Chrisi West

Chrisi West
Chrisi has more than 11 years of experience in advocacy (grassroots and digital) through her work for nonprofits, and on candidate and issues organizing campaigns in Virginia and at the national level. She joined Child Care Aware of America in March 2015 and has supported the work of Child Care Aware of America on communications, digital organizing, and now as the director of advocacy, empowering CCR&Rs and family advocates to take action on child care and early childhood education.

Recent Posts

The Cost of Child Care 2018: a Burden for Families across the Country

By Chrisi West on October 22, 2018

Every single day in the United States families are faced with not having affordable child care. One of the highlights of our 2018 report, The US and the High Cost of Child Care, is the regional examination that takes a critical look at this issue of equity in child care.

Topics: Systems Building, Family & Community Engagement

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Child Care is a Community Issue

By Chrisi West on October 22, 2018

Imagine a world where all children start their lives with high-quality education, where all parents can go to work knowing their child is safe, where the folks doing the important work of teaching our youngest all have access to benefits and fair wages. This is far from our reality today, but this is our vision.

Topics: Systems Building, Workforce, Policy & Advocacy

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Success in Massachusetts: A Little Help on Advocacy Can Help Secure Big Funding

By Chrisi West on September 17, 2018

Massachusetts was in search of more funding for its Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies after a massive cut to their budget line in 2010. Since then, CCR&Rs in the state have had to continue to do their critical work of managing cases, providing referrals and subsidies and more, despite a 16% increase in workload and decreased funding.

Child Care Aware® of America’s (CCAoA) advocacy team worked with our friends at the Massachusetts CCR&R to help them launch a new digital action center on their network website and come up with an actionable alert and email to share with their appropriate email list. Their goal was to restore the previous funding cut and bring the budget line item for CCR&R work back up to full funding.

Topics: Business Operations for CCR&Rs, Systems Building

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Bi-Partisan Child Care Program That Supports Parents in College Introduced

By Chrisi West on July 28, 2017
 Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Representatives Katharine Clark (D-MA) and Don Young (R-AK) just introduced the "Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS) Improvement Act of 2017."

CCAMPIS is the only federal program that supports child care services for low-income parents in college, and services are provided year-round. According to numerous studies, the number of parents attending college has grown significantly over the last 15 years and many colleges eliminated child care services, leaving parents with the burden of trying to find safe, quality care while balancing their course schedule.

Topics: Systems Building, Policy & Advocacy

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National Call-In Day May 18

By Chrisi West on May 15, 2017

It's time for a call-in day to Congress while there still time to let them know that we need to prioritize child care funding in the FY 2018 budget.

Topics: Policy & Advocacy, News

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TODAY is Child Care Call-In Day!

By Chrisi West on March 30, 2017

Child Care Aware® of America and Child Care Works have joined with CLASP, NWLC, NAEYC, NAFCC, NBCDI, YWCA, and ZERO TO THREE for national call-in day for child care.

Topics: Policy & Advocacy

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