Tag: California Child Care Resource and Referral Network

Anticipating the governor will maintain a conservative fiscal outlook and hesitate to keep previously promised budget commitments, 500 parents and children will rally tomorrow, May 10, at the state capitol and meet with their legislators to address policies that limit access to affordable child care. Parents are deeply concerned that failure to address 10-year-old outdated income eligibility criteria forces thousands of parents out of the state subsidized child care system, threatening their ability to maintain their jobs and progress toward economic self-sufficiency.

In California, childcare for infants costs as much as tuition in the University of California (UC) system, according to new data from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. In 2014, parents of infants in California spent an average of more than $13,300 on childcare. That year, UC tuition and fees were just over $13,200. At the national level, all eyes are on college affordability. But the lack of affordable early childhood options has even more dire long-term consequences.

At a press conference in Oakland, Tandenico Jones, a member of LIFETIME, declared: "The governor and the Legislature need to come to agreement that doesn't just cut services to balance the budget. Our economy is so bad right now; costs for everything have gone up. If the services I depend on are cut, all the efforts I've made to move my family forward will slip away."