We are fighting for a world where parents, childcare providers, and the early educators who support our children and their families live with dignity and respect — no matter their zip code or what they look like.

Many parents have to choose between their job and their children’s care. At the same time, childcare providers struggle to make ends meet with poverty wages and rising costs. This was true before the pandemic and in its aftermath. Yet, elected officials continue to pit care providers and parents against each other for scarce resources. We need bold action to guarantee safe and affordable child care for those who need it. Community Change Action, community-based groups across the country, parents, and childcare providers are building a movement. We are fighting for a stable community-based childcare system, where providers of all types have resources to thrive, the early education and care workforce gets a living wage along with benefits that reflect the importance of their work, and every child in every family can access early education regardless of family income, race, or zip code. 

WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE FIGHT FOR:

We are mothers and fathers, childcare providers and early educators, leaders, and organizers working in our communities, at the state level, and with federal policymakers. We are part of the movement for child care justice, powered by Community Change Action. We fight for parent affordability, provider stability, and living wages for all providers and caregivers of all types.

So that our Families Can Access Affordable, High-Quality Childcare:
Everyone should have the ability to provide for and care for their families. It is unconscionable that access to childcare and early learning services for children is largely pre-determined by the racial inequities of our society. When high costs prevail, or when accessing child care assistance is burdensome, inconsistent, and invasive, and when providers in low-income communities of color have fewer resources than those in affluent communities, working families’ especially families of color, face greater barriers to care. We are fighting to knock down the barriers, so that every family can access high-quality affordable childcare, in their preferred setting.

So that all Early Childhood Education and Care Providers are stable and supported:
After parents, childcare providers are some of our children’s first teachers and play a critical role in early childhood education. The providers who do this labor deserve to be compensated and respected, but early childhood workers earn an average of only $10 per hour and nearly half of these workers need public assistance to meet their own family needs. . We demand a living wage and reimbursement rates to support it for every care provider, regardless of what kind of setting they work in. We push our elected leaders to also see and value the work of providers by compensating providers for the true cost of providing high-quality care and working to ensure there is a consistent and diverse set of well-supported providers of all types in every community. . Together we can hold our elected leaders accountable to ensuring that early education and care providers are paid enough to support living wages for the ECE workforce that includes comparable compensation for ECE educators with equivalent education and experience to K-12 teachers. Providers deserve to be paid for the true cost of their care. We push our elected leaders to also see and value the work of providers by compensating providers for the true cost of providing high-quality care and working to ensure there is a consistent and diverse set of well-supported providers of all types in every community. Together we can hold our elected leaders accountable for ensuring that early education and care providers are paid enough to support living wages for the ECE workforce that includes comparable compensation for ECE educators with equivalent education and experience to K-12 teachers. Providers deserve to be paid for the true cost of their care.

So that Parents & Providers have a real voice in the process:
As Childcare Changemakers, we believe that those who feel the pain should fly the plane. We believe Congress and states should hear our voices, and listen to the people who make the childcare system work and for whom the childcare system is supposed to work. We are the experts on what this system needs. Investing in our children is not a political choice, it is a moral choice, it is the right choice, and it is a smart choice. A quality educational experience is a good investment in our children and grandchildren. We are fighting to establish Grassroots Policy Councils at the federal and state levels designed to enlist parents and providers so they can shape policies that are informed by the experience and expertise of mostly Black, brown, and immigrant families, providers, and workers of the childcare system. We know that the inequities in how childcare is funded lead to an unlevel playing field with the greatest burdens falling on low-wage working parents, and providers. Investing in our children is not a political choice, it is a moral choice, it is the right choice, and it is a smart choice. A quality educational experience is a good investment in our children and grandchildren. We are fighting to establish Grassroots Policy Councils at the federal and state levels designed to enlist parents and providers so they can shape policies that are informed by the experience and expertise of mostly Black, brown, and immigrant families, providers, and workers of the childcare system. We know that the inequities in how childcare is funded lead to an unlevel playing field with the greatest burdens falling on low-wage working parents, and providers.