We need access to affordable, high-quality child care!
[ [link removed] ]Paid Family Leave
Tell your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Child Care for Working
Families Act!
[ [link removed] ]take action
[ [link removed] ]Take Action
Dear Friend,
When I gave birth to my son four years ago, I had no idea what I was going
to do for child care.
I worked a full-time, non-flexible job from 9-5 pm, and like many
millennial parents in the United States, money was tight for my partner
and me. We had a ton of student loans and zero disposable income, so all
of our child care options were simply out of reach. Lucky for me, my
mother stepped in and provided child care while I was at work, even though
she lived two hours away in another state. Yes, you read that right - TWO
HOURS away. That was our only solution, but it shouldn’t have been. I am
so grateful to my mom for the care she provided; and even though she saved
us money, I know that what she did was unpaid labor and a big sacrifice
for her. She gave up her life for almost two years to watch my son,
leaving my father, whom she also provides caregiving to at home back in
PA.
I know access to affordable, quality childcare would have helped my
family, and [ [link removed] ]is something we need for working families across the
country.
→ [ [link removed] ]Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor and support the Child
Care for Working Families Act to expand access to affordable, high-quality
early learning for families like mine!
For many families across the nation, childcare costs often exceed the
costs of housing, tuition, transportation, and food. [1] In fact, in 30
states and the District of Columbia, infant care costs exceed the average
cost of college tuition. [2]. So it is no surprise, but no less
unacceptable, when we see that 83% of parents with children under the age
of five struggle to access affordable, high-quality early learning
programs for their children. [3] In fact, the annual cost of infant care
takes up more than half of a millennial’s median salary. [4]
In addition to this, the unaffordable cost of childcare is unfairly
forcing moms out of the labor force and pushing the much-needed wages of
families down. This not only hurts families, it hurts our economy too. In
the U.S, women’s labor force participation peaked at 67 percent in early
2000 and has declined to 63 percent in August 2017. The long rise and
progress in women’s labor force participation over the past four decades
of the 20th century has stopped and even retreated since then. [5]
Investing in childcare is a crucial step to recapture this progress and
restore women’s labor force participation so that we can support our
families and strengthen the economy.
→ [ [link removed] ]This is why we need your support! This is a crisis and NOW is the
time to push your member of Congress to co-sponsor this bill and support
working families and our economy!
Right now, Congress has a solution right in front of them: The Child Care
for Working Families Act [6] is a comprehensive solution that would expand
access to affordable, high-quality childcare and pre-K for families while
improving compensation and training for the childcare workforce. If
passed, it would:
* Lower childcare costs for low-income and middle-income families to no
more than 7% of a family’s household income through a sliding scale,
regardless of how many children they have.
* Support universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all
low- and middle-income 3 and 4 year-olds.
* Significantly improve compensation and training for the childcare
workforce (currently one of the lowest-paid professions) to ensure
that our nation’s teachers and caregivers have the support they need.
* Assist parents in selecting the childcare provider of their
choice—whether that be a center or family childcare home, friend,
relative, or neighbor. In addition, improve care during
non-traditional hours to help meet the needs of working families.
* Support for more inclusive, high-quality childcare providers and
centers for children with disabilities.
* Help all Head Start programs meet newly expanded duration requirements
and provide full-day, full-year programming.
It’s more important than ever that we speak up. Too often, people think of
childcare as a “personal issue” - as in our own problem to solve. But we
know that when enough people are experiencing the same problem, it’s not
an epidemic of personal failings, but a national structural problem that
we can solve together. Continued investments like these can improve the
well-being of our children, our own peace of mind and productivity at
work, the care workforce, our communities, as they also boost our
businesses and our economy.
*The more of us who raise our voices on this issue, the more noise we’ll
make and the more powerful we’ll be! After you take action, send this link
to your friends and family so they can sign on, too:
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
Together we are a powerful voice for moms, children, and families!
-Nadia, Nina, Donna, Kristin, and the entire
[ [link removed] ]MomsRising/[ [link removed] ]MamasConPoder Team
[1] [ [link removed] ]Childcare Aware of America. The US and the High Price of Child
Care: 2019.
[2] [ [link removed] ]Center for American Progress. Child Care Families Need More Help
to Care for Their Children.
[3] [ [link removed] ]Center for American Progress National Public Opinion Survey.
[4] [ [link removed] ]Childcare Aware of America. Millennial Parents and the High Cost
of Child Care.
[5] [ [link removed] ]Center for American Progress. The Child Care for Working Families
Act Will Boost Employment and Create Jobs.
[6] [ [link removed] ]Child Care for Working Families Act.
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