Make no mistake!
Access to Quality Child Care is a civil rights issues!
Back in early June 2015, as the state legislature and the governor got closer to finalizing the budget, we decided to take some very serious steps about this very serious issue: a child care system that works! So we went up to Sacramento on June 3 to make sure they didn’t forget about one of the greatest needs in the state today.
Our actions—a rally, a march and a peaceful sit-in that blocked the street—echoed past fights for justice in our nation’s history.
We must win:
- Children’s access to quality care that gives them a chance to succeed in school
(…later in June, the legislature and governor did finalize a budget that gave more children and families access to child care—due to our hard work and lobbying!) - A safe place for working parent’s to get care for their kids while they provide for their families
- A child care system that allows providers to provide for our own families
- A voice for providers in our own industry
Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta was among the leaders speaking at our rally to urge the Governor to give providers a voice to fix California’s broken child care system.
Moms, grandmas and aunts got arrested for quality child care. That was quite a sacrifice!
The day’s events—a rally, a march and the civil disobedience—are a result of our unprecedented Raising California Together coalition, which has unified child care providers, agencies, parents, educators, clergy and interfaith networks, unions, small businesses, women’s and children’s advocates, community groups, and public health organizations around solutions that go beyond the minimum wage to lift families out of poverty by increasing access to quality child care and early learning choices.
News coverage from the day…
- Sacramento Bee Video: Protesters block traffic, arrested outside Capitol
- The Guardian: Fourteen arrests at California protest in support of childcare reforms
- KFBK Radio Sacramento: Protesters Calling For Child Care Reform Block Traffic
- The big newspaper in our state capital, The Sacramento Bee, said in an editorial that we need more child care and that providers’ “low pay has long been a scandal.”
- NBC 3 Sacramento: Group blocks downtown street during child care rally
