Rise joined Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), parents, child care providers and community groups in the Bronx at a press conference on February 24th and a rally on March 1st to demand New York State Governor Kathy Hochul invest $5 billion in universal child care.
The press conference was organized by AQE and Parent Action Committee, and the rally was organized by AQE and Make the Road NY. Other groups involved in these events included Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, MomsRising, All Our Kin and Day Care Council of NY.
At the press conference and rally, Rise Community Coordinator Halimah Washington spoke about the need for universal child care and the link between lack of accessible child care and family policing. She stated, “We are overspending on child welfare because we are underspending on child care.”
>> Read Halimah’s speech.
Read More:
>> Rise Identifies Policy Priorities: Child Care, Mandated Reporting and Mental Health Supports
>> Child Care is a Child Welfare Issue: Why Rise Identified Child Care as a Policy Priority
Q&A with Halimah Washington, Rise Community Coordinator, by Keyna Franklin, Rise Assistant Editor
>> ‘If I had access to child care, I wouldn’t have had an ACS case.’
Story by Keyna Franklin, Rise Assistant Editor