The NOICTSU Rundown - Episode 4: “How We Save Ourselves”
The early episodes of the series No One is Coming to Save Us laid bare the utter disaster that is America’s early education and child care system. We’ve heard from parents, educators, economic experts, legislators, activists and advocates about how the system is failing everybody, especially BIPOC families who for generations have faced a child care system that is designed to be inaccessible and unaffordable. (Read more about this in our episode two “Rundown.”) It all paints a pretty dark picture.
If no one is coming to save us, how do we save ourselves?
Enter the fourth and final episode! It digs into what’s possible by showcasing how people across the country are fighting for change — and winning — in their own communities. Even better: it lays out simple steps for how you can get involved in the child care revolution.
Episode 4: How We Save Ourselves
In “How We Save Ourselves” host Gloria Riviera kicks off the final episode by connecting with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has been on the front lines of child care reform in Washington D.C. But Senator Warren’s fight for accessible child care began well before she held public office, and goes back to when she was a young mom trying to work and raise a child. Sound familiar?
“I knew how close I had come to not being able to finish my own education because I had a baby and couldn’t get child care. I knew how close I had come to having to quit my first, big full-time teaching job because I couldn’t get child care. And I thought about how many women from my generation got knocked off the track because they couldn’t find child care?” – Senator Elizabeth Warren
So, how do we fight for a new system that works for everyone, so the next generation doesn’t have to go through this yet again? We’re glad you asked.
The incredible story of a group of activists in Multnomah County, Oregon (which includes the city of Portland) shows us how a group of ordinary, fed-up people — just like us — successfully passed one of the most progressive universal preschool programs in the nation. And they did it by following six simple steps:
Step One: Gather allies. Look around! Chances are you’re not alone in wanting change. Find people in your community who have a big reason to get on board with your movement. For example, activists in Portland recognized that the second biggest need in their city (behind affordable housing) was child care. To make it happen, they went out into the community and built a coalition of parents, educators, small business owners and more to join the cause.
Step Two: Put your allies to work. Enlist help from experts in your community. Understand what resources you’ll need to make change and share your plans with people who can help you meet your goal. One major question when introducing a new policy is, “how are we going to pay for this?” In Portland, the activists sought out the expertise of Mary King, a retired professor of economics, to help write their universal preschool plan’s revenue mechanism — a tax plan to fund universal preschool.
Step Three: Engage with your local government and community leaders. Check to see if there are ongoing initiatives in your local government that are aligned with your cause — or if there are other organizations doing similar work to yours. In some cases, other organizations might be fighting for the same issue as you. In Portland, two organizations, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Social Venture Partners, were both proposing an affordable preschool program. These two organizations had the same goal, but different ideas of how to do it. Looking to get involved in Massachusetts? Check out the Common Start Coalition!
Step Four: Pick your battles. Be prepared to fight for what you believe in. DSA was having difficulty getting the Social Venture Partners team to agree to their more progressive goals, which included free universal preschool for everyone (regardless of income) and increased wages for early educators — a workforce that is predominantly women and people of color. While ready to partner with Social Venture Partners, DSA was unwilling to compromise on these important components of their proposal. To increase their negotiation power, DSA hit the pavement and gathered 32,000 signatures to put their own citizen’s initiative on the November 2020 ballot. Social Venture Partners took notice.
Step Five: Compromise and join forces. There is power in numbers. With 32,000 community members supporting the DSA proposal, the conversation changed. After a year of negotiating, DSA and Social Venture Partners came together and agreed on a single, unified plan that prioritized families with a higher need, established a path to expand free preschool to everyone, and included wage increases for early educators. And it worked! The initiative went to the ballot and won with 64 percent of the vote. It established a universal, high-quality preschool program across Multnomah County!
Step Six: Do NOT stop fighting. As the Portland story shows, change doesn’t happen overnight or all at once, so we need to continue to keep pushing every step of the way to do better. We need the government to step up and invest in child care at every level – in cities, in states, and nationally. And we need everyone to get involved.
“This is the moment to raise your voice – and that means send letters, cards, emails, texts, even Tik Toks to both of your senators and representatives.” – Senator Warren
In her final update, our “Call it Like it Is” correspondent Kristen Bell breaks down exactly how YOU can get involved:
● Share “No One is Coming to Save Us” with your friends and family and start a conversation. Forward it to your parent group. Forward it to everyone you know.
● Raise your voice. Raise it on social media, in your local newspapers, at rallies, at townhalls, and in the halls of state legislatures and Congress.
● Contact your local representatives. If you don’t know what to say, don’t sweat it. Check out the talking points in the episode’s show notes here and find out who represents you in Congress here. Remember: your elected leaders work for YOU.
● Get involved in your community and join forces with and support local organizations on the front lines of child care reform (like Neighborhood Villages!).
● Band together with other parents in your place of work and demand better child care benefits.
● Stay up-to-date on what’s happening and the latest efforts to make this system work for everyone. (Sign up for Neighborhood Villages email updates here!)
The exhausting, expensive grind of the child care system doesn’t have to be this way. We KNOW it can be better. We’ve seen it work. We’re also moving in the right direction — just look at the wave of child care proposals in Congress right now. And here in Massachusetts, the Common Start Legislation would make high-quality early education and child care affordable and accessible to all Massachusetts families. You can learn more about the Common Start coalition here!
This is a pivotal moment in the fight for change! And together, we can save ourselves.
Thanks for listening and for being a part of our movement. We can’t do it without you.