Demand that Congress end the child care crisis!
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Tell your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Child Care for Working
Families Act! 
[ [link removed] ]take action
[ [link removed] ]Take Action

Hi Friend,

Temperatures are dropping and snow is starting to fall across parts of our
country, signaling the start of winter and the holiday season. But one
thing is clear as ice: We have a child care crisis, and it needs to be
solved! 

So what do we need to do about it? Well, we need to turn up the volume as
we tell Congress: STOP, collaborate, and listen! Child care access is
frozen in the 1990s - but that doesn’t mean we should ice ice our babies! 

Say whaaaat? Let’s back up. Next year is the 30 year anniversary of
Vanilla Ice’s epic smash hit, Ice, Ice Baby. 1990 was also the year that
Congress approved the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), an
instrumental piece of legislation that has since helped millions of
families find and afford high quality care [1]. And while CCDBG is as
magical as Frosty the Snowman’s hat, we still hear daily that families are
still struggling to find and afford care, 30 years later.  It’s past time
to more fully address this crisis.

[ [link removed] ]**Urge members of Congress to put an end to this chilly child care
crisis by co-sponsoring the Child Care for Working Families Act! [2]

We hear the stories constantly: moms with no choice but to quit jobs they
love because of the high-cost of care. Waiting lists so long that families
are depleting their life's savings to take unpaid time off work on the off
chance a child care spot opens up. It’s never ending. One parent is even
flying in different family members from across the country in shifts to
piece together care. This is an unacceptable solution. Our current system
isn’t working, and our families, quite literally, are getting iced out of
work, school, and economic stability. 

Families are trying their best. They are being stretched thinner than ice
and scraping together whatever they can to make it work. As a nation we
can (and must) do better. 

[ [link removed] ]**Tell Congress: Don’t ice out our families! Warm the hearts and minds
of our littlest learners by co-sponsoring the Child Care for Working
Families Act! 

The stories from families quite literally give me the chills, and not in a
good way, but they don’t have to. Congress has a big,
warm-mug-of-hot-cocoa solution on the table: The Child Care for Working
Families Act. This is a 1990-hairdo-sized comprehensive solution that
would expand access to affordable, high-quality childcare and pre-K for
families while improving compensation and training for the childcare
workforce. If passed, it would:

* Lower child care costs for low-income and middle-income families to no
more than 7% of a family’s household income through a sliding scale,
regardless of how many children they have.
* Support universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all
low- and middle-income 3 and 4 year-olds.
* Significantly improve compensation and training for the childcare
workforce (currently one of the lowest paid professions) to ensure
that our nation’s teachers and caregivers have the support they need.
* Assist parents in selecting the childcare provider of their
choice—whether that be a center or family child care home, friend,
relative or neighbor. In addition, improve care during non-traditional
hours to help meet the needs of working families.
* Support for more inclusive, high-quality childcare providers and
centers for children with disabilities.
* Help all Head Start programs meet new expanded duration requirements
and provide full-day, full-year programming. [3]

The Child Care for Working Families Act comes with real solutions to a
bone-shatteringly cold child care crisis and families like mine are here
for it! 

[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress to help break down the icy barriers to accessing
affordable, high-quality child care by co-sponsoring the Child Care for
Working Families Act! 

It’s more important than ever that we speak up. Too often, people think of
childcare as a “personal issue” - as in our own problem to solve. But we
know that when enough people are experiencing the same problem, it’s not
an epidemic of personal failings, but a larger problem that needs larger
solutions. Continued investments like these can improve the well-being of
our children, our own peace of mind and productivity at work, the care
workforce, and our communities. 

In fact, increasing access to high quality, affordable early learning
opportunities (like child care)—particularly for vulnerable
children—doesn’t just help families and workforce, it also helps our
national economy. 

One report found that the economic impact of the child care crisis in our
country is costing an astounding $57 billion a year. BILLIONS in losses
each year?! Now that’s something we can ice out - not our families! [4] 

This is particularly staggering when considering that there is no better
return on investment for taxpayers than investing in early education and
care. According to one figure, for every $1 invested in early learning and
childcare, taxpayers see a 13% return in investments due to fewer later
grade repetitions, fewer later interactions with the criminal justice
system, and more. [5] So instead of losing money, investments in early
childhood are likely to lead to significant economic gains over time.
Sounds like a great reason to tell our leaders in Washington, DC to stop,
collaborate, and LISTEN to our stories, am I right? 

‘Tis the season to invest in working families -- it’s truly the greatest
gift we can give. [ [link removed] ]Will you give the gift of your voice, and add your
name to urge members of Congress to cosponsor the Child Care for Working
Families Act? 

*The more of us who raise our voices on this issue, the more noise we’ll
make and the more powerful we’ll be! After you take action, send this link
to your friends and family so they can sign on too:
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 

Together, we are a powerful voice for families! 

Donna HC, Nina, and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder Team 

 

[1] [ [link removed] ]History, Office of the Administration of Children & Families 

[2] [ [link removed] ]"Child Care for Working Families Act.

[3] [ [link removed] ]Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez. "This New Bill Could Make Child Care More
Affordable for Working Families." Refinery29, September, 14, 2017.

[4] [ [link removed] ]“Want to Grow the Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis.”
ReadyNation, January 2019.  

[5] [ [link removed] ]Garcia, Heckman, Leaf, and Prados: The Lifecycle Benefits of an
Influential Early Childhood Program, 2016

 

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