Early Edge California Participates in CAPPA’s Child Care & End Child Poverty in CA Advocacy Day
On January 22, Early Edge California united with more than 40 organizations at the State Capitol to lift up the issues impacting Early Learning and childcare, as well as ending child poverty in California. “Child Care and End Child Poverty in CA Advocacy Day,” hosted by CAPPA Advocacy, was an opportunity to come together as a shared voice and amplify the needs of California’s poorest families and children. Early Edge was proud to be a co-sponsor of this daylong event.
The day started with an informative overview of the ECE proposals in Governor Newsom’s recently released January budget by a panel that included Christian Griffith from Assembly Budget Committee, Stephen Propheter from the Early Learning and Care Division of the California Department of Education, Sara Cortez from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and Kristin Schumacher from the California Budget and Policy Center.
In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to make legislative visits in the State Capitol to highlight the current challenges that working families are facing in California today. One of the greatest needs across the state is expanding access to high-quality Early Learning and childcare programs, particularly for babies and toddlers. These programs not only support working parents, they also have the potential to end intergenerational cycles of poverty.
During our small group visits to the offices of Senator Chang and Assemblymember Reyes, we emphasized the need for greater investment in our Early Learning system, increased access to high-quality Early Learning programs for California’s children and their families, and higher pay for our Early Learning teachers.
Thank you to CAPPA for putting together this great event. It was powerful to see such a strong coalition come together and demand action–including parents, advocates, child care provider organizations, and even children! Early Edge looks forward to participating in future events that highlight the importance of investing in California’s Early Learning system.