I'm Rex Barr Jr., President of Catan Strategy Group and a former childcare center operator based in Cypress, Texas. The Trump administration recently proposed spending $1.8 billion on what it called an "Anti-Weaponization Fund." Both Republicans and Democrats pushed back on it. Courts blocked it. And as of this week, the administration appears to be walking away from it entirely. You can read more about it here via PBS NewsHour.
I have a better idea for that money.
I am not a politician. I do not have strong allegiance to any party. But I am a business owner, someone who earlier in my career operated a childcare center, and someone who has spent the last several years helping small businesses across the country hire better, operate better, and compete. What I see every single day in the American workforce concerns me. And what frustrates me even more is that nobody is proposing anything real to fix it.
So I will.
I am proposing a program I am calling the Yes We Can, Be Great Again Program. The goal is simple: invest in American children ages 3 to 5, build the foundational skills they are missing, and create a workforce over the next 15 to 20 years that can actually compete in a global economy.
This is not a partisan idea. It is a business idea. And the math works.
Why the Workforce Is the Real Problem
I have helped dozens of businesses through Catan Strategy Group with everything from technology implementation to compliance to hiring. Earlier in my career, I ran a childcare center for more than three years. I have seen the workforce problem from both ends.
Here is what I know: the American workforce is struggling. Not because people are lazy. Not because of immigration or automation or any of the easy answers politicians love to reach for. The workforce is struggling because we failed to build the right foundation in the people who make it up.
Emotional regulation. Physical health. Basic understanding of nutrition. These are not soft skills. These are the building blocks of a productive human being. And we are not teaching them.
The result is a workforce that costs businesses more in healthcare every year, burns out faster, struggles to manage stress, and cannot perform at the level a competitive global economy demands.
We can fix this. But we have to start early. And I mean early.
The Proposal: What the Yes We Can, Be Great Again Program Does
There are approximately 63,000 private childcare centers in the United States — from Philadelphia to Cypress, Texas all the way to San Diego. More than 85 percent of them are small and independently operated. That includes:
- Mom-and-pop for-profit centers owned and operated by local individuals or partners
- Faith-based centers run locally out of churches, synagogues, or mosques
- Community nonprofits, standalone local organizations, and parent-run centers
That gives us roughly 53,550 small independent centers nationwide.
I propose that the United States fund a program to train and certify teachers to deliver three hours of structured instruction per week to every childcare class serving children ages 3 to 5, at each of these 53,550 centers.
Those three hours are broken down as follows:
- 1 hour: Yoga and strength training — building physical awareness, coordination, and a lifelong relationship with movement
- 1 hour: Emotional intelligence and self-regulation — teaching children to identify, understand, and manage their emotions before they become behavioral problems
- 1 hour: Nutrition education — teaching children the difference between foods that help their body and brain versus foods that hurt them, including protein, fiber, carbohydrates, sugar, and processed foods
These are not revolutionary ideas. The research on early childhood development is overwhelming. Children who receive this kind of structured instruction between ages 3 and 5 develop stronger bodies, calmer minds, and healthier eating habits that stay with them for life. The earlier children build these three foundations, the less likely they are to struggle with behavior problems, poor health, or emotional challenges as they grow.
But here is what I want to be clear about: I am not proposing this because it is good for children, even though it is. I am proposing this because it is good for business.
How This Creates a Better Workforce
Think about what we are actually building here.
A child who learns emotional self-regulation at age 4 becomes an employee at age 25 who can handle a difficult customer without falling apart. A child who learns about nutrition at age 3 becomes an adult who does not cost their employer $15,000 a year in preventable healthcare expenses. A child who builds physical strength and coordination early becomes a worker with more energy, fewer sick days, and greater endurance.
These are not abstract benefits. They directly affect your bottom line as a business owner.
The United States spends more per capita on healthcare than any other developed nation and gets worse workforce productivity outcomes in return. A significant portion of that healthcare cost is driven by preventable chronic conditions rooted in poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and stress management failures that start in childhood.
We are not going to fix the American workforce by training adults who already have bad habits. We have to go earlier. The Yes We Can, Be Great Again Program goes earlier.
The Math
Here is how the numbers work out.
Teachers are trained and certified in all three program areas. Each teacher works three hours per week at each assigned center for 47 weeks per year. Centers typically have four to five weeks of closures annually, which is already factored in. Teachers work at multiple centers per week, typically four to eight, making this a viable income source.
The rate is $25 per hour, which includes a gas stipend. This is significantly higher than the national average wage for childcare teachers and reflects both the certification requirement and the travel involved.
The cost per center per year:
3 hours per week × 47 weeks × $25 per hour = $3,525 per center
Total teacher cost across all 53,550 centers:
53,550 centers × $3,525 = $188.7 million per year
Add 20% for program administration (and yes, I'm being generous with that number because this is a government program and we all know how that goes):
$188.7 million × 1.20 = $226.4 million in Year 1
Five-year cost with 3% annual increase:
- Year 1: $226.4 million
- Year 2: $233.2 million
- Year 3: $240.2 million
- Year 4: $247.4 million
- Year 5: $254.8 million
- Total 5-year investment: $1.202 billion
That leaves approximately $598 million remaining from the original $1.8 billion.
My proposal: fund the program for five years, prove it works, and let Congress decide whether to extend or make it permanent. If the data shows improvement in school readiness, behavioral outcomes, and long-term health metrics, the argument for permanent funding makes itself.
What the Remaining $598 Million Is For
I am not proposing to spend all $1.8 billion. The remaining $598 million stays in reserve. If the program needs adjustments in years two or three, the money is there. If Congress wants to expand to additional centers not currently covered, the money is there. If independent researchers need funding to study outcomes, the money is there.
This is not a blank check. It is a five-year pilot with built-in accountability and enough reserve to course-correct.
Why Both Parties Should Support This
I said I am not a partisan, and I mean it. Here is why this idea should work for both sides.
For those focused on economic competitiveness: the United States is in a global race. China, Germany, South Korea, and others are investing heavily in workforce development. We are debating how to spend $1.8 billion on a fund that neither party fully supported. At some point we have to ask ourselves what actually makes a country competitive. It is not military spending alone. It is the quality of the people in its workforce.
For those focused on government accountability: this program goes directly to 53,550 small, independently operated businesses that are already serving their communities. There is no new government bureaucracy. There is no slush fund with no oversight. There is a certified teacher showing up at a local childcare center for three hours a week. You can see it. You can measure it. You can audit it.
For those focused on family values: you want American children to be physically healthy, emotionally stable, and able to make good decisions about what they put in their bodies. So do I. So does every parent. This program makes that happen.
For those focused on small business: if you run a business and your employees are healthier, more emotionally regulated, and more physically capable, your healthcare costs go down and your productivity goes up. This is not charity. This is an investment with a return.
A Note on Who I Am and Why I Am Saying This
I am Rex Barr Jr. Earlier in my career, I ran a childcare center for more than three years. I understand what happens inside these buildings, what the staff deal with, what the children need, and what the families are counting on. I also run Catan Strategy Group out of Cypress, Texas, where I have worked with dozens of childcare and care-based businesses on everything from hiring to compliance to operational improvements.
I do not have a political agenda. I have a business owner's perspective on what a competitive, capable, and healthy workforce looks like. And right now, we are not building one.
I am not complaining about that. I am proposing something.
What I Am Asking You to Do
I cannot walk this into Congress myself. But ideas spread when people share them.
If you are a business owner who is tired of watching the workforce conversation go nowhere, share this.
If you are a parent who wants your child's childcare center to offer more than babysitting, share this.
If you are a teacher, a childcare operator, a healthcare professional, or anyone who works with children and sees what is missing, share this.
If you are a Democrat or a Republican or neither and you think there has to be a better use of $1.8 billion in taxpayer money than a fund that both parties rejected, share this.
The Yes We Can, Be Great Again Program is a five-year, $1.2 billion investment in the future American workforce. It is specific. It is costed out. It is deliverable through existing infrastructure. And it costs less than the fund that nobody wanted.
If not this, then what? If not now, then when?
Share this article. Tag a business owner. Tag a parent. Tag an elected official. Let them know that the people who actually run businesses and hire workers have ideas too.
Rex Barr Jr. is a business strategist and founder of Catan Strategy Group, based in Cypress, Texas. Earlier in his career, he operated a childcare center for more than three years and has since worked with dozens of care-based and small businesses on hiring, compliance, and operational improvement. He writes about business, workforce development, and wealth building at rexbarr.com.