Nora one of the approaches we are taking in our area is more of local grass roots effort to educate our local business community, including the chambers of commerce, other business owners, and our local City and County elected offices, as to how ECE programs an centers are part of the critical infrastructure of the economy and how the loss of available childcare slots in any given community will impact other businesses abilities to locate and hire employees as the economy recovers. As we know, if affordable childcare is not available, people, especially women will not be able to return to work. It appears that we get more traction when we talk about how this is going to effect their bottom line, unless they are willing to do something to help their employees cover some of the childcare costs or they help us advocate for more State and Federal Funds for ECE programs. One of the people ask me why they hadn't heard about this crisis before and I told them its because most businesses owners don't have to think about or consider what it takes for their employees to be able to come to work each day. I said it's also because men usually aren't the ones that have to deal with trying to find childcare and therefore it is not something that is ever on their radar. Since most politicians are men, it's hard to get them engaged until you start speaking a language they can understand. When you start talking about their financial bottom line and the existing barriers to their financial success, they seem to pay more attention.
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Tim Kaminski
Director/Owner
Gingerbread Kids Academy
Richmond TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2021 11:35 AM
From: Nora Krieger
Subject: Article in New York Times about Value of Universal PreK and in the Washington Post about why it is loosing support with Republicans
Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, the Pandemic has made the country as a whole understand how important early childhood education programs are to the fabric of our everyday functioning as a nation. The article in the NY Times is right on target but the United States' political parties and their supporters are not all on the same page.
Advocacy from the ECE community is critical but I do not see it as universal and people are already coming at it from their personal political philosophy.
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2021 11:05 AM
From: Eileen Brittain
Subject: Article in New York Times about Value of Universal PreK and in the Washington Post about why it is loosing support with Republicans
This article is in response to President Biden's request for funding for Universal Pre-K and why it is so important:
Why Policy Makers are paying attention to Child Care:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/business/child-care-infrastructure-biden.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210510&instance_id=30528&nl=the-morning®i_id=72817951&segment_id=57667&te=1&user_id=573c831c2fcbe0ed84534823ce1701dd
Why Republicans are abandoning their past support of Universal Child Care:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/child-care-has-bipartisan-support-but-the-culture-war-could-wreck-that/2021/05/05/62624d98-ac34-11eb-ab4c-986555a1c511_story.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210510&instance_id=30528&nl=the-morning®i_id=72817951&segment_id=57667&te=1&user_id=573c831c2fcbe0ed84534823ce1701dd
Eileen Donahue Brittain,
Retired EC Professor
Baltimore, MD
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Eileen Donahue Brittain
Retired Early Childhood Professor
Baltimore, MD
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