Tell Congress: Love can be a battlefield but child care shouldn’t be, fund child care now!

Tell Congress: Don’t go on breaking our hearts, save child care now!

There’s nothing like an old fashioned love song (or let’s be honest, a super cheesy one), especially on occasions such as Valentine’s Day. This year though, let’s make sure our electeds know that there is truly no sweeter music than hearing that they will finally be making the moves to fund child care!

Unfortunately, so far it’s been a lot of heartache for families as the impact of the child care crisis continues. Just this past November, 29% of families reported an increase in their child care tuition, 28% of child care providers experienced wage cuts or were unable to sustain salary increases, and 24% of providers reported that they are now serving fewer children.

Congress must exceed the $8.7 billion proposed for child care in the budget to improve access to affordable child care for children, families, and communities.

Childcare"

Tell Congress: Love can be a battlefield but child care shouldn’t be, fund child care now!

Dear Member of Congress:

Moms, dads, and concerned people from around the country are urging you to fight for us by ensuring that critical investments in comprehensive, high-quality child care and Pre-K for families are robustly funded in the budget!

Congress took the bold and necessary steps to invest critical funds to stabilize the child care market which saved our system from total collapse during the height of the pandemic. But those funds expire this month - and without continued investment, child care providers, families, and our economy are headed toward a giant cliff.

All told, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) stabilization dollars that saved the child care sector from collapse are expiring with projections that 3.2 million children could lose their child care as a result!

This is why we are urging you to support and pass the Child Care Stabilization Act to provide at least $16 billion per year in emergency child care dollars to address this impending crisis, while laying the groundwork for the sustained and transformative funding needed to ensure high-quality, affordable child care is accessible for all families.

The U.S. budget is a reflection of the country’s priorities and values, and actually investing in American families and our economy looks like exceeding a $8.7 billion (a $700 million increase over FY2023) investment in the Child Care Development Block Grant.

Anything less than robust, new investments in child care would be especially disastrous for moms and businesses, because four years after a global pandemic tanked the employment rates of women to historic levels, women are finally returning to the workforce. But short of critical funding for the child care system, moms will once again be left behind and pushed out of the labor force. The U.S. loses $122 billion each year in economic productivity and revenue losses due to child care. The good news is that child care is both job creating and job enabling (especially for mothers and women), in fact, ensuring child care for all could add 2.2 million jobs to the economy, increasing GDP by $274 billion.

Child care is already unaffordable for far too many families and access to care is critical to the ability to work and provide for loved ones. Congress must take action to uplift and support children, families, providers, and our economy by robustly funding child care in the budget and passing $16 billion for child care stabilization.

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