Southwest Washington business leaders, educators and legislators converged in Vancouver early Friday morning to rally in support of early learning providers as Congress weighs cuts to child care programs.
“(High quality child care) doesn’t just benefit these kids, but it benefits their own children one day,” said Amy Anderson, the director of government affairs at the Association of Washington Business. “We are trying to break a generational curse.”
Friday morning’s stop at Educational Opportunities for Children and Families’ 99th Street center was another leg in a weeklong statewide bus tour led by the Association and the Children’s Campaign Fund Action. At each leg — from Olympia to Spokane to Vancouver and more — Anderson and others have met with local legislators to illustrate how cuts to early learning programs ultimately wreak economic havoc now and in years to come.
After a brief round of speeches, visiting leaders were invited inside to talk with staff and students and view what early learning provider spaces look like.
“We can’t get our folks into work. They don’t have affordable, accessible child care,” Anderson said. “Now, when you go to each of these places, you can see the work that child care providers do is fantastic. But they just need the support.”
Communicating the issues
Southwest Washington is considered a “child care desert,” meaning less than one-third of children have access to daytime child care. Within the last year, over 1,000 new children in Clark County have been identified as eligible for Head Start programs, all while the county’s providers have managed to add just 70 new slots.
Rekah Strong, the CEO of Educational Opportunities for Children and Families, expressed continued frustration with legislators who “pose for pictures with kids” but vote against funding measures for education and child care behind closed doors.
Rep. Lisa Callan, who’s served Washington’s 5th District since 2019, argued that for many such legislators, it doesn’t come down to a refusal to support the programs, rather having a different set of priorities.
“It’s always about the greater set of priorities and how they fit with each other,” Callan said, referencing the “tug-of-war” that takes place each year with state dollars. “What it comes down to is awareness, showing legislators how these things are all connected. And then it’s important to come and tour these locations to see and evaluate how a dollar is spent in this space.”
State, federal advocacy
Anderson hopes to continue connecting with lawmakers like Callan to explain how critical the funding shortages are, but added how a record number of new Washington lawmakers elected this past year challenges advocacy work.
“What we found when we talked to (new legislators) was some are already well-versed in these struggles, but many really have no idea,” Anderson said. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a long way to go. It’s critically important to have businesses at the table for conversations about these services.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Anderson said, has been early learning’s “No. 1” champion. Earlier this year, she reintroduced her Child Care for Working Families Act, which would increase wages for Head Start workers and limit daily child care costs to an estimated $10 per day per family.
“Everywhere I go throughout our state, I hear from families who are making impossible trade-offs to pay for child care — from parents who were forced to quit their jobs because they can’t find openings near them, from businesses who are losing workers and struggling to hire as a result of the crisis, and from child care workers struggling to just make ends meet,” Murray said in a statement Friday. “We’ve got to tackle this head-on, and that’s exactly what I’m going to keep working to do.”
