April Updates: It’s time to organize!
Now that the 2024 Legislative Session is behind us, our team is shifting our focus to organizing and mobilizing around universal access to childcare and living wages for providers. Check out the priorities we’ll be focusing on below!
Universal Access to Child Care
Universal access to child care means that affordable, high-quality child care is available to all families. To get closer to this goal, we are working to co-create and support legislation in the 2025 legislative session that will limit costs for lower income families.
This means that more caregivers and guardians can easily access high-quality, reliable care for their children allowing them to work, pursue education, or engage in other activities knowing that their children are well cared for. It also means that children are best equipped to enter Kindergarten and the rest of the K-12 education system. High-quality early learning programs are foundational to a child’s lifelong education.
More specifically, our campaign exists to organize and mobilize community in support of policy solutions that ensure:
- Providers are paid living wages that reflect the high value of their work;
- All children, families, and providers have access to mental health care; and
- Every child has access to high-quality early learning experiences!
Living Wages for Providers
Child care providers are not appropriately compensated for the critical work they do.
- We are seeing experienced professionals leaving the field – and it pays less than 97 percent of other industries.
- We are seeing non-profit human service workers experience “penalties” regarding wages in the following domains: gender, race, care, client power, and sectoral. These factors act individually and interactively to drive wages down.
- Child care providers at all levels deserve to be properly compensated for the critical work they do in support of thriving communities.
Collaboration With Our Community
BrightSpark, in supporting the King County Early Learning Coalition (KCELC), is engaging in work around the Living Wage Campaign. This work will be in collaboration with several partner organizations. Each partner organization will help to create a cohesive picture of the early learning system in Washington State as well as ensuring that the voices of those affected by the inequities in the current system are elevated.
Check out how several early learning system stakeholders are working together towards Universal Access and Living Wages!
You’re invited to join our work! Help us organize and mobilize by signing up for an Advocacy Pod today.
BrightSpark Advocacy Pod members will have the opportunity to learn about and contribute to these campaigns. We will be scheduling gatherings for advocacy pod members later this Spring and Summer to engage.
Our Team is Here to Support You!
We are here to provide you with the tools, opportunities, and experience so that you have everything you need to get involved in the legislative process. Your voice matters, and we want to help amplify your message!
Don’t hesitate to contact us at advocacy@childcare.org if you have any questions or want to get involved.
Did you know that Brightspark’s advocacy work is almost entirely funded by donors? Help us continue to organize, mobilize, and advocate for a more equitable early learning system by supporting our Bloom Together Fundraiser today!