It Takes a Village – Rally4Babies Highlights Need to Invest in Early Childhood

“The African saying, that it takes a village to raise a child is true, but the thing we need to remember all the time is that we are that village, it’s not somebody else, each one of us are part of the village and we have to daily say, what I can do to contribute to this, what can I do to help somebody further the life of a child,” stated Alma Powell, Chair of the Board at America’s Promise Alliance, discussing the importance of the advocacy community taking action on early childhood policies.

The first ever Rally4Babies took place on Monday, July 8^th, sponsored by ZERO-TO-THREE, bringing together national leaders, celebrities, and citizens in support of early learning for babies and toddlers.   During the event, award-winning journalist and CEO of Starfish Media Group Soledad O’Brien asked questions to prominent speakers such as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Chair of the Board at America’s Promise Alliance Alma Powell about why early learning for infants and toddlers is critical.  Jennifer Garner, Actress and Save the Children Artist Ambassador, shared stories about why she is passionate about teaching moms how to support their babies’ early learning.  Finally, award-winning children’s musician Laurie Berkner did a live performance for rally participants.

In case you missed it, watch a YouTube recording of the rally and share the event with your friends and family.

The focus of the Rally4Babies was to emphasize the importance of a comprehensive early learning strategy and to rally Americans around early learning policies that focus specifically on babies and toddlers.  More than 6 million children younger than age 3 are in the care of someone other than their parents every week.  On average, children are in a child care setting for about 35 hours a week.  Forty-six percent of infants and toddlers under age 3 live in low-income families, and 24 percent live in poor families.  In 2010, 16.5 percent of infants and 24.2 percent of toddlers of employed mothers were in care in an organized facility (such as a child care center) and another 16.9 percent of infants and 16.3 percent of toddlers of employed mothers were in family child care homes.

Currently, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the law that allocates funds to states for child care, does not provide states with any guidance on how those funds are to be used to improve the quality of infant and toddler care. To ensure that children are in settings that are safe and promote healthy development, Child Care Aware® of America recommends that states are provided the flexibility of choosing from several effective options to improve program quality and to strengthen the workforce for infants and toddlers, including establishing statewide networks of family child care providers and infant and toddler specialists, as well as establishing other statewide initiatives.

It’s time to take action to ensure that we, as the village, are doing what’s right for infants and toddlers nationwide.  Take time to urge your lawmakers to cosponsor S. 1086, a bill to reauthorize CCDBG.