Today, President Trump released his budget request for FY 18, which proposed very harmful cuts to programs that support low-income and working-class families and children, including a cut to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which serves about 1.5 million income eligible children per month. The proposed cuts will put access to quality, affordable, and safe child care at risk for countless numbers of children.

Child care plays a vital role in the early education and care of our nation’s children. This is especially important given that the early years of a child’s life are the most critical for development. We know that children who receive high-quality child care benefit throughout their lives. However, despite the importance of high-quality child care, the child care workforce earns far less than they should, an average of $19,510 a year.

April showers bring May flowers, as well as our Child Care Aware® of America Policy Summit! It was wonderful seeing all of you for our recent board meetings and during this important event, where CCR&Rs, parents, and child care advocates gathered to discuss child care policy-related issues. We have many exciting initiatives to share with you, including our upcoming public policy research.

We were excited to have more than 300 attendees join us for this year’s Child Care Aware® of America Policy Summit on April 23-25 in Washington, D.C. Child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies and early child care professionals from various disciplines and settings joined us from across the nation to address policy, practice, and the future of the early childhood field. Attendees engaged in insightful sessions, profited from key takeaways, networked, and (most importantly) made their voices heard during our special Day on the Hill event, where child care advocates and allies had an opportunity to meet with their Congressional representatives and put child care initiatives at the forefront of the political conversation.

Fireworks went off when I was born…or at least that is what my Mom told me. I think it was more like flares than fireworks.  You see I was born while my Dad was deployed to Vietnam. Apparently, nothing could keep my Mom, a very young mother, from calling her husband about his second-born daughter’s birth. Nothing. Despite his being in a war zone, on a mountain, in a tent, she demanded he know. She picked up the phone from her hospital room, dialed “0” and started from there.  My mom exemplified the type of scrappy determination military families cultivate as they regularly uproot their lives in service to their country and in support of their active duty spouses.

As we embark on 2017, we look forward to a new year and how we can make an impact during the first 100 days of the new administration. On child and family programs and policy we remain committed to ensure the new Administration and Congress are aware of the policies and resources critical for positive outcomes; and, that within states and communities we engage influencers and implementers to advocate for policies in the best interest of children. Our Child Care Works movement is poised to continue the momentum around ensuring that quality, affordable child care remains a national priority for both the new administration and Congress, and upcoming events like the Child Care Aware of America® Policy Summit will position child care advocates to make their voices heard in the first 100 days.