July 20th Updates

ACTION NEEDED: Call Your U.S. Senators and U.S. Rep to Support $50 Billion Child Care Fund

Down in Washington, DC, leaders are negotiating the next COVID-19 Relief Package. Child care MUST be included in that relief package, or child care programs across the country will be faced with the very real possibility of shuttering for good. The child care industry is a pillar of the American economy. Without it, parents wouldn't be able to work. They need access to stable and safe child care.

Last Thursday, the CT Early Childhood Alliance, CT Association for Human Services, and CSEA-SEIU, hosted a virtual press conference, discussing the current child care crisis. Several providers, both center-based and home-based, spoke to their current situations. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Rosa DeLauro also attended the virtual presser and spoke to attendees. If you would like to watch the full press conference, it can be found on YouTube, by clicking the graphic below. (Or click this YouTube link). Media coverage included WTNH, CT NewsJunkie and WNPR.

On Wednesday, July 22, Merrill Gay of the CT Early Childhood Alliance and Liz Fraser of CT Association for Human Services penned an op-ed for the CT Mirror/CT Viewpoints. You can read it HERE. Then follow the action steps below. 

MAKE THREE CALLS TODAY:
What to say: Thank them for co-sponsoring the $50 billion Child Care is Essential Act and ask them to please speak to leadership about putting the $50 billion into the COVID Relief Package.

Women's Business Development Council Webinar July 23, 2 p.m. 

There are more than $130 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds still available but, with an August 8 deadline looming, time is running out to apply! Join the Women's Business Development Council for a Zoom meeting from 2-3 p.m. on Thursday, July 23. Register HERE. 

Join Sherry Konwerski and Beth Scarborough, WBDC Business Advisors, to learn how you can take advantage of this opportunity to help fund your business through the COVID-19 crisis.  Sherry and Beth will discuss the most recent updates to the PPP and how they relate to your child care business.  With increasingly flexible loan forgiveness terms, now is the time to get your application in.

Julio Casiano, SBA Deputy District Director, will join Sherry and Beth to provide insight and updates from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Thanks to a partnership between WBDC and the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance, working with CSEA-SEIU, this program will be available in Spanish and English simultaneously.

Friday, July 24 Roundtable Discussion with Moms Rising, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes

Friday, July 24, at 10 a.m. EDT, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) will convene a much-needed discussion on the child care crisis in the COVID-19 era as schools question whether to re-open and parents face difficult decisions regarding their ability to work and find care for their children.

“Parents are desperate for help finding a real, workable solution for child care as they balance continuing or returning to work, their children at home full-time, and soon, potentially adding homeschooling back into the mix. I’m hosting this discussion because as long as parents don’t have access to child care or child care assistance, our economy cannot function properly. I anticipate what we hear tomorrow will reinforce what I’ve been hearing and saying for months—Congress must provide meaningful child care relief for families to stay afloat and for our economy to recover,” said Chairman Neal.

WHO:

1. Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA)
2. Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Working Mom and Former Teacher of the Year
3. Deb Perelman, Working Mom and Creator of Smitten Kitchen (and author of this viral article in the New York Times)
4. Julie, Working Mom from Michigan and Member of Moms Rising
5. Diana, Working Mom from New York and Member of Moms Rising

WHAT: Discussion on the urgent need for child care solutions in the COVID-19 era

WHEN: Friday, July 24, at 10:00 a.m.

WATCH: Livestream of the discussion can be viewed via webcast accessible on the Ways and Means Committee’s website.

Not Eligible for Medicaid and Struggling to Pay For Care? Share Your Story

The CT Early Childhood Alliance received a grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation to gather stories to help shine a light on the importance of Medicaid expansion. A modest increase allowed for approximately 4,000 additional parents to obtain it, but we know there is more need. Are you - or someone you know - not eligible for Medicaid, and struggling to pay healthcare costs through the Exchange, even with subsidies? Would you or someone you know be willing to share those stories? Please reach out to Jessica at [email protected] so we can begin the process.  

CTAEYC Hosting "No Small Matter" Screenings

CT Association for the Education of Young Children (CTAEYC) will be hosting three virtual screenings of the movie, "No Small Matter."

Our country is facing a crisis in early care and education. Structural racism and systemic inequalities are threatening the health and well-being of Black, Brown, and Indigenous children, their families, communities, and early childhood educators. The pandemic has made it perfectly clear; without childcare and early childhood education the country cannot function.  We are essential workers. Childcare needs to be the backbone of our nation's response to these disasters and the road to recovery.

We need to resolve these issues. No one local, state, or federal representative can genuinely know about the work we do until they see and hear it for themselves. Step One in our statewide advocacy effort will be the virtual screening of the "No Small Matter" documentary. Together, with local Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford chapters, we are organizing three virtual screenings. The dates and times are listed below. We intend to invite as many elected officials as we can to attend these screenings. As we enter into an election year, we must step up and engage in the kind of advocacy that moves our state leaders to create new policies that build an early care and education infrastructure that sustains us now and beyond our pandemic status.  In these unprecedented times, our elected officials must realize that we need their leadership, advocacy, and support to move forward. (Click the graphic to watch the YouTube preview of "No Small Matter.")

Invite your colleagues and families to join in to seize this moment and embark on a movement to collectively make the case that we are the workforce behind the workforce. The future of our children, families, businesses, and state rely on us.

Early Childhood Zoom Meetings

The CT Early Childhood Alliance, CT Association for Human Services (CAHS), Middlesex Coalition for Children, and CSEA-SEIU continue to host three times a week Zoom calls. If you are a child care provider or advocate who would like to join these meetings, you can register here -https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__Uk_DISdTR2g09Fy3TJ9UA. This is the link for the Monday calls. Often, there are different links for the Wednesday calls if an attendee chooses one of four rooms to be placed in for discussion. Please watch the ECE Listserv for additional information. These calls are every Monday and Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. The family child care calls will return to Saturdays, as that day worked best for family child care providers. The next FCC call will be Saturday, July 25, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Register for the Saturday call here - https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwofuyvqjwrG9yuXiNVg99wQsSqx8ilCZku

If you'd like to check out some of the previous meetings and webinars, which were recorded, visit Middlesex Coalition for Children's page HERE.