Parents and teachers are reaching out to legislators about the need to save key child care programs from budget cuts. “People think someone else is going to [advocate for these programs]—but if you don’t get involved no one else will,” says Jackie Buitrago, the Parent Voices organizer in Sonoma and mother of three.

The Governor’s budget proposes to eliminate child care subsidies for parents formerly on CalWORKs (Stage 3) and make steep cuts to other programs for children and families (see Children's Advocates Roundtable). Proposals in the budget and legislature to divert First 5 funds to other state programs have also led the First 5 Commission to hold off on approving a new program (CARES Plus) that would help early care and education teachers and providers go back to school.

Parent Voices members and California Child Development Corps participants are speaking out about these programs, organizing meetings with legislators about the need to support families and teachers, and getting more people involved in advocacy.

Child care keeps parents working

If the state eliminates Stage 3 child care, Buitrago would lose her child care subsidy. But she can’t afford to pay for child care on her own. And without child care, “I would lose my [job], which I’ve been at for five years,” she says. “[Then] I’m really afraid my family would become homeless because we wouldn’t be able to pay the rent. [And we would] be more of a burden on the state!”

Without Stage 3 child care, Catherine Sabine—For-restville mother to Jacquelyn, 8, and Tara, 7 and a Parent Voices member—says she’d be in a similar situation. “If I don’t have child care I won’t be able to work. Child care offers stability to children. They’re not being bounced all over the place, they have structure,” she adds.

Parents rally to save funding

Sonoma Parent Voices members are organizing parent visits to legislators’ offices and holding meetings to get more parents involved. Parents have sent out letters, spoken out on the radio, held events, and are coordinating a meeting with the Director of the California Department of Education.

“I’ve written legislators about the fact that having child care is really important to me,” adds Sabine. “I’ve come from the bottom, continued to go to school, and got a really good job. Child care is the number one thing. There is no way I could have gone to school and work without child care.”

“They want families off of welfare, but [losing child care will] put families right back on aid. It’s a vicious cycle. You’re going to have more homeless children,”  adds Sabine.

Stipends strengthen early care and education programs

CARES funding is “too important to be tied up!” says Marva Lyons, a long-time family child care provider and Corps member in Alameda. “A lot of providers [need] stipends to help pay for books and units, [or] substitutes [so they can] take a class during the day.”

Support is even more important now that the state is planning a statewide system for rating the quality of early care and education programs (QRIS), Lyons adds.

CARES stipends helped “change my whole perspective when working with infants and toddlers,” says Ansina Green, a family child care provider in Perris and Riverside Corps participant. The stipends allowed Green to attend trainings where “I learned to use more neutral tones, because too many colors is over-stimulating to children. When I first [started], I thought the more colorful the better.” The stipend also helped her landscape her dirt play area and add play equipment.

Thanks to CARES stipends, Lyons is working on her A.A. degree in early childhood education. As a result, she has added learning centers to her program—“The children and families I work with are so excited because now I have an arts center, a drama center, and a reading and literacy center. [These] are what families are looking for in a place where their child will grow,” she says.

Teachers campaign for professional development programs

The Corps is mobilizing participants to oppose diversion of First 5 funds. When the governor’s budget proposal and then Senator Cox’s legislation proposed putting a measure on the ballot again to use First 5 funds for other state programs, participants sent letters, talked with legislators, and testified before legislative committees in opposition to the bill. Both the proposal and the legislation have been rejected, but advocates are concerned that a proposal may be reintroduced in July.

The Corps is also calling on First 5 to approve funding for the CARES Plus program. The Riverside Corps group has been writing letters, meeting with legislators, and attending First 5 meetings.

While Riverside participants can’t attend all the First 5 meetings, “we’re getting everyone to pitch in to make sure two providers attend each meeting,” says Green. The group recently held a Leadership Alliance Summit funded by the California Department of Education which trained providers to be mentors and develop leadership skills.

The Alameda Corps group is also organizing center teachers and family child care providers to write and visit their local legislators in the first week of May. Providers will talk about the importance of CARES, and also the need to build support for teachers and providers into plans for the statewide quality rating system. “When [teachers come] together, what a strong, strong voice we have!” adds Lyons.

“We’re going to [invite] legislators to come out to [our programs] and see what we’re all about,” adds Lyons. “I want them to know who I am. We need their support and they need our support.”

At the Child Development Coalition Retreat in Sacramento, Lyons and other teachers learned more about the state and federal budgets and met with legislative program staff. “It was awesome to see new teachers come,” she says. “They come out of the background when they see the opportunities to get involved in the state legislature.” Lyons refers newly active providers to the Working for Quality Child Care website. “I tell them to use the information when they’re out speaking to other providers,” she adds.

Green is also creating a YouTube video with providers in her area “to show what family child care is, so [people] can see we’re not babysitters,” she says.

For more budget activism, see Campaign fights proposed state budget cuts

Parent Voices

May 12: Stand for Children Day—Join 600 parents from around California to rally and march in Sacramento for quality child care. Tell legislators how important affordable child care is to your family’s security.

For more information, contact: Mary Ignatius, 415-882-0234, mignatius@rrnetwork.org

California Child Development Corps

April 21: Attend the First 5 Commission meeting and speak out about the importance of continuing CARES through CARES Plus.

Visit legislators near you with the Corps.

Stay up to date on early care and education policy developments and advocacy opportunities at www.W4QCC.org . Check out the Corps, Updates, and Take Action (under Workforce Development)!

For more information, contact: Sara Hicks-Kilday, 415-808-7327, cares@caccwrc.org

For Spanish, contact: Teresa Calle-Streicker,
415-821-7871