YOU. ARE. NEEDED!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]SIGN NOW

Dear Friend, you’re busy, so I’ll get right to it. Congress is
FINALLY poised to take much-needed action on childcare, paid leave, taxes,
living wages and more; [ [link removed] ]but we need to send in as many signatures as
possible to help make sure that these policies don’t get pushed aside and
overlooked as the final national recovery and infrastructure legislation
is being crafted this week and in the weeks to come.

YOU. ARE. NEEDED!

[ [link removed] ]*Join us in urging Congress to: Build a Care Infrastructure ASAP! Why?
Because childcare, paid leave, and living wages can’t wait!

There is A LOT going on right now, starting with the reality that we’re
still grappling with a pandemic AND now it’s summer with kids out of
school and all the added juggling that comes with it. And, in the midst of
this unprecedented time, we also have the opportunity of a lifetime to
help move forward much-needed legislation to finally, finally, finally,
FINALLY build the Care Infrastructure that our nation needed long before
the pandemic and still very much needs today. 

This is why we need you to raise your voice now (and a few more times in
the coming weeks as we build momentum for real change!!).

[ [link removed] ]*Click here to join us in telling Congress:

Moms, parents, and caregivers need you to act fast to build a care
infrastructure. This means advancing universal childcare, paid
family/medical leave for all, home-and community-based services, raising
the minimum wage to $15 per hour, making the expansions of the Child Tax
Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit permanent, and creating a pathway to
citizenship for care workers, other essential workers, Dreamers, TPS
holders, and their families.

[ [link removed] ]This is urgent: Building a care infrastructure is both job enabling and
job creating--it will help boost our economy, lift businesses, create
jobs, and keep moms and caregivers in the jobs we need. It’s time! The
package that Congress pulls together must include the following and be
passed immediately:

* A comprehensive, federally funded child care system (which estimates
show will require a $700 billion dollar investment) that ensures all
families have access to high-quality, affordable child care which is
available when and where they need it and invests in the education and
compensation of a diverse workforce.
* Ensuring that all care workers, as well as every person in our nation,
is paid living wages of at least $15 per hour (and get rid of the
harmful lower tipped minimum wage); and investing in communities by
reimagining safety and divesting from punishment and policing. 
* Paid Family and Medical Leave that would ensure all working people
have access to at least 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new
child, address a personal or family related illness, or handle needs
that arise from a military deployment.
* Make permanent improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
* Invest $400 billion to Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services to
create over one million union protected direct care jobs, expand
access to home and community-based services to people with
disabilities and aging adults, support unpaid family caregivers to
re-join the labor force, and advance a path to citizenship for
essential workers, Dreamers, and TPS holders, and their families.

Our country has completely failed to do what most other industrialized
nations take for granted: Build a care infrastructure. But it’s not too
late! Our care infrastructure must include universal child care, paid
leave for all, access to home- and community-based services for people
with disabilities and the aging, living wages, a permanent child tax
credit (CTC), health care for everyone, a path to citizenship for all
essential and care workers, Dreamers and temporary protected status (TPS)
holders and their families, as well as include investing in communities,
reimagining safety and divesting from punishment and policing, and,
importantly, a fair tax code to help pay for these vital investments. All
are highly supported by Republican and Democrat [ [link removed] ]voters alike. [1]

[ [link removed] ]This is an emergency. Women, particularly women and moms of color due
to structural racism, have borne the brunt of this pandemic. The White
House itself has noted that 2.3 million women have been forced out of the
labor force. In January alone, 1.4 million fewer mothers of school-aged
children were working for pay than had been in the previous year. [2] Of
those who lost their jobs —over 600,000 are Black and 618,000 are Latina.
[3]

The data is in and has shown the pandemic has had an outsized impact on
women and moms, with women and moms of color experiencing compounded
economic and health harms [4]  

Importantly, the data also shows that investments in policies like
universal paid leave and childcare for all can help combat systemic
inequalities experienced by people of color. [5] The facts don’t lie --
for instance, child care right now is least affordable for Black and
Latinx families with low incomes, [6] Native American and Latinx
communities are more likely to live in child care deserts, [ [link removed] ] and Asian
American and Latinx children have particularly low levels of access to
child care subsidies. Increasing access and affordability to childcare and
to universal paid leave -- especially in ways that include provisions such
as job protection, progressive wage replacement, non-discrimination
protections, and more -- will be part of combating systemic inequalities
and helping to ensure that all families can thrive. [ [link removed] ]  

[7]We can (and must!) build back better. Studies show that building a care
infrastructure would create millions of [8]new jobs for the women hit
hardest by this crisis, [ [link removed] ] [9]ignite hundreds of billions of dollars in
economic activity and allow millions more women who have been pushed out
of much-needed jobs to return. [ [link removed] ] In fact, building a care
infrastructure not only enables parents and caregivers to work, it saves
tax dollars (studies show high return on care infrastructure investments
including big savings to families) and these investments also create good
care economy jobs. [ [link removed] ]

The cost of inaction is high: Moms, especially moms of color, being pushed
out of the labor force is amounting to an estimated $64.5 billion per year
in lost wages and economic activity. [ [link removed] ]  

[10]LET’S DO THIS! Help build momentum with members of Congress to make
real change!

Seismic shifts happened in our nation during the pandemic, unmasking
failures but also opportunities to do better. It’s been made clear that
unless we rapidly build a care infrastructure, the aftershocks of the
pandemic will hurt us all for decades. It’s also clear that hope is on the
horizon. 

Now it’s time to turn that hope into real change by signing onto this
petition -- and staying engaged as we email you in the weeks and months
ahead -- so we can finally, FINALLY build the Care Infrastructure that our
nation needs. So please forward this email to your friends and family --
and post the action link on your social media. 

*Here’s the link again to share: [link removed]

Thank you. Together we are an unstoppable, winning force! 

- Kristin, Nadia, Elyssa, Ruth, Donna, Tina, Beatriz, Jordan, Nate, Sili,
and the whole MomsRising.org/MamásConPoder Team

 

References:

[1] "[11]Poll of voters on COVID-19 relief package, February 2021" and
"[12]POLLING UPDATE: Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants
Remains Overwhelmingly Popular"
[2] "[ [link removed] ]The Employment Situation in February"
[3] PDF: "[ [link removed] ]A YEAR OF STRENGTH & LOSS: THE PANDEMIC, THE ECONOMY, & THE
VALUE OF WOMEN’S WORK"
[4] "[ [link removed] ]Pandemic pushes mothers of young children out of the labor force"
[5] "[ [link removed] ]America’s Child Care Deserts in 2018"
[6] "[ [link removed] ]Child care affordability for working parents"
[7] "[ [link removed] ]Inequitable Access to Child Care Subsidies"
[8] PDF: "[ [link removed] ]Called to Care: A Racially Just Recovery Demands Paid Family
and Medical Leave"
[9] "[ [link removed] ]It’s Time to Care: The Economic Case for Investing in a Care
Infrastructure"
[10] "[ [link removed] ]Biden’s Proposed Child Care Plan Will Save Families $96 Billion
in Year 1, $957B Over 10-years"
[11] "[ [link removed] ]It’s Time to Care: The Economic Case for Investing in a Care
Infrastructure"
[12] "[ [link removed] ]How COVID-19 Sent Women’s Workforce Progress Backward: Congress’
$64.5 Billion Mistake"


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