The Rise of the After-School Activity Marketplace: A Lifeline for Working Parents
By Carleen Haylett
Childcare was in crisis long before the pandemic struck. The solution? A stabilization grant to fill the financial gap. Three years later, that Band-Aid has been taken off. With the expiration of the childcare stabilization fund, thousands of programs are now closing with many more expected. (Note: as of this writing (10/26/23) the Biden administration introduced legislation which would include $16B directly attributable to the childcare crisis.)
Leaving major gaps in an already deficient and expensive industry, families are scurrying to find available, accessible, and affordable options. As a result, parents, especially mothers whose reentry into the workforce was quickly rebounding, are again faced with being forced to choose between work and family. The challenge however is not limited just to early education programs and benefits which is why employers offering only daycare benefits or nanny and back up sitter services are falling short for working families.
Piecing together enrichment programs for school-aged kids is a nightmare whether for in-person or virtual activities. Finding, comparing, vetting, and transacting with multiple providers across varied availability, pricing, and focal areas requires a massive amount of time often during the workday.
Enter a new disruptive force: the online activity marketplace which brings together top-notch virtual offerings for school-age kids. These technology one-stop-shops simplify building comprehensive enrichment programs across categories, price points, timing, and multi-child families. For corporations looking to support families with school-aged kids, these marketplaces offer a low-cost, turnkey solution.
One pandemic “silver lining” is the realization that virtual learning holds a firm place in education’s future. Not only for the lower program costs but in vastly increasing availability across geographies and diverse populations. Imagine a highschooler in rural Iowa being able to participate in an entrepreneurial workshop taught by an esteemed professor on the East Coast. Or a family accessing support groups and activities with highly trained doctors for their child going through a mental crisis? Now imagine finding, booking, and managing these diverse offerings in one place, with a single transaction, knowing the providers are reputable, certified, and qualified.
To maximize the available resources, parents and employers need to scrutinize what is available as not all marketplaces are equal. And employers should explore solutions that serve all working parents, not just those with “littles.” A few things both parents and employers should consider:
- Is the marketplace more than just an aggregate of links to vendor websites?
- Can parents build a comprehensive enrichment program across multiple topics from multiple providers through a single account and transaction?
- Is the marketplace vetting the providers? Are educators certified? Is there a defined curriculum delivered by industry leaders or educators?
- Are the right regulatory measures in place to ensure offerings are safe for children?
All of these considerations help families to alleviate the conflicting burdens of balancing work and home.
Additionally, marketplaces focused on life-skills-building activities for school-aged-kids is an added benefit as parents look to augment core curriculum. With dwindling options due to pandemic closures and rising home school adoptions, a greater need to fill the gap with programs preparing kids for “real life” has arisen. The new breed of online marketplaces redefines how we utilize prolific technology to supplement traditional educational.
There is an escalating need to reimagine what “childcare” actually means. Childcare doesn’t end with daycare graduation. The cost associated with fulfilling kids’ needs doesn’t vanish once they enter middle school. Virtual access essentially eliminates geographic boundaries enabling kids to participate in writers’ workshops, or financial literacy programs regardless of their location.
This boundless availability is a massive, exciting opportunity for employers to support families. They’ll offer a shortcut for parents looking to provide their children with the tools to explore their passions and thrive beyond school years.
About Carleen Haylett
Carleen Haylett is the CEO of EnrichedHQ. In 2020, single mother and technology leader Carleen Haylett witnessed pandemic-driven gaps in the U.S. educational space when her fifth-grade son began to thrive with homeschooling. The schoolwork was manageable, but the lack of affordable virtual extracurricular programs available, which would stimulate his development as a student preparing for middle and high school, was a shock. Torn between motherhood and her career, corporate pressure mounted, she left her job. She founded EnrichedHQ to solve the logistical nightmare of finding and managing options for kids who no longer need day care or a sitter, bridging childcare through high school. Leveraging her 20+ years in technology development, product management, and sales, she developed a platform that offers virtual extracurricular programs for middle and high school age children that enrich and prepare them for life. Working parents are able to find an immediate remedy for this common parental stressor through their employers. EnrichedHQ handles all the logistics, letting parents easily find, book, schedule, and pay for multiple virtual programs for multiple children across multiple providers. Both corporations and parents benefit from EnrichedHQ’s commitment. Visit
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