—PRESS RELEASE—
Date:
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Contact:
Terry Carter—(213) 700-5617
Following an open-letter to Governor Brown that will run as a full page ad in the Sacramento Bee the same day:
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Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel
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South Bay Assemblymember Betsy Butler, and
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County Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo
join with other local women leaders to highlight the value of the women providing family child care programs that keep California working.
Los Angeles, CA— Today, women elected leaders stood alongside child care providers and the parents and children they serve to ask Governor Brown to sign AB 101, a bill that will fix the state’s broken child care system. They gathered to highlight the critical role these providers play in enabling Californians to go to work every day. These women leaders—and dozens of others statewide—signed onto a letter that appeared as a full page ad in the Sacramento Bee this morning. The letter calls on Governor Brown to do the right thing and support jobs by supporting the women that enable California’s to go to work: child care providers. The letter calls on the Governor to sign AB 101.
In California’s broken child care system, 5,700 family child care providers closed their doors last year at a time when 200,000 families struggling to get back to work are on child care waiting lists. Each of those closed programs left up to fourteen families scrambling for alternatives, which are few and far between. Countless jobs are lost as a result. Providers are leaving the child care business in large part due to serious problems that must be addressed and the fact that providers currently do not have a voice in their industry to help fix those problems. Problems include inconsistent licensing requirements, the absence of payday policies which result in months-late reimbursements to providers, lack of standardized training opportunities, and poor communication of program changes. In Los Angeles County alone, hundreds of child care providers have gone months without pay.
“We must acknowledge these women as the child care professionals they are. They must have a greater say in what’s needed to stabilize the state’s child care system,” said Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel. “To support job growth in California, these women must have the tools to fix what’s broken. Governor, these women need a voice!”
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