Dear Child Care Aware® of America Community:
On this day, one year ago, President Obama signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization Act of 2014 (CCDBG). The CCDBG law took critical steps toward ensuring that children are in safe, affordable and quality child care settings-Child care providers who receive federal funds must complete background checks, undergo annual inspections, receive training on basic topics, such as first-aid, safe sleep and CPR, before they are permitted to work with children. The law also permits the flexible use of funds, which can be used for Child Care Resource & Referral services, training for child care providers, infant and toddler specialists, and quality rating systems.
Though the passage of CCDBG was a significant success for the child care and early education community, we have much work to do. Child care programs and providers are stifled by limited resources, and we need your help to tell Congress to provide adequate funding to support the bipartisan initiatives put forth in the CCDBG law.
Child Care Aware® of America has created a Public Policy Agenda that includes a comprehensive list of recommendations to Congress across a number of issues related to child care, including:
- Funding;
- Expansion of Existing Federal Programs;
- Tax Credits;
- Improving Access to Care;
- Afterschool and Non-Traditional Hours Care;
- Health and Wellness;
- Infant and Toddler Care; and
- Family and Community Engagement
Stay tuned for our public policy agenda to be released soon!
Sincerely,
Lynette Fraga, Ph.D.
Executive Director
