Emily Teixeira’s Post

THINK BABIES AND VOTE Every child deserves a strong start life but opportunities to grow and flourish are not shared equally by all infants, toddlers, and families, reflecting past and present systemic racism and barriers to critical resources. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, just over 40% of babies lived in families without enough income to make ends meet. For our nation to thrive, we must ensure that every baby has what they need to reach their full potential. As a voter, you have the power to educate and elect candidates who are committed to making the potential of every infant and toddler our national priority. In this voter guide you will find the information and policy solutions you need to Think Babies and vote. While many issues being discussed during the election cycle impact babies and families, this voter guide focuses on three key areas that are critical to families with infants and toddlers: • Affordable, quality child care; • Paid family and medical leave; • Economic security supports like the Child Tax Credit. #ChildCareVoter #ThinkBabies

Child care in the US is 1) too hard to find 2) too expensive and 3) absolutely essential to parents' earning power, especially mothers'. That means it's also 4) essential to the economy. We hear a lot about those issues -- but we don't hear enough about 5) how important quality day care and preschool experiences are for little kids. Evidence from the pandemic era is piling up to remind us that child care centers aren't just where toddlers are warehoused while their parents are at work; that's where they learn foundational skills, social skills, and to form trusting, loving attachments with non-family adults. I'd love to hear Harris talk more about this issue as she runs for president. My latest column (gift link!) for Bloomberg Opinion:

Our friends at Moms First are mobilizing communities to Get Child Care on the Record! Child care now costs more than rent in all 50 states, and struggling caregivers deserve action. This election season, candidates up and down the ballot (regardless of party) must not only prioritize bold, transformative solutions to the childcare crisis — but also commit to making them happen. The mission is simple: Collectively raise our voices to ask candidates the crucial question, “Will you prioritize child care in your first 100 days in office?” If we’re going to fix our broken child care system, we need leaders who are ready to find and enact solutions. Get involved to #GetChildCareontheRecord: https://lnkd.in/eUcADmyF

Safe, reliable, affordable, quality child care: ✔️ helps create more equitable workplaces, with particular benefit for working Moms, whose radically undervalued skills and potential workplace contributions are hindered by this issue (I’m biased, *and* it’s true) ✔️ benefits employers ✔️ benefits kids ✔️ benefits the economy ❌ does not ONLY benefit Moms ❌ is not ONLY an issue during infancy ❌ cannot ONLY be solved through paid parental leave (but that’s a start) ✅ is central to the full implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda (ask me how) ✅ is also key to the full implementation of the Youth, Peace, and Security agenda (ask me how!) ⭐️ is an important facet of a thriving economy, an equitable society, and a functioning democracy - - - Make it easier for parents to care for their kids, and watch future generations thrive 🚀 Reshma Saujani Moms First thank you for your leadership and advocacy.

My conversation with Sondra Goldschein is all about shifting our mindset to viewing child care, elder care, and paid family leave as essential and basic infrastructure for our economy. Tune in on how to achieve family friendly policies and why they will benefit you! https://lnkd.in/eWnFMhSV

Child care is crucial to the U.S. economy. If parents can’t find quality care, or can’t afford it, that inhibits their ability to work. “There’s a growing understanding, especially through Covid, that this is economic infrastructure,” said Aly Richards, chief executive of the Burlington, Vt.-based nonprofit Let’s Grow Kids. Daycares are labor intensive. They can’t, for example, hire remote workers. They are also closely regulated, which means they can’t skimp on the number of teachers. Other fixed costs are also high and hard to bring down: the rent or mortgage, insurance, food.  All this results in an economic mismatch. The median wage for a child-care worker is less than $15 an hour, according to the Labor Department. But the median cost for parents to send just one child can easily top $10,000 or $15,000 a year. “The child-care market is a textbook example of a market failure,” said Cynthia Osborne, professor of early childhood education and policy at Vanderbilt University. “Child care is unaffordable for families and not profitable for businesses, and child-care educators are the ones really struggling in the middle.” Daycares don’t get the same public resources the K-12 system receives, and profit margins are razor thin. Droves of child-care workers were laid off during pandemic lockdowns, and when the economy reopened, many got better-paying jobs at retailers, warehouses and restaurants. Advocacy group Child Care Aware of America estimates that about 13,000 regulated in-home daycares have closed since 2019, a 12% drop. The number of daycare centers has increased over that same period, though only by 1%. A paucity of child care is a drag on the labor market. About 13% of young children in the U.S. had a family member who had to quit, change or refuse a job because of child-care problems, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which examined Commerce and Labor Department data. Voters next week will approve an amendment that would raise property taxes by 2.5 cents per $100 valuation throughout Travis County, Texas, which includes most of Austin. The state already helps some low-income families pay for daycare. The county money would add to that, to raise pay and create new positions for daycare staffers. Similar initiatives to raise property or sales taxes to fund child care are on the ballot in Sonoma County, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn. Florida this year started offering tax breaks to businesses that provide child care for employees. Vermont created a new payroll tax, to increase staffing and capacity at daycares. And in Louisiana, taxes on sports betting, cannabis-derived products and casinos raise money for early-childhood education. Three bipartisan bills in the Senate propose bigger tax credits, to both help families with child-care costs and motivate businesses to provide care, though no vote has been scheduled for any of them.

Managing the costs of child care, preschool, summer camp or elder care can be challenging. That’s why a pre-tax Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) is a valuable benefit for service members. It can help maximize earnings and ease out-of-pocket expenses. Read more to understand how it works and how to sign up. https://lnkd.in/e2qwvc8f

We just published a new blog post about the Child and Dependent Care Credit, learn more from your friends at Tax911.com, Inc.. Just click below.

CCC-Supported Legislation Making Moves & What’s Next In early June, the legislative session of the New York State Legislature ended for summer. At the state level, conversations mirrored a lot of what’s been and is still being discussed at the city level: lack of affordable child care access, high housing costs, and more. While there is still significant work to be done to uplift New York families overall, there was some really good progress made with state legislation that CCC supported. Reflecting on this year’s session, we are celebrating several legislative victories that promise to advance our collective goals, especially in supporting child care in New York State. Read our latest Insight to learn about the bills and more: https://bit.ly/nysleg24

The greatest opportunity to influence a child’s success begins early when our brains grow faster than any later point in life. Get the tools and resources you need to urge candidates to #ThinkBabiesNC: https://lnkd.in/d2cgHdDV #2024Election #childcare #childcarematters