Pandemic Parenting
As a new parent on the cusp of a global pandemic, I was doubly impacted by existing child care shortages and statewide COVID closures. My journey to find full-time child care spanned over twenty months. This lack of child care necessitated a prolonged departure from the full-time workforce for me. In short, COVID highlighted long-standing systemic issues of accessibility, affordability, equity, and compensation in child care.
Childcare Crisis
The difficulties I had securing childcare compelled me to better understand the deficits of the whole system. How were other parents, especially shift workers, BIPOC, or low income families accessing child care? What conditions lead to high burn-out and turnover in early childhood educators? How is our state’s economy affected by the lack of high-quality, affordable child care? Can Vermont make policy changes to improve our childcare system statewide?
What I learned is that childcare is essential and that our childcare system is in crisis overall. Let’s Grow Kids (LGK), a child care advocacy organization, estimates that 3 out of 5 Vermont children have no access to child care. Not only that, but we also need 2,000 more early childhood educators and 9,000 additional openings to meet our existing childcare needs. A typical Vermont family spends $20,000 a year on child care (more than a year of tuition at a Vermont State College)! And early childhood educators with college degrees are in the bottom 2% of compensation for all professions, nationwide.
Grassroots Action
Understanding of this dire situation encouraged me to volunteer with Let’s Grow Kids. I chose this organization because their mission deeply resonates with me. Let’s Grow Kids strives to make childcare accessible to all Vermont children by 2025. Accessibility means that no Vermont family would pay more than 10% of gross income on childcare. It also means early childhood educators would be fairly compensated through a public financing mechanism.
As a LGK volunteer, I have contributed to the mission in several roles - text banking, phoneathons, canvassing, electioneering, writing op-eds, and legislative testimony. Each and every one of these tasks have had huge ripple effects. For example, text banking, a seemingly small task, quickly and effectively mobilizes LGK’s 40,000 supporters. One text bank call to action helped to retain $4.9 million in state funds for the child care subsidy program!
As a grassroots advocate, I also build groundswell to urgently address our childcare crisis. By sharing my personal experience with legislators, I humanize childcare challenges faced by families everywhere. Voting my values means I can shape the political landscape and champion long-term, systems level change. Drops become tsunamis!
Get Involved
What tsunami wave do you want to be in your community? Where do you want to lend your energy, passions, and talents to making a difference?
Vermont Connector can help you be the change maker you want to be! We specialize in placing individuals into rewarding volunteer opportunities and helping businesses develop an effective community engagement strategy. We also help non-profits fulfill their missions by coordinating volunteer placement, training, and event logistics. Please contact us to learn more.