Start your week with a phone call for child care!

We are certainly in for some changes in the next session of Congress. But let's not let the sitting Congress off the hook just yet. They're in their offices today, making decisions about what is important enough to move before they leave for the holidays. I think child care rises to that level of importance - don't you?! Here's the call to action from the National Women's Law Center , the Early Care and Education Consortium, NAEYC, the Center for Law and Social Policy, and other national organizations:

300,000 children could lose child care and Head Start if you don't call today!

Congress is back in Washington today and has limited time to do some important work: ensure that funding is not cut for child care and Head Start before the end of the year. Watch this video and share it with your friends and coworkers! Then, call Congress!! As many as to 300,000 children shouldn't be dropped from child care and Head Start, and we need to create the Early Learning Challenge Fund to encourage states to do even better for young children and families.
Congress is considering appropriations bills that could go backwards in spending for child care and Head Start, and would lose the Early Learning Challenge Fund. Tell Congress to move forward and fund the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, and the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

Quick Tips for your Call to Congress!
1. Call 1-888-460-0813

2. The first person to answer the phone will be an operator who will ask how you want to be connected. Tell the operator the name of your Member of Congress. (Not sure? Look it up here.)

3. Once you are connected to the office of your Member of Congress, a staff person will answer the phone. Tell the staff person:

• My name is (name) and I am calling from (city, state) and I am (your role - a parent, a voter, a child care director, a Head Start teacher, etc.).
• Don’t drop 300,000 children from child care and Head Start. Make sure that continued funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head Start is NOT REDUCED in the appropriations bill and that the Early Learning Challenge Fund is included.
• We are counting on you here in (state). Thank you.

4. Then, hang up and ask five friends or coworkers to make a call as well.

Thank you for taking five minutes to do this! It will make a world of difference to 300,000 kids and their working families!

Update on Child Nutrition Reauthorization

Important News from the Afterschool Alliance via the Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership: Child Nutrition Reauthorization Clears the SenateLate in the afternoon of August 5 the full Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, legislation that reauthorizes the federal child nutrition programs. In addition to increasing access to healthful meals for the children that need them most, the bill includes a provision that expands the afterschool meal program to all 50 states. The bill also requires childcare providers participating in the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) to serve only low-fat or fat-free milk to children aged two and up, among other nutrition standards, and encourages physical activity. Of grave concern to the anti-hunger community is the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as a funding offset to pay for a portion of the child nutrition bill. Attention now turns to the House of Representatives, and whether Congress will be able to pass its version of Child Nutrition reauthorization legislation before the current programs expire on September 30, 2010.

Update on Federal Early Childhood Funding

Hi everyone! Got this great news yesterday from Danielle Ewen at the Center for Law and Social Policy, so I thought I would share!

Earlier today, the Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations presented their plan for FY 2011 funding for agencies under their jurisdiction. The Committee made significant investments in early childhood programs, including $1 billion in new funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, an increase of $990.3 million for Head Start and Early Head Start, and $300 million for a new Early Learning Challenge Fund. These amounts exceed the House Subcommittee allocations earlier this month, and are higher than the President’s request.

Chairman Harkin highlighted the importance of these programs even in these difficult times in his opening statement:

“This is a period of great economic uncertainty for our nation,” said Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee. “Although the economy is expanding again, far too many Americans still can’t find a job, and the threat of a double-dip recession looms large. In the longer term, the national debt continues to rise to dangerous levels. As the largest nondefense Appropriations bill that Congress will consider this year, the Labor-HHS bill must respond to both of these challenges, addressing today’s hard economic realities while taking every possible opportunity to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse so as to reduce the deficit in the long run.

“Three priorities permeate this bill,” Harkin continued. “First, it invests in critical programs that help the neediest Americans—programs that offer job training, protect workers from safety and health hazards, and provide a safety net for those struggling just to make ends meet. Second, this bill recognizes that every taxpayer dollar must be used wisely. And the third priority is reform. This bill includes several initiatives that will leverage systemic changes in the areas of education, health and labor.”

This incredible victory is just the first step in a long Appropriations process. Later this week the full Committee will vote, followed by an eventual vote by the full Senate and a conference process with the House.

Feed Your Children Well: A Child Nutrition Update

When I was a kid, I ate the “hot lunch” at school pretty much every day, and I liked it. From Tater Tot Casserole to Dagwood Sandwiches, tacos to pizza, my week was filled with meals that appealed to my child-sized taste for comfort food.
Fast forward 35 years, and now I’m sending my own kids off to school each day. And though the fare their schools provide is marginally better nutritionally speaking, we pack their lunches most days to ensure they get whole grains, lean protein, and a good dose of fruits and vegetables. It takes a little more time (my husband’s, since he is the kitchen god in our house), and probably costs a little more than the school lunch. But it’s better for them, and it helps them learn what a healthy meal looks like and develop healthy eating habits.
Yesterday, the House committee responsible for reauthorization of the federal Child Nutrition Act, led by Rep. George Miller of California, filed its version of the bill - the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. The bill is a good step forward for kids like mine who have the occasional school lunch, but more importantly it is a critical step forward for the approximately 30 million children who benefit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, which provides free and reduced lunch to low income children across the country. For too many children in food insecure families, this is the single full meal they can count on each day. The House proposal expands eligibility for the lunch program, makes it easier for children to access the program by streamlining the application process, and gives incentive grants to school districts to start healthy breakfast programs.
The legislation also takes steps to improve the nutritional value and safety of school lunches, increase nutrition education in schools, and connect schools to local food growers to improve the quality of the meals. For younger children who receive meals in child care settings, the proposal helps connect their caregivers to the WIC program to improve the nutritional quality of their meals, and makes it easier for home-based caregivers to enroll in the meal program.
As the school year winds down and some of us get ready to pack lunches for summer camp or serve up PB&J’s by the wading pool, it’s good to note that the proposed reauthorization bill takes one more important step. According to the Committee, it will provide year-round meals for over 225,000 children through school based and community based summer and after-school programs. For kids whose best meal of the day is their school lunch, the Summer Food Service Program is a very big deal.
Feeding our children is a basic part of being a parent, a family, a community, and a nation. The reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is an opportunity to make sure we feed them all, and we feed them well. To speak up on child nutrition and school lunches, contact your Senator or Representative today by going here.
For more information about child nutrition in schools, visit the Food Research and Action Center, Let’s Move! or Farm to School.

Women in the News on International Women's Day

Today is International Women’s Day. I’m thinking about the best way to observe the day, and the morning news gave me a lot of ideas.

When I opened the paper at the breakfast table, I saw a photo in the Cape Cod Times of two burqa-clad women who had just braved multiple bombings to vote in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. My lovely math-whiz ballerina daughter, who was sitting next to me, asked, “What are those black things?” I explained to her that women in some religious cultures wear burqas to cover themselves, because they believe women shouldn’t show their faces or any parts of their bodies, or in some cases because men in their lives or religious leaders in their governments require them to. “But why are their fingers black?” “Because they just voted, and that’s how they keep track of voters there, and make sure they don’t vote twice.” I went on to explain how Iraqis, including these women, were willing to face the possibility of being killed to participate in a democratic process that so many of us here take for granted, but I’m not sure how much sunk in over her bagel and cream cheese. That’s ok – we’ll keep talking.

Then I turned to the Boston Globe, and learned that Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director for her film, The Hurt Locker. In a story later on NPR, I heard her say that she hoped to be known not as a female filmaker, but as a filmmaker, and she hoped some day that qualifier wouldn’t be necessary. Fair enough, but the fact remains that she boldly broke new ground.

Finally, I fired up Facebook (yes, I know not exactly a news source, but I do get lots of info from it these days), and noted that lots of my local friends would be eating at the Dan’l Webster today, and 15% of our bills will be going to The Emancipation Network. Two awesome women (shout out Janell and Tammy!) in our community recently traveled to Kolkata as volunteers for this organization, which works to end human trafficking (also known as slavery) of women and girls, and to promote education for girls who might otherwise fall prey to this crime. Educating girls is the key, and may be the cause of our lifetime. If you don’t believe me, read Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn and I dare you not to feel grateful for your life and to take action.

So what will I be doing today? I’ll be celebrating my life, and the lives of women all over the world. There was a time when people said we couldn’t “have it all.” Well, many of us do. We may not have it all at the same time. We may not have it all when we want it. But we have choices, and so we have everything. We can work, we can play (thanks Title IX!) we can learn, and we can choose our leaders – or be our leaders.

And so on this International Women’s Day, be grateful for the choices you have, and commit yourself to working like hell for the women in the world who don’t have them.

Three Things You Can do Now to Help Kids and Families

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with this blog, and I blame my tendency to over-think. I want to write about the most urgent issue, the most effective action you can take, to have the most positive impact on children and their families. But as we seem to be learning almost every day, neither politics nor the public policy they produce are perfect, and we can’t let that paralyze us. So here are three quick but important things you can do today to have a positive impact on children’s lives. Don’t think about them too much… just put one foot in front of the other (as Chris Kringle sings).

1) If you are part of an organization that serves children, the National Women’s Law Center is circulating a sign-on letter to be sent to the House and Senate for national, state, and local groups urging support of the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009, S. 2749 and H.R. 4402, introduced by Senator Gillibrand (D-NY) Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY). If your organization would like to sign on to the letter or if you want more information, please contact Rio Romero by close of business next Monday, January 25th. She can be reached at rromero@nwlc.org, or (202) 319-3056).

2) Check out the important work the National Center for Children in Poverty is doing around measuring poverty and understanding the financial struggles of children and their families. You can start by viewing and listening to NCCP’s webinar on Federal and Local Efforts to Modernize the Poverty Measure – an outdated and inadequate standard that’s used to allocate all types of public support, from Head Start to food assistance. From there you can explore NCCP's tools for advocates, practitioners, and administrators, including their Basic Needs Budget Calculator.

3) Finally, and perhaps most obviously and urgently, please -- if you haven't already -- make a donation to an organization that’s providing relieve in Haiti. With an estimated death toll of 200,000 the Haitian earthquake has certainly left many, many children without food, shelter, health care, and other basic needs. One organization that is doing great work to help them is Partners in Health.

There are so many more steps you can take to help children and families, but the most important thing is to get started. If you have other suggestions, please comment here. A belated happy New Year to all of you!

What Would You Do Without Child Care?

I’ve been working on child care policy for about 15 years now, and I’ve seen a lot of articles like this one that ran in USA Today on Wednesday. Every time I read one I wonder why it’s so difficult to make progress on ensuring that working families have the high quality, affordable child care they need. Honestly. Around 58% of children ages birth to six have mothers who are employed, and almost 78% of kids ages six to 18 have moms who are working for pay. Most work full-time. Most mothers of babies, toddlers, and school-age kids need some kind of child care or after-school program so they can work.

So why don't federal and state policy makers put more funding into child care, even in less economically challenging times? One theory I’ve considered is that progress on child care policy suffers from a high-turnover constituency. That’s advocacy and organizer-speak, so let me break it down. You’re a parent, and you need to work. You can’t find child care, or you can’t find child care you like or trust. Or you can’t find child care you can afford on your hourly salary. You feel desperate and angry. You are a perfect advocate, because you can call policy-makers and say, “Look, if I can’t find or afford decent child care then I can’t work! That’s not good for my family!” That’s powerful.

But then, eventually, you work it out. You find a child care situation that you can afford. Maybe it’s perfect, or maybe it’s not the best for you or your kid, but it works for now, and it lets you get to your job. Then you’re really busy – because you’re a mom or a dad, and you’re working outside the home. Who has time to call legislators or write letters to the editor? Your problem is solved, and you need to move on. You are part of a high-turnover constituency.

But lots of other moms and dads are still out there, facing the same situation you used to face. And they are struggling. So this is my appeal to all you parents out there who either have great child care now, or used great child care when your kids were younger. You know how important it was to you and your family. Look around you throughout your day. Look at your your nurse, your cashier, your child’s teacher, and your waitress. I wonder if they have children. I wonder if they’re having a hard time finding child care. I wonder if they could use your help – your voice – in improving child care policy.

If you think maybe they can, contact your state and federal legislators and let them know how important it is to provide funding for child care subsidies and quality supports. Other parents and kids still need you. For more information on how to help, check out these organizations: NWLC, Early Education for All (in MA), NAEYC