“[Last year] I was working for a resource and referral agency, but I wasn’t able to afford child care,” says Venice mom Brianne Harvey, a lead organizer for Community Voices (the L.A. chapter of Parent Voices). “I was on the waiting list for over two years and going into credit card debt trying to take care of my daughter.”

Harvey became a family child care provider to care for her three-year-old daughter, Akina. As a parent and now a provider, she is keenly aware of the importance of state-funded child care subsidies.

So Harvey helped Community Voices coordinate events where both parents and providers spoke with legislators about the need for continued funding for quality, affordable child care. Child care funding emerged relatively intact in the state budget agreement—though other programs suffered big cuts (see Children's Advocate Roundtable)

Parents and providers worried

“I know a lot of [parents were] concerned their child care [subsidy would be cut]. They wouldn’t be able to work,” she says. “Providers [were] also really anxious because their livelihood depends on subsidized children in their care. With IOUs, they could be waiting months to get paid.” (When the state ran out of money this summer, California issued IOUs to providers instead of paying them.)

“We are the link to real struggles”

Community Voices organized a town hall meeting between parents and legislators in Sacramento. The chapter also coordinated visits by providers and parents to legislators’ local offices—and delivered posters signed by 3000 providers and parents that read “IOUs won’t do.” Providers signed the posters at L.A. child care resource and referral agencies when they came to turn in their paperwork.

“The goal was to speak to legislators about where we’ll be left without child care,” Harvey says. “We let them know how important child care is to Califor-nia’s economy, because it allows people to work. This year, people talked about losing their homes and cars, the losses were a lot more profound.”

“[These events] always leave me feeling very inspired,” Harvey adds, “and make me want to continue to speak with legislators about the importance of child care. They have to know what’s going on in the community. We are their link to the real struggles.” 

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