Saving Our Child Care During State Budget Cuts:
For the past few years, Parent Voices has worked tirelessly
to fight proposed child care budget cuts in the state budget.
Based on the advocacy efforts led by Parent Voices, child
care cuts have never made it to the Governor's desk!! Parents
led campaigns across the state, utilized the media, and explained
to legislators how proposed cuts would affect their lives.
With these stories legislators understood the impact on low
income families and realize they cannot make such cuts that
move families backwards and not forward.
Working to Expand Child Care to Families in Need:
Parent Voices is also continuously giving voice to the unmet
child care need in Calfiornia. 280,000 children are currently
eligible but not receiving child care in California. These
families are placed on a waiting list because the child care
system is so severely underfunded in California and nationally.
Our elected officials must hear your voice to understand that
our child care system needs expansion now!
Fighting for Child Care at the National Level:
Helpful
Information to Share with your Senator or Congressmember
Parent Voices is also working hard at the national level
to protect and expand child care services. Nationally, only
1 in 7 children eligible for child care are receiving help.
The Senate and House of Representatives will be voting on
child care funding in the coming months. Our Senators and
Congressmembers must hear about the unmet need of child care
in California and nationwide.
We support the Children's Defense Fund's movement to Leave
No Child Behind®. Working with a range of child advocacy networks
and members of Congress, the Children's Defense Fund has developed
the Act to Leave No Child Behind® as a key way to embody this
vision and to move forward for children. The Act gives the
President, Congress, and all Americans the opportunity to:
- Get every child ready for school through full funding
of quality Head Start, child care, and preschool programs.
- Make sure every child can read by fourth grade and can
graduate from school able to succeed at work and in life.
- Provide every child safe, quality after-school and summer
programs so children can learn, serve, work, and stay out
of trouble.
- Protect all children from neglect, abuse, and violence
and ensure them the care they need.
- Ensure families leaving welfare the supports needed to
be successful in the workplace, including health care, child
care, and transportation.
- And more.
Participating in the “Preschool for All”
Planning Process:
The exciting campaign to provide preschool to all of California’s
3 and 4 year olds is building momentum. Parents must participate
in the planning process to ensure that the preschool system
being created is not only “preschooler-friendly,” but also
“working-parent” friendly. The following questions are still
not finalized: Should the system be free? Should the system
be part-day or full-day, part-year or full-year? Should the
system be offered in schools or also centers and family child
care homes? WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Click here to read what parents consider vital to a "Peschool
for All" system.
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