With one-house proposals expected in just days, time is running out to include critical investments in the child care workforce. Families and educators are counting on state leaders to include these priorities in the state budget.
Sunday is International Women's Day, a day that started with organizing. This year, and always, the need to pay child care educators a thriving wage is a gender justice issue. The people who keep child care programs running are overwhelmingly women. Many are women of color. Many are immigrants. Many are older workers. Their labor makes it possible for parents to work. Across New York, families are crushed by child care costs and, at the same time, educators are leaving because their pay is too low. Programs cannot stay open without them.
A permanent child care workforce compensation fund would change that. It would help strengthen the workforce, keep programs open, and make sure that families have stable options for care.
New York is home to extraordinary wealth, even as many families struggle to afford care. Upcoming one-house proposals will shape whether families can find care and whether educators can afford to stay in this work. They will also make clear whose voices our leaders are listening to – the poor and working majority or the billionaire class.
Email your state legislators today. Tell them to tax the rich and invest in our child care workforce. New York can move toward universal child care, but only if we push for it.
In solidarity,
Marina Marcou-O'Malley and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari
Co-Executive Directors, Alliance for Quality Education
No comments:
Post a Comment