For Immediate Release
May 12, 2010 |
Contact:
Mary Ignatius
415-420-2349
mignatius@rrnetwork.org |
Stand For Children
Working families on the brink
as Legislature contemplates cuts to child care
SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 12, 2010 – 500 parents and children took over the Capitol today to march and rally with a loud and unified message, “Child Care Keeps California Working!” Over the last two months, 50 low-income working parents have testified in Senate and Assembly Budget Subcommittee hearings bringing the urgency of their child care needs to legislators’ attention. With the May Revise poised for release on May 14th, they returned to the Capitol today along with members from Parent Voices chapters across the state with their call to protect child care services in the state budget.
Despite enormous challenges including job losses and the struggle to meet the basic needs of their families, parents made the commitment to travel to Sacramento believing that their personal realities and economic circumstances could help influence the tough decisions that Legislators have to make in the coming weeks. Chang Zhu, the mother of two boys from Oakland, spoke eloquently about the challenges in the current job market. “I worked in China as an accountant for 13 years. When I came to the States, I looked for a job as an accountant and have been looking for so long, it’s very frustrating. I enrolled in community college to get an AA degree in accounting and I am about to finish this degree this month. Without child care assistance I could not afford child care and my dream of having an accounting career would remain just a dream.”
Parents brought two messages to Sacramento: Protect child care funding in the state budget and look for smart revenues to close the looming budget crisis; the state can not rely on cuts alone to balance the budget. Becky Moralez, a single mother from Chico, spoke at the rally describing how critical her child care subsidy is to keeping her job and children safe. “If the Governor’s proposal to cut $123 million from Stage 3 child care goes through, I will lose my child care and eventually will have to quit my job. I’ve been through the CalWORKs program and having child care has helped me maintain employment, but without it, I fear I will have to start all over again. I don’t want to go backwards! The budget crisis cannot be balanced on the backs of low-income working mothers and our children!”
Families and children carried signs, balloons, and banners on their march to the Capitol. Parents also filled out postcards asking Senator Dianne Feinstein to support the $1.6 billion increase for child care in the President’s 2010-11 budget. This funding will be critical in expanding access to child care services for the working poor. Currently there are nearly 200,000 fully eligible children in California waiting indefinitely for child care services. Without new federal or state funding, these children will continue to miss out on the early learning opportunities that would prepare them for their future academic success.
Parents received encouraging news from several state legislators who spoke at the rally. “It is imperative that we have the vision to rebuild our economy while we struggle with balancing the state’s budget this year. Childcare needs to be one of those bedrock priorities. Quality childcare enables parents to get back to work, provides critical jobs in our communities, and establishes a fundamental investment in our children’s future,” stated Assemblymember Sandré R. Swanson. (D-Alameda), member of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #2 on Education.
The rally was best captured by 9 year old Mariah Buitrago of Santa Rosa. Mariah has attended Stand For Children since she was 4 years old and was very excited about the opportunity to speak at the rally. Mariah, standing on a stool so she could look out on the crowd, said, “My Mommy is happy when she goes to work because she knows we are in a safe place with people she can rely on. I overheard my mommy talking about these proposed cuts to child care and I asked my teacher if we could do a writing assignment to the Governor letting him know how important child care is to me and my family. I am very proud to be here today representing my Mom, my sisters, and all of the people who could not speak for themselves today.”
Parents, children, and supporters gathered at the Capitol for a spirited march and held a rally where parent speakers from Butte, Los Angeles, Alameda, and Sonoma counties were joined by legislators on key budget committees including Assembly members Swanson, De La Torre, Ammiano, and Senators Leno and Liu.
Parent Voices is a parent led, parent run grassroots organizing effort dedicated to making quality child care accessible and affordable to all families. It is a project of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, organized into seventeen local chapters and housed in child care resource and referral programs across the state. For more information, visit www.parentvoices.org.
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