Increasing Access to High-quality Early Learning and Care for Infants and Toddlers

What would it look like if quality child care was accessible and affordable for the family of every infant and toddler in California?

Not only would our youngest children have the developmental support they need, parents wouldn’t have to leave their jobs, businesses would have a reliable workforce, and families could afford to stay in the state. Child care impacts every Californian and their future. Guaranteeing families access to child care isn’t optional, it’s a critical part of ensuring that Californians can live, work, and raise families in the state they love.

The Challenge

California is home to more than 1.7 million children ages birth through 3, representing about 4 percent of the state’s population. The majority are children of color, and more than 60 percent of children under 5 years old speak a language other than English at home. 

The number of infants and toddlers in our state far exceeds the supply of available child care, and access to subsidized care is even more limited. It is estimated that 36% of the state’s children, ages birth to 2 years, are eligible for subsidized care, yet only 14% of them are enrolled. The unmet need is even greater for children of color, with 64% of Black children and 46% of Latino children ages birth to 2 eligible for subsidized care, yet only 23% and 9%, respectively, of those eligible are enrolled.*

While California made strides in recent years to improve access to child care, too many families continue to struggle, impacting every community across our state. Californians are being forced to choose between careers, education, and raising a family, while providers themselves are among the most underpaid workers in the state. Lack of child care access means families struggle to get by, the stability of our workforce is at risk, and children don’t have the support to reach their fullest potential from birth and beyond.

*Data on enrollment in CDSS subsidized child care programs provided by the California Center for Budget and Policy. The data does not include Stage 1 child care or stage 2 community college child care.

The Impact

On Families:

In today’s reality, where infant care in California costs $7,000 more annually than public college tuition, no family should have to go it alone. Yet, across the state, affordable care is out of reach for families with lower incomes and families in the middle class are struggling to keep up. The impact falls heavily on their work lives and their wallets. 

On Providers:

Currently, child care providers, who are predominantly women of color, are too often paid unlivable wages or work without benefits like health care, causing them to leave the field entirely and putting further pressure on an already strained system. Over 60% of these essential workers, who we ask to care for and educate our next generation, can’t even afford to pay their own food and utility bills.  

On Our State:

California has a proud history of being a progressive leader and a great state for families, but today we’re falling behind. While over 2 million children qualify for subsidized care, the state only funds enough spaces for 11% of those children to have access. If we continue to underinvest in child care, fewer and fewer families will be able to live, learn, and work in California long-term which hurts its communities and the economy.

Child care isn’t just for kids, it’s for California.

Our Vision

By investing in child care for children from birth, we strengthen the state today and for generations to come. Our state leaders can prioritize child care and make California a place where every child can grow up supported, every family can achieve financial freedom, and businesses can thrive.

 

Read Our Vision Statement

Our Recent Actions to Strengthen Infant and Toddler Care:

Our Call to Action

We call on our state leaders who hold the power to invest in child care to support every child, family, business, and community today and for generations to come. The longer we wait to take action, the harder it will be for California to catch up. By listening to the needs of parents and expertise of providers, California policymakers can create a child care system for infants and toddlers that supports thriving communities across the state.

Next Steps

Early Edge is looking at new ways to strengthen the mixed-delivery system as a whole, focusing on supporting children, ages birth to three years, their families, and the Early Learning workforce that supports them. To achieve change, we’re bringing together families, providers, and child policy experts to work with policymakers to strengthen the child care system for the families who need it, the providers who support it, and the communities across the state that depend on it. 

Campaign Resources

How to Join Us

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Contact us at [email protected] to learn more about our campaign and ways to partner with us or invest in this critical work.