Lynne Black opened her child care center in Tupelo in 2008 with $10,000 from her father, who told her it would be “a ministry more than a job.”
Since then, Black has cared for more than 1,000 children at Lil Leap Academy Too – and has heeded her late father’s words. She’s given money to parents to cover electricity bills, has gone years without a salary, and has fundraised to take children to the movies, the water park and places she believes they’d otherwise never see.
“The children might come from a single-parent home, they might live in the projects, but I want them to know that they are just as important as the next one,” Black said. “I want them to know what it was like to go to the zoo, to eat at a nice restaurant.”
Now, she doesn’t feel officials in Mississippi are taking care of her the way she has taken care of the state’s youngest residents. As a result of expired pandemic funds, nearly 20,000 families are on a waitlist for child care vouchers – coupons that make child care affordable for low-income working parents. Of the children who have stayed in child care, the burden has fallen on providers.
Lynne Black runs Lil Leap Academy Too in Tupelo. Photo courtesy of Lynne Black“(We found) that while many kids were exiting centers, those who stayed were able to do that largely because a significant number of providers provided free child care services or entered into other kinds of arrangements, like payment arrangements,” said Matt Williams, director of research at the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, during a virtual press conference Tuesday.
That’s true for Black, who not only lost tuition from the 75 children who left her facility since the funding was paused in April, but also allows six of the remaining 30 children to attend her center for free.
“Not only am I picking up the slack but it’s sinking me because there are some months that I can’t pay all of my taxes,” Black said.
She is far from alone. According to a recent survey by the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, 89% of child care providers reported being negatively impacted by the pause in child care funding. The survey included responses from 229 child care providers across Mississippi, about a fifth of the licensed centers that accept vouchers in the state.
Other findings included 315 staff terminations and 218 classroom closures among the surveyed centers. In addition to centers having to close classrooms, many are shuttering altogether. In 2025, 170 licensed child care centers in the state closed – the highest number in nearly a decade.
Black says she doesn’t think she will be able to stay open beyond April, and never imagined she would end her career this way.
“I am devastated,” Black told Mississippi Today. “I’ve put myself out on the forefront. And you mean to tell me you’d rather me close, and these children be left out here for the wolves?”
The children and families who Black works with are already grappling with a grim new reality, she said. Eleven of the children who left Black’s center after losing vouchers are now in CPS custody, Black said. The parents were so desperate to keep their jobs that they left their children at home with at-home security cameras, or “nanny cams,” and were later reported, she said.
Employment is a requirement for the child care voucher program. But working parents consistently struggle to pay for child care in the U.S., which has the highest child care costs in the world. On average, it takes 10% of a married couple’s median income and 35% of a single parent’s income to pay for child care – both of which are considered unaffordable by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Importantly, the enhanced pandemic funding didn’t expand eligibility. Instead, it allowed the program to reach more eligible families. The voucher program has historically only received enough funding to cover 1 in 7 eligible children.
The current crisis was not inevitable, advocates say.
“It’s the result of policy choices, and it’s solvable,” said Carol Burnett, executive director of the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, during Tuesday’s press conference.
Advocates like Burnett have called on the state to use some of its unspent funds from the program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, to plug the gap. The Mississippi Department of Human Services has repeatedly said they cannot use more than the 30% of TANF funds they are already spending on child care. Mississippi Today spoke to several national experts in December who said it was possible if the funds were channelled correctly.
Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, said Tuesday she and other members of the Legislative Black Caucus are exploring options to put money toward child care this session. Possible solutions include mandating some portion of the $156 million unobligated TANF funds for child care vouchers, as well as appropriating general funds, State Health Department funds and workforce development funds.
“I’ve seen the effect of this crisis in my own community – it’s heartwrenching,” Summers said. “We’re trying to think creatively based on where monies are available to see: is there an opportunity to get some direct allocation into the (Child Care Payment Program)?”
Rep. Zakiya Summers listens as Carol Burnett, executive director of the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, answers questions during a Legislative Black Caucus hearing Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, who has long been a strong supporter of programs that help women and children in the state, said she would be in favor of continuing the $15 million appropriation the Legislature made last year to alleviate some pressure on the waitlist.
Boyd said she hopes also to re-work the Child Care Tax Credit, passed in 2023, to make it more accessible for businesses to participate in the program.
Amid the ongoing crisis, recent federal orders have worsened mass confusion and for some states, have meant disaster. Mississippi is not one of the five states – California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York – that had its federal child care funding frozen for unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. However, all states will need to comply with new “Defend the Spend” paperwork to continue drawing down federal funds.
States will have to attest that they have controls in place to prevent fraud and will have to submit “strong justification” for all expenses related to the child care voucher program.
Mark Jones, director of communications at the Mississippi Department of Human Services, said the agency is getting ready to submit the necessary paperwork and doesn’t expect any issues.
“MDHS is working quickly to ensure compliance with ACF’s recent guidance,” Jones said. “These new requirements, as well as existing internal controls, ensure our agency’s commitment to the integrity of the Child Care Payment Program that supports over 26,000 working Mississippi families.”
While Mississippi seems to be in the clear regarding the recent federal crackdown, the state is still working to resolve the voucher waitlist. Black is concerned about her finances, but she worries more about what will happen to the children she serves if she has to close.
“They’re going to fail in school, they’re going to get in with the wrong crowd, the juvenile crime rate is going to increase, the CPS cases are going to increase drastically, they’re going to become unproductive citizens,” Black said. “Why? Because they don’t have structure. Care structures these children and prepares them for school.”
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