Small Window, Big Impact: How Your Advocacy Protected Child Care

The following is a message from CCAC Policy, Advocacy, and Research Manager, Hazel Brown.

Thank you all for your incredible advocacy throughout this legislative session. It was another challenging year, with only 60 days to pass important legislation during a significant budget deficit. Thanks to the work of parents and providers, the final budget passed without the devastating cap on Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) caseloads that had originally been proposed in the Governor’s budget. We were also able to expand ECEAP eligibility, and pass a Millionaire’s Tax that dedicates 5% of all revenue generated to the Fair Start for Kids Act. 

Your advocacy made an enormous difference by helping legislators understand the effects of their budget options on families, providers, and businesses. The Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, June Robinson, directly credited advocates for the House and Senate decision not to move forward the cap on child care subsidies, saying “we heard from many people, people who use Working Connections Child Care, people who provide those services, advocates in the larger community, that that is a policy that many people believe really destabilizes the child care workforce”. – Hazel Brown