Imagine instead a system funded on the true cost of care that would give all of our children an equal opportunity to thrive.

We’d have high-quality, sustainable child care careers. We’d have child care slots open and affordable for all families who need it. We’d have women, particularly Black and brown women, back in the workforce. We’d have educated, healthy, and happy kids. We’d have culturally appropriate and responsive, inclusive quality standards rooted in the goals parents have for their children to have a bright future.

We saw recognition from President Biden as he issued an executive order to support affordable care and quality jobs for care workers. Instead of working with us to build on our progress and create new solutions to make a 21st century system a reality, the GOP has worked overtime to block any solutions. But we know that together, our voices can rise and we can win the child care system we all deserve.

That’s why we’re coming together on May 8 to demand child care providers who do one of the most important jobs of educating the next generation, allowing parents to get to work, and keeping our economy running, be paid the living wage they deserve. That the families who work hard to stock our grocery shelves, brew our morning coffee, and schedule us for doctor’s appointments, get affordable child care that doesn’t force them into debt or take their careers back decades. And that all of our kids, no matter where they live or what they look like, have the same opportunity to thrive.

We are organizing a Day Without Child Care to give a glimpse of what would happen if we were all forced to officially close our doors. 

If we don’t make a change, that time is closer than our elected officials and our nation might think – and all of us will pay the price of an underfunded system. On May 8, we pledge to put the spotlight on the true cost of care and demand the funding we need for a 21st century child care system.