We can fix decades of no child care
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend, 

Did you know that we could have had a fair and just universal child care
system 50 years ago? That’s right (and infuriating!). It was 50 years ago
today when Republican President Richard Nixon vetoed the Comprehensive
Child Development Act, a bill that would have implemented a
multibillion-dollar national child care system. This veto ended the last
major Congressional push for child care.

[ [link removed] ]But NOW we finally have a chance to right historical wrongs! Tell
Congress to make comprehensive, affordable, high-quality child care and
Pre-K system for families a reality by passing the Build Back Better Plan!

Thanks to that veto, our families are struggling. Struggling to find child
care when we need and afford child care when we finally find it. 

But after decades of struggling to find care, the passage of the Build
Back Better package will make a critical difference for our families by
ensuring:

* Child care for 20 million children, with less or no out-of-pocket
child care costs for families over time. 
* FREE, high-quality pre-k for our toddlers! 
* More choices in high-quality child care and pre-k for parents and
caregivers in their neighborhoods.
* Early educators are able to meet the increased demand for child care
by increasing wages and honoring the critical work they do to help our
kids thrive. 
* Raising the wages of early educators (95 percent of whom are women and
disproportionately women of color) to family-supporting wages, with
wages comparable to elementary school educators for those with similar
credentials.
* Less waiting lists and more meaningful choices across programs that
aren't just about cost or location, but about the kind of care and
education parents and caregivers want for their kid - be that anything
from a faith-based program or a dual-language program. 
* Supporting children's healthy development, providing all children a
strong foundation regardless of economic status, race, zip code,
language, or ability.

The Build Back Better plan doesn’t just increase access and supply, it
also offers a guarantee of child care assistance to 93 percent of working
families over time. And across all states, the law would subsidize child
care for more than 13 million children younger than age 6.[1]

[ [link removed] ]Congress must ensure our grandchildren aren’t having to fight the same
fight as the generations that came before by passing the Build Back Better
package before the year ends. SIGN NOW to say 50 years without child care
is ENOUGH!

As noted recently by Fatima Graves from the National Women’s Law Center,
in 1971, leaders like Dorothy Bolden, Shirley Chisholm, Marian Wright
Edelman, and Evelyn Moore led campaigns that brought about the
Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971, promoting child care workers
as "middle-class experts" deserving of fair wages for the service they
provide working families. Buoyed by support from labor unions, it passed
both houses of Congress with bipartisan majorities.[2]

The structure of the child care system in this bill would have put control
of publicly-funded child care centers in local hands which, in much of the
South, meant challenging white state governments in favor of local control
by Black communities and leaders. As a means to keep their hold on
segregation, conservative activists lobbied heavily against the bill, and
based on this the then President Nixon issued his veto 50 years ago today,
ending the last major Congressional push for a fair and just universal
child care system.[ [link removed] ] 

[3]It’s been 5 decades since then and TODAY we finally have the chance to
ensure that history stops repeating itself and that we FINALLY have the
child care investments our families have needed for generations! Tell
Congress that they must act NOW for our families and for the future of our
nation by passing the Build Back Better Plan ASAP!

Nixon’s veto and our government’s limited bandaid solutions over the
decades since then have cost our economy billions of dollars every year
since,[ [link removed] ] and pushed moms and caregivers out of much-needed jobs due to
unaffordable or inaccessible childcare, all while denying generations of
parents a fair shot and peace of mind. And the devaluing of child care
itself is rooted in the lack of value our society places on Black, brown,
and immigrant women.[ [link removed] ]

Congress must end the longstanding American tradition of taking the work
of Black and brown women for granted. This 50 year anniversary needs to
become a relic of the past as we collectively move towards a future where
our families, children, and country thrive.

Together we can move forward!

- Nadia, Nina, Kristin, Donna, and the whole MomsRising.org/MamásConPoder
Team

 

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