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Federal Government Update
Congress has returned to DC and has been working on potential aid for Ukraine, the reauthorization of a US spy program, and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, among other priorities.
Regarding movement on the tax legislation that includes the critical CTC enhancements, NBC reports that GOP Senators are prepared to sink the tax bill.
Congress held two committee hearings on child care and early learning this week:
As a continuation of its Care Month of Action, the Care Can’t Wait Action coalition hosted a congressional town hall this week at the American Federation of Teachers’ HQ with federal lawmakers - including several of our child care champions: Senators Sanders (I-VT), Warren (D-MA), and Casey (D-PA) and House Whip Clark (D-MA) - as well as advocates, families, care workers, and early childhood educators. Joined by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su (D) and several lawmakers, advocates spoke about the critical need for Congress to take swift action to invest more in child care, aging and disability care, expand paid family and medical leave, and better support the care industry.
Child Tax Credit
Improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) remain at a standstill following pushback from key Republican Senators despite bipartisan support.
⇒ Please urge your Senators to pass the expanded CTC now.
We know how to end child poverty. That is why we are fighting for this expansion right now, and why we will keep fighting to further improve the CTC.
More:
Supplemental Federal Child Care Funding
As the timeline for passing the national security supplemental request continues to draw out, we are now focused on ensuring that any future domestic supplemental that is considered includes $16 billion for child care and early learning.
⇒ Please urge your Members of Congress to support the $16 billion proposal supported by President Biden and many congressional Democrats.
As previously shared,
Administration Updates, Care Workers Recognition Month events & resources
This week, President Biden joined Care Can’t Wait Action for a rally celebrating care champions alongside advocates, elected officials, families, early childhood educators, and care workers. Speakers at Union Station, including advocates from the country’s largest labor unions and grassroots organizations, celebrated the progress made by the care champions within the Biden-Harris administration and Congress over the last four years while calling for additional legislative action in 2025.
The rally coincides with two historic milestones: The White House’s second proclamation declaring this April as “Care Workers Recognition Month,” and the one-year anniversary of the signing of the White House Executive Order on Care meant to strengthen paid leave and child, aging, and disability care.
As part of its own month of action, the Care Can’t Wait Action coalition will host a congressional town hall on April 10 to highlight the need to pass comprehensive legislation, lobby days with federal lawmakers, and nearly a dozen local events celebrating care champions in states like Georgia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Also this week, senior Biden-Harris Administration officials hosted advocates from across the country, including early educators, home- and community-based care workers, family caregivers, veterans, people with disabilities, and older Americans. Participants in the convening highlighted the substantial progress the Biden-Harris Administration has made toward making care more affordable for American families, supporting family caregivers, boosting compensation and job quality for care workers, and expanding care options.
As a part of Care Workers Recognition Month, the convening honored the coalition driving the care agenda in communities across the country and highlighted the stories of Americans from all care sectors: child care, home- and community-based services for older Americans and people with disabilities, family caregivers, and paid family and medical leave. The White House convening follows President Biden’s remarks at a rally in which he underscored his commitment to investing in and supporting the care economy. More: Readout of White House Care Convening | The White House
New Polling & Webinar - National Survey Finds People Strongly Favor Taxing the Rich to Pay for Caregiving Priorities
From MomsRising and NWLC:
MomsRising and NWLC released the results of a new national survey that finds voters on both sides of the aisle overwhelmingly support raising taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations to help invest in caregiving priorities, such as child care, elder and disability care, and paid family and medical leave.
The survey also asked respondents about their views on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was passed into law by Congressional Republicans in 2017. It finds that two-thirds of voters across party lines support getting rid of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent. The survey also shows strong public support for using the extra tax revenue from eliminating tax loopholes for the rich to invest in caregiving priorities.
Why Taxes Matter for the Care Economy: New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support
Wed 4/24 at 2:00 pm ET/1:00 on CT/12:00 pm MT/11:00 am PT
All of us will need to care for ourselves or a loved one at some point in our lives. During Care Workers Recognition Month and on the heels of tax season, the CARE Fund is hosting a virtual funder briefing and discussion at the intersection of care and taxes. CARE Fund grantees will share new polling data, and discuss how making the tax code more progressive can raise billions more so that we can invest in care. We also will discuss philanthropy's role and share current and emerging strategies to mobilize support for equitable revenue streams for robust caregiving systems and policies.
Moderator: Anna Wadia, Executive Director at the CARE Fund
Speakers:
- Elyssa Schmier, Vice President of Government Relations and National Budget at MomsRising Together & MomsRising Education Fund
- Erica Clemmons Dean, Deputy Director at Family Values @ Work
- Amy Matsui, Senior Counsel and Director of Income Security at National Women's Law Center
New Polling - Small Business Majority Poll Shows Childcare Access is Important to the Small Business Ecosystem
From the Small Business Majority:
This week, we released a new poll that reveals small businesses believe the federal government should take steps to address the high cost of childcare and they strongly support several legislative solutions. The data was released in an exclusive article by Inc. Magazine and was highlighted by Chair Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) during the U.S Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s hearing on America’s childcare crisis this Wednesday.
The poll found that a lack of affordable and accessible childcare is a barrier to small business formation (58% agree) and growth (59% agree) for many entrepreneurs. In fact, entrepreneurs have been forced to take time away from their business (56%), lost out on business opportunities (39%) or even had to close their business to rejoin the workforce (26%). The poll also finds that a lack of childcare is limiting the small business workforce, with 3 in 10 reporting that they’ve had an employee quit due to childcare issues.
More than two-thirds of small business owners think policymakers need to take action to address the cost of childcare. They support several federal policy solutions, including renewing funding for the Child Care Stabilization Program that expired last fall and would fill a $16 billion gap in federal funding for childcare providers.
Please see here for the report and here for our press release. Additionally:
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You can find a partner toolkit here - please share with your networks and use these findings to bolster your work!
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An exclusive on Inc.com
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And Chair Shaheen, from the Senate Small Business Committee, highlighted our poll in a press release.
If you would like to have any dialogue about how business and childcare are intersectional issues, please see Small Business Majority as a resource. Lindsey Vigoda, lvigoda@smallbusinessmajority.org.
Virtual Workshop - Promoting Equitable Access to Early Childhood Programs and Services
From Child Trends:
Please join us for a workshop, Promoting Equitable Access to Early Childhood Programs and Services, on Tuesday, April 16 at 3 pm ET. Child Trends, along with federal and state partners, developed a comprehensive framework for understanding early childhood access from a families’ perspective. This family-centered approach, known as the Access Framework, considers family needs and preferences when accessing early childhood programs and services. The framework can help state and community leaders in their efforts to define, measure, and assess equitable access, and subsequently tailor policy and programmatic solutions. The goal of this workshop is to support the use of this framework and share steps and strategies that state and community leaders can take to promote equitable access to early childhood programs and services.
Workshop Overview
- Overview of the Access Framework and how it can be used to assess equitable access to care and services.
- State case studies highlighting insights on strategies to assess gaps and opportunities to address equitable access in your work.
- Share strategies for engaging family and provider voice to identify barriers to equitable access and strategize solutions.
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Outline five steps state and community leaders can take to assess and address barriers to equitable access.
Register Here: Promoting Equitable Access to Early Childhood Programs and Services
Tuesday, April 16 | 3pm ET | 2pm CT | 1pm MT | 12pm PT
Case Study - Bold Vision, Educator Power, and Focus on Compensation: Laying Groundwork for Transformation in New Mexico
From the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE):
I’m thrilled to share our newest case study on early educator compensation: Bold Vision, Educator Power, and Focus on Compensation: Laying Groundwork for Transformation in New Mexico. The case study is available in English and Spanish. Please share this with your networks.
About the case study:
New Mexico has made bold reforms to their early childhood education and care system in the last four years, building on over a decade of advocacy and community-based organizing with educators. Despite laying promising groundwork, compensation has only improved slightly for some educators.
This case study looks at how New Mexico built support for these reforms - and the political and administrative challenges the movement for compensation continues to face. We draw on first-hand interviews with early educators and members of state agency and advocacy organizations, plus extensive research to tell the story behind the headlines. This case study is the first of a series of case studies on state advancements on early educator compensation.
Stay tuned for the release of our North Carolina case study, and a pre-recorded video briefing for the field on early educator compensation, released in May.
Webinar - Building a National FFN Dataset that Drives Local and National Practice and Policy Innovation
From Home Grown and the RAPID Survey Project based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood:
Please join Home Grown and the RAPID Survey Project based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood on April 18th at 2:00pm Eastern (11:00am Pacific) to learn about RAPID’s national survey of child care providers as well as efforts to engage family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) child care providers in data collection aimed to learn more about their experiences and better support them.
We’ll hear from an organization that has partnered with Home Grown and RAPID in the past to learn about how they benefited from engaging providers in this way and how the data enhanced their practice and policy work. We’ll also spend some time sharing about a forthcoming mini-grant opportunity to access funds to support efforts to recruit FFN caregivers to participate in the RAPID child care provider survey.
Please register for the event in advance and email any questions to Katie Nicolaou, RAPID Survey Senior Coordinator at knicolaou@stanford.edu.
Register here.
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