Our Government Relations team collaborated with the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Coalition and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s office to host an advocacy day and press conference on Tuesday May 29th, 2018. Over 50 Coalition members came to the Capitol to create buzz about the “Billion for Babies” ask, along with Assemblymember Eggman, Acting-Interim Chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, and Assemblymember Mullin. This campaign aims to increase child care funding and access for thousands of California families.
At this event, the Coalition visited almost every Legislative office in the state capitol. That’s 120 offices! With the help of California Strategies (CalStrat), an avid aid when facilitating the Coalition’s meetings and events, our team briefed Coalition members on Talking Points for office drop-bys. We wanted to make sure all Coalition members had a full arsenal when meeting with the state legislators.
Because the “Billion For Babies” campaign is growing and headed to the Conference Committee soon, the ECE Coalition wants to remind everyone on the hill that it is time to make children a priority. In Conference Committee, Assembly and Senate members will meet to negotiate a final budget that the Legislature will vote on and later send to the Governor to sign.
There is a great disparity between those who need child care and the spaces available. Families who qualify for subsidized care are often stuck on a waiting list, without any access to help. In Los Angeles County alone, only 7.45% of eligible infants and toddlers (children ages 0-2) are served in subsidized programs. The Alternative Payment (AP) voucher program, which serves children from low income working families in Los Angeles County, currently serves 6,928 children ages 0-12 but has a waiting list of 46,093 – in other words, only 1 in 6 children has access to a child care subsidy.
Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry is a mother and grandmother who has become a strong advocate for ECE policies. At the press event, Aguiar-Curry (pictured to the right) spoke about her Assembly Bill 2292 which passed the Assembly Floor that afternoon thanks to our efforts! Child Care Resource Center is a co-sponsor of AB 2292, which will increase access to inclusive early care and education programs and increase early learning infrastructure capacity in high-need communities.
The passing of this bill supports the Coalition’s “Billion for Babies” initiative and is a great step forward for ECE community. We hope the Legislature recognizes our efforts and how important child care and early learning are to California’s children and families. Congratulations to the Government Relations team, keep fighting the good fight!
