Jessica Dwyer was shocked to get a letter last year saying her child care would end in a month, due to the state budget crisis. “I couldn’t believe they could cut you off like that. They were basically saying we can’t afford to let you work,” recalls the San Rafael mom of Rio, 10 months, and Lana, 3 years.

So Dwyer got active “calling other parents and signing petitions,” she says, and joined the newly formed Marin Parent Voices chapter. A year later, Dwyer hopes to take her advocacy to a new level—as a parent representative on Marin’s Child Care Commission.

Building on advocacy experience

With Parent Voices, Dwyer has written letters to legislators, marched in rallies, and attended Stand for Children Day in Sacramento. As an extension of this advocacy, she decided to apply to be on the Child Care Commission (Marin’s Local Child Care Planning Council, which sets local priorities for child care funding, planning, and advocacy).

Dwyer is looking forward to sharing her perspective as a parent, saying, “if we leave everybody else to do it, how do they know what we need? [Child care is] always on the chopping block, and I feel like I’m in a constant state of panic.”

She also plans to represent Parent Voices. “I’m excited to ask what issues they think I should bring to the front,” she adds.

Need for more child care funding

Dwyer applied to be on the Commission because she cares “really deeply about mothers and fathers who are lower-income [and can’t] go to work and have people we trust watch our children for fair wages. A lot of mothers I know either get welfare or leave their children in unacceptable child care.”

Parents need more help paying for child care, says Dwyer. “I have lots of friends who have been on the waiting list [for child care subsidies]
for years.”

“My own advocate”

The hardest part about being on the Commission will be finding the time, says Dwyer—but she’s committed to doing it because “I’m a single mom and I want to show my children that these obstacles don’t overcome you, you overcome them.”

“If no one’s screaming out for child care, who’s going to fight for it? I have to be my own advocate,” she adds.

Parent Voices contacts:

Statewide: Mary Ignatius, 415-882-0234. mignatius@rrnetwork.org

Alameda (Hayward): Jennifer Greppi, 510-584-3115,
jenniferf@4c-alameda.org

Alameda (Oakland): Janet Zamudio, 510-658-7353,
janet@bananasinc.org

Amador: Amy Jones, 209-223-1624 x109, ajones@hrcccr.org

Butte: Jane Haberman, 530-895-1677,
jhaberman@valleyoakchildren.org

Calaveras: Cheryl Berg, 209-754-1075, ext. 115, cberg@hrcccr.org

Contra Costa: Candy Duperroir, 925-778-4739, candy@cocokids.org

El Dorado: Heather Della Ripa, 530-541-5848, hscfcslt@pacbell.net

Fresno: Lourdes Hernandez, 559-456-1100, louh@cvcsn.org

Los Angeles: Dawn Lovelace, 323-421-2602,
DLovelace@crystalstairs.org

Marin: Leah Benz, 415-491-5776, leah@mc3.org

Sacramento: Rachel Minnick, 916-369-3387,
Rachel.Minnick@childaction.org

San Francisco: Maria Luz Torre, 415-343-3383,
parentvoices@childrenscouncil.org

San Joaquin: Ana Tacan, 209-461-2933, atacan@frrcsj.org

San Mateo: Child Care Coordinating Council, 650-655-5078

Santa Barbara: Children’s Resource and Referral Program, 805-962-8988

Santa Clara: Mario Del Castillo, 408-487-0747, mariod@4c.org

Solano: Kathy Lago, 707-864-4620, klago@solanosfcs.org

Sonoma: Lorie Siebler, 707-522-1413, lsiebler@sonoma4cs.org