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!

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.

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

You Too Can Be a Wonky Mom (or Dad)!

I love public policy. And I love my family. I was passionate about the former well before the latter came along. But not surprisingly raising children has intensified my desire to improve the world through lawmaking (or law changing), especially for kids and the people who care for them.

Those who know me in real life know that this divides my energy in many ways throughout a typical day. I’ve searched for child care for my infant daughter while researching the quality of child care for families in Boston. I’ve followed the health care debate on a day that I took my son to a well visit at his pediatrician’s office (covered by excellent health insurance, natch). I’ve read about the achievement gap, while reviewing my son’s state test scores. The resources and opportunities available to my children make me keenly aware of the challenges of families who aren’t so lucky, and that drives my desire to learn more, and do more to improve the public policies that impact them every day.

I’m blessed with a great network of frolleagues who lead similar professional and personal lives. I can’t list them all here, but you know who you are, and you each inspire me every day. I will give a special shout out to my friend who recently mentioned the challenge of trying to follow health care reform for Results while losing sleep to her son’s teething.

Here’s the thing parents– even if you don’t have a policy degree and have never set foot in the halls of Congress, you too can be a Wonky Mom or a Wonky Dad! It is my greatest hope and desire that if this blog does nothing else it challenges other parents out there to recognize that the world of public policy interacts with their homes, their neighborhoods, their schools and their communities every day. And, more importantly, that they have a role to play in shaping it, not just for themselves but for all the other families out there like them.

To help you get started, here are a few issues that are already underway in Washington, and some resources to help you step up and speak up. I’m leaving health care off the list because I’ve written about that recently, but feel free to check out my earlier posts.

Student Loans for College - H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 passed the house last night. Besides setting up the Early Learning Challenge Fund for quality child care and early education, it also shifts college student loans from private financial institutions to the federal government. Proponents say that cutting out the middle man will save money for families borrowing for college. Opponents say it’s a government take over. What do you think? Let your Senator know, because that's where that bill goes next!

Child Nutrition – The federal laws that help children have access to healthy food are due to be renewed by Congress this year. According to the Food Research and Action Center, this reauthorization (for definitions of words used in Congress, go here) will include the School Breakfast and Lunch programs, Summer Food, Child and Adult Care Food (provides food in child care settings) and WIC (Women Infant and Children) programs. You can learn more and sign up for email updates at FRAC’s web site.

No Child Left Behind – This is the nickname for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also up for renewal this year, which sets federal policy for public schools with students grades K-12. If you have kids in school, this is the source of the requirement for standardized testing (MCAS in Massachusetts) beginning in 3rd grade. As it makes its way through reauthorization, policy makers, educators, and yes, parents, should speak up about standardized testing, teacher training and qualifications, charter schools, expanded early learning, and federal funding. Our kids spend at least six hours a day in their schools – let’s make them count!

These are just a few of the family friendly issues facing legislators this year. Ready to become a Wonky Mom or Wonky Dad? Visit one of the sites below to get started (and of course it won’t hurt to follow this blog and @childfampolicy on Twitter!).

• Results is a great grassroots organizing network that will help you learn to speak up and give you the information you need to be effective. Tell Meredith I sent you – and that I hope she got some sleep last night!


• The National Women’s Law Center works on issues affecting women and girls. I especially love their Family Economic Security team!


• MomsRising makes it easy and fun with easy to understand updates and fun to use techie organizing tools!

Good luck with your good work! Let me know how it goes on your journey to Wonkdom!

States Should Act Now to Invest in Children

One of the guidelines I’ve read about blogging is that you shouldn’t start a blog unless you have something that interests you so much that you will be able to write about it at least once a week. Hmmm. I seem to have fallen behind, and I apologize. But I assure you that my absence wasn’t due to lack of interest, but to a paralysis of indecision regarding where to start (ok, that and school vacation – all you parents out there will understand). Actually, the situation is that there are so many ideas to act upon that I’m not sure where to start.

Kind of like states implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus package).

I just got off a timely conference call hosted by Danielle Ewen at the Center on Law and Social Policy and Helen Blank at the National Women’s Law Center. Here’s the gist. There is money available to states to do important work in the area of child care and early childhood education, that will create and preserve jobs and help families get through this economic crisis. Funding will come through increases in the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, and Title I. A state by state breakdown of dollars is available from the National Education Association here. States have a lot of flexibility in how to use the new funds, but they have to act now.

With $2 billion new dollars in federal child care funding, $1.1 billion in Early Head Start, $1 billion in Head Start, and $10 billion in Title I, there is clearly an opportunity to strengthen child care and early childhood education services at the state and local levels, which will create and preserve jobs (think teachers, trainers, quality specialists) and help parents stay in their jobs by making child care more affordable. You can track how states are using federal recovery dollars here.

It’s important for state and local administrators not to fall prey to the paralysis of indecision, but to act quickly to turn that money around and invest it in children, families, and communities. It’s important to get these investments right, and they will be held accountable by the feds for the numbers of jobs created and saved. But we have children on the waitlist for child care subsidies today. And programs closing classrooms and laying off teachers because parents can’t afford to send their children. States should not wait until they have the perfect plan to act. As President Obama said in his address last night, “the cost of inaction will be far greater.”

Economic Recovery Conference Committee Meeting

The conference committee is meeting as we speak to work out differences between house and senate versions of the economic recovery plan. Here are the members (thanks NWLC!).

The House conferees include:
Rep. David Obey (D-WI)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)

The Senate conferees are:
Senators Harry Reid (D-NV)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Charles Grassley (R-IA)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)

Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (R-ME), Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Ben Nelson (D-NE) aren't conferees, but are likely to have a role in the discussion.

If you have an opinion on the economic recovery bill, and you live in the district of one or more of these members of Congress, now is the time to get in touch! If you don't know how to reach them, go here. If you don't live in one of these districts, you can still call your members of Congress and ask them to pass your message on to the conferees. This will be a quick process, so act now!

Some great comparisons of the early childhood content of the two proposals can be found at NWLC and NAEYC.

Economic Updates

One of my "frolleagues" just sent me a fun link, and it included this White House-produced summary of how the economic recovery proposal would create jobs and strengthen the economy in each state. Find your state in this document if you need more reasons to ask your Senators to move the bill.

As an update, the Senate is expected to vote on its proposal tomorrow, and the conference committee will probably work things out within the following 48 hours.

If you are concerned about child care funding (see earlier post below), then you'll be happy to know that both the Senate and House version include $2 billion in child care subsidy funding that states can use to move children of working families off waitlists for care, so their parents can find jobs or continue working as their income shrinks. Speaking of which, there was a great local article on the topic yesterday.

An Update on Economic Recovery from NWLC

From the National Women's Law Center:

The House just released its proposal for the economic recovery package, and it provides funding for many important child care, early education, and related programs, including:

-$2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.

-$2.1 billion for Head Start to provide comprehensive development services to help 110,000 additional children succeed in school.

-$600 million for IDEA Infants and Families for formula grants to help states serve children with disabilities age 2 and younger.

-$726 million for Afterschool Meals to increase the number of states that provide free dinners to children and to encourage participation by new institutions by increasing snack reimbursement rates

-$2.5 billion for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for block grants to help States deal with the surge in families needing help during the recession and to prevent them from cutting work programs and services for abused and neglected children.

A more detailed description of the proposal can be found here: http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf.

3 Steps Toward Change for Children

Change! In the next few days and weeks we'll be hearing that word a lot. It has almost become an Obama brand, but let's not forget that we - each of us - can make change too. Here are three things you can do in the next week that can change the lives of children and their families for the better:

1) Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day next Monday by participating in the National Day of Service. To find a service project near you, go to: http://www.mlkday.gov/ If you can, take your kids or a couple of neighborhood children with you. Nothing creates change over the long term like teaching children how to make it!

2) Call your members of Congress and ask them to support child care and Head Start in the Economic Recovery Bill, and to share their support with key leadership. In the short term, child care support will allow parents who are losing income to stay in their jobs or look for new ones, and will maintain jobs (especially for low- to middle-income women) in the early childhood education field. Most importantly, it can give kids stability and the many benefits of high quality early childhood education while their parents work or look for jobs. Key organizations have asked the incoming administration and Congressional leaders to include a $3 billion increase in child care funding, and a $3 billion Head Start increase in the upcoming Economic Recovery Bill. If you don't know how to reach your Representatives and Senators, go to: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml For more information about federal support for child care, and why it's critical to economic recovery, go to: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/ChildCareEconomicStimulusNov2008.pdf

3) As you get ready to attend or watch the historic Inauguration of President Obama, begin learning about the many child and family policy issues the new Administration and Congress will be tackling over the next two years. Congress is preparing to reauthorize funding and policy related to critical issues like education and nutrition (including school lunches), while simultaneously managing the country out of an historically bad economy. You can weigh in, and ensure that Congress and the President put children and families first.

You can make change for children and families - today, next week, and in the coming months and years. Stay tuned to this blog and to http://www.childandfamilypolicy.net/ to find out how!