Dear Friend,
Summer is in full swing, and if you’re anything like me, your schedule is already overwhelmed with caregiving responsibilities and duties as schools close. That’s why I wanted to make SURE you saw this email about childcare we sent!
This is a big moment: Congress is FINALLY poised to take much-needed action on childcare, but we need your help to send in as many signatures as possible to let leaders know we need childcare for everyone in the nation! We need your signature now.
You can read more below about how a care infrastructure can support ALL of our families!
*Please forward this to friends and family -- and post the action link on social media -- so we can build as much momentum as possible for much-needed change in our childcare system. This is important: We need affordable, high quality childcare yesterday! (Here’s that action link again: https://action.momsrising.org/sign/childcare-infrastructure/)
Best,
Nadia
---------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Monday, June 14, 2021
From: Nadia, MomsRising ([email protected])
To: Friend
Subject: SIGN NOW to support a care infrastructure for all!
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Dear Friend,
Summer days are here! The return of hot sunny days, park visits, ice cream cones, and, for many of us, a return to entertaining the kids in our lives full time all day every day because we continue to be in the midst of an ongoing childcare crisis.
Though our country is seemingly on the road to pandemic recovery, people are still searching for places for their kids to go this summer so they can work and worried about health and safety since younger kids are not vaccinated. This underscores that our legislators must prioritize building a care infrastructure ASAP, one that our nation needed long before the pandemic and still very much needs today.
What is it that we need Congress to support?
Too often politicians think of childcare as a “personal issue” - as in our own personal problem to solve. But the pandemic has laid bare the truth we already knew: The crisis working families are facing is not due to personal failings, but is a larger, systemic problem that needs larger, systemic solutions and investments. Prioritizing child care can improve the well-being of our children, our own peace of mind and productivity at work, the care workforce, our communities, and honestly, our summer too.
*Let Congress know summertime is the right time for an investment in critical care infrastructure!
High quality, affordable child care benefits everyone. Currently, the U.S. loses $57 billion each year in economic productivity and revenue losses due to child care [1] And the pandemic has laid bare the devastating economic and personal costs of our country’s ongoing failure to invest in care or have a care infrastructure. On top of this, women and moms, especially women and moms of color, have taken the most responsibility for caring for our kids, our sick family members, our aging relatives and neighbors and supporting the people in our lives with disabilities; all while sacrificing our own careers and wellbeing in the process. The White House itself has noted that 2.3 million women have been forced out of the labor force. Of those who lost their jobs —over 600,000 are Black and 618,000 are Latina. [2]
Data also shows that investments in policies like childcare for all and universal paid leave can help combat systemic inequalities experienced by people of color. [3] Child care right now is least affordable for Black and Latinx families with low incomes, [4] Native American and Latinx communities are more likely to live in child care deserts, [5] 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 meaningfully addressing systemic inequalities and helping to ensure that ALL families can thrive. [6]
As we work together to rise past a historical crisis, we now have a historic opportunity to finally implement the care infrastructure our families have needed for so long. We cannot let this moment pass us by. Women, moms, children and families should not be forced to carry the burden of caretaking and job loss any longer. Let’s build a vibrant future where childcare is a structural investment for our nation. We know that with your help now, we can make this sunny future a reality.
Together, we can make a difference. Let’s make it summer to remember by raising our voices for childcare!
- Nadia, Kristin, Donna, and the whole MomsRising.org/MamásConPoder Team
References:
[1] "How COVID-19 Sent Women’s Workforce Progress Backward"
[2] PDF: THE PANDEMIC, THE ECONOMY, & THE VALUE OF WOMEN’S WORK
[3] "America’s Child Care Deserts in 2018"
[4] "Child care affordability for working parents"
[5] "Inequitable Access to Child Care Subsidies"
[6] "Called to Care: A Racially Just Recovery Demands Paid Family and Medical Leave"
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