Dear John,

Congress has failed to provide enough funding to ensure the child care industry survives the COVID-19 crisis. Recent analysis from NWLC and other partners shows that at least $9.6 billion each month is needed just to keep the system afloat. But so far, Congress has only allocated $3.5 billion in total to the entire child care sector. It’s not nearly enough. Many programs have stayed open to serve the children of front-line workers throughout the pandemic, but enrollment is low, naturally, and child care providers—who are disproportionately women of color—are struggling. Without more support, providers will close permanently, leaving parents without care options as they try to establish new routines with work, school, and managing household responsibilities.

Child care is a public good that supports every part of our lives. Child care supports the healthy growth and development of our children, our jobs and businesses, our public health infrastructure, and our economic prosperity. Yet we continuously fail to adequately support the industry that plays such an important role in our lives and in the pursuit for racial and gender justice. The workers providing this care, typically women, are underpaid and undervalued precisely because they are the ones doing this work. Black women in particular have cared for America’s children for centuries—first as enslaved people and then employed as low-paid workers. It’s not by accident that child care funding has been consistently overlooked, even before the COVID-19 crisis. We have to change that. Tell your representatives in Congress to pass the Child Care Is Essential Act now.

This legislation would provide critical emergency relief to the child care industry by:

• Providing direct assistance to child care programs to stabilize the sector and support safe reopening;
• Ensuring grants get to programs that meet state health and safety standards and are currently open or temporarily closed due to COVID-19;
• Ensuring that pay for the child care workforce reflects the additional cost of providing care due to the pandemic.

Tell your representatives to pass the Child Care is Essential Act now. Without more resources, the child care sector will collapse and programs will be more expensive and harder to access. Our economic recovery relies on the child care workforce and we have an opportunity to protect their jobs, pay them better wages, and honor their essential work.

Thank you for fighting for child care.

Sincerely,
Shana Bartley (she/her/hers)
Director of Community Partnerships, Income Security & Child Care/Early Learning
National Women's Law Center