Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Post

Our country’s fragile, underfunded child care system is falling short of what babies, families, and child care providers need to thrive and our economy needs to stay strong. Robust federal funding is needed to prevent the child care system from collapsing entirely, and to strengthen it so that: 👶🏽 All families have access to high-quality programs where and when they need them 👶🏽 Providers are well compensated for their skills and receive the supports that they need 👶🏽 Babies and toddlers arrive at school ready to learn and prepare for future success See how you can help: https://bit.ly/2ICvwAZ

As the parent of a child in early education I often think to myself, why is it so hard…. To want teachers to be paid well without having my family break its own budget? To make teachers and parents feel rewarded for investing in their kids, not financially cursed? To positively contribute to the overall well-being of educators without having to hurt my family's own financial well-being? For our society to value the investment in young children by setting BOTH teachers and parents up for economic success? For the #appreciation of our teachers to be embedded as a societal value and not just as a value for a week? Why is it so hard to see change in early education? In the affordability of it? In how we invest in teachers?  Why is it so hard? It's stressful, frustrating, and sad. We still have so much work to do within this system to give you-teachers, and us-parents, the economic support to have our children and their village the ability to thrive.   I thank you for continuing to champion and serve the minds of our young ones. It’s hard, it’s thankless, and it’s one of the most important things you do for our world. #teacherappreciationweek #earlyeducation #childcare #whyisitsohard

I am back with more #childcare information! Center for American Progress released an article on the Project 2025 proposal to eliminate Head Start. The idea is hilarious at a time where Child Care Aware of America is projecting most families pay around 12,000 a YEAR for childcare IF they can find it. The article shares that "low-income families dependent on the free services offered by Head Start wouldn’t be able to afford child care without the program, rendering them unable to work or forced to find potentially unsafe, poor-quality child care arrangements." That's more likely, women, out of the labor force. These aren't solutions to the childcare crisis. Read more about the proposed elimination and the consequences of that here: https://lnkd.in/gJZs_d76

New Rule Improves Child Care Access, Affordability, & Stability! The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Care (OCC) announces a new rule that will lower costs for families that receive child care subsidies, improve payment practices to child care providers, and increase families’ child care options. The rule strengthens key policies in the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 and builds on the guidance provided in the 2016 CCDF final rule. It addresses programmatic and systemic challenges to stabilize and strengthen the child care system. Key updates include: -- Reducing costs to families -- Limits the amount that families pay for child care to no more than 7% of their household income -- Expanding choices for families -- Simplifies ways for families to find child care that meets their needs -- Cutting red tape -- Clarifies flexibilities for presumptive eligibility to allow more families to start child care assistance right away so they do not lose out on a job opportunity To read the full rule: https://lnkd.in/gJvTfDbA

KPBS does it again! This raw and compelling series shares the #childcare realities families and communities are facing. Just watch, and you can *feel* the stress, and hope, here. And while I have you, let me share why child care--early care and learning--is also a gender justice, a racial justice, and a climate justice issue... - Never would we see a workforce of 98% men as poorly paid as the child care workforce, which is 98% women, making child care a gender justice issue (thanks for this framing, Blake Hofstad); - Nearly half of that poorly-paid workforce identify as women of color (who make even less than white women in the profession), which combined with the unequal access to quality, affordable care for our Black and Brown babies, also make it a racial justice issue; - And I once had a funder tell me climate change was their number one issue, yet they were donating to child care. Why? Because they wanted all young people to have the best possible start they could to be well-equipped to face (and solve) the climate crisis. Child care is early education, plain and simple. It's high time we invested in it as such. https://lnkd.in/eETbR5_T

Child care has been underfunded for decades, and the pandemic demonstrated how indispensable child care is for the well-being and economic security of children, families and communities while revealing the system’s shortcomings. Child Car Aware of America’s (CCAoA) report Demanding Change focuses on four aspects of the system and issues impacting them. https://lnkd.in/dkCwgexh

It’s expensive to raise a child. Today’s families face significant challenges. The cost of raising children—from child care and health care to basic necessities like food and housing—remains high, even as inflation eases. Both sides of the political aisle agree: 87% of parents with infants and toddlers believe addressing the needs of children and families should be a national priority. Join us for a Town Hall this Tuesday, October 1 to hear what families are saying about the support they need to ensure their children have a strong start in life. https://bit.ly/3XHnkp9

#Fact A loving family is forcibly separated every 10 minutes in the US. The reason? The family lacked access to food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or childcare. #HR5028 - The Family Poverty is Not Child Neglect Act will stop this practice.  I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective on HR5028. #EnactHR5028 #Childwelfare #FosterCare #FamilyPreservation #FamilySeparation #Trauma #ACE https://lnkd.in/eFB9TfXb

Our grant recipient, the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families, has released a new brief describing Texas child care subsidy program staff’s perception of Latino families’ experiences seeking child care subsidies. The brief indicates that challenges related to verification and eligibility documents, language accessibility, and program outreach effectiveness may help explain lower rates of subsidy use among Latino children in Texas. Among key findings, the brief reports that approximately half of staff felt that verification of income, work hours, and child birth certificates were challenging for both Hispanic families and other applicants to provide. The brief’s findings point to several steps that Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administering agencies could take to reduce access barriers for Latino families eligible to receive subsidized child care. https://buff.ly/4aDqS01 #Data #CCDF #Immigrants

📢By ensuring we understand & meet the needs of #Hyperinsulinism children, young adults & their families, we help them to feel supported, reassured, & confident knowing they are never alone💖 https://lnkd.in/e-94kGEJ #InternationalDayofCharity #CongenitalHyperinsulinism