“Without universal childcare, I ended up quitting my full-time job after a year postpartum because the cost was extremely high and the waitlists extremely long. After I gave birth to child number 2, we thought about childcare for my first child, but again, the expenses were outrageous and we depended on relatives to watch the kids when they could. Where I live, the average childcare expense per year for one child is over $11,000. With 2 children, that's over $22,000/year. There is no way a family like mine can afford that service. Universal childcare would help so many families, especially families like mine, who live paycheck to paycheck and have struggled to provide the best possible life for their kids but are met with the hard life circumstances of a society that does not care about families and [a] lack of federal programs of support, with rising costs of living and stagnant wages. We need change now so families — all families — can thrive.”
—Jennifer K.

“When we adopted our daughter, my husband and I debated him staying home full time with her because childcare is almost equal to his salary. Ultimately the cost of additional insurance and resumption of student loan payments meant it made more sense for him to keep his job and us to send our daughter to full time care during the week. We have good salaries but because of where we live, the overall cost of living and childcare are astronomical. Universal child care would ease the stress of making ends meet for us each week, especially with our student loan payments looming in the new year.”
—Kaitlyn F.

“As an early childcare educator and former Head Start teacher I know how pre-K helps families. I watched children blossom and be prepared for kindergarten. Far too many parents fall through the cracks — they don't qualify for Head Start and can't afford the high cost of preschool. I worked with intervention groups in kindergarten — children already behind because they didn't have the math and literacy skills needed to succeed in kindergarten. I worked in an inclusive 4th and 5th grade special needs classroom filled with children who were behind. None of them had attended preschool. If we want our children to succeed, we need to give them the help they need.”
—Marianne F.