Do you believe all families should have access to affordable, high-quality child care? Are you a federal employee or member of the military? Then you still have time to select Child Care Aware^® of America as your CFC charity of choice! Please visit this website for more information. Do you know any federal employees? Then let them know about the importance of child care!

Last night, the House of Representatives completed the FY 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill (it also includes the Department of Defense's budget) that, once again, honors the two-year congressional budget agreement by prioritizing funding for early childhood and child care programs.

Right now, we are in a critical time to support access to a high-quality and affordable child care system for all families. You can contribute to this critical mission by nominating yourself or others to be considered for a board position with Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA). The call for Board of Directors nominations is open from September 19 through October 19, 2018.

"Science has shown that when children experience stressful or toxic environments, it is traumatic for future development, which is why it is critical to ensure that children and families who need access to basic services such as food, housing, health and child care can access it,” said Dr. Lynette M. Fraga, executive director of Child Care Aware® of America. “CCAoA supports the healthy growth and development of children and families and that changing the definition of a ‘public charge’ would hurt all families and all communities. Our nation has nothing to gain by creating fear and uncertainty with this public charge change for children and families with low-incomes, regardless of their documentation status.”

The Problem 

Every year, more than one million children under 6 years old in the U.S. experience homelessness. How can providers support these vulnerable children and their families? 

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.