbc #ginaraimondo #commerce #juliaboorstin