July 07, 2022

Revisiting How We Save Ourselves

54 minutes

Listen back as Gloria chats with Elizabeth Warren about how we transform our country’s broken childcare system into one that’s accessible for all. “This is the moment to raise your voice. We have this opportunity to do it, but it's going to take all of us to push until it gets done.” Then, we meet a ragtag group of activists in Portland, Oregon fighting for a free, high-quality, universal preschool program in their community. And “Call It Like It Is” correspondent Kristen Bell joins once more to talk to you – yes you – about how to get involved in the childcare revolution. With Senator Elizabeth Warren, Theresa Ramos from Illinois Action for Children, and parents, educators, and activists from Portland's Universal Preschool NOW! and Preschool for All movements.

This podcast is presented by Neighborhood Villages, and is brought to you with generous support from Imaginable Futures, Care For All Children by the David and Laura Merage Foundation, and Spring Point Partners.

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Are you ready to join the childcare revolution? Call or write to your elected officials! Here are some talking points to get you started:

Let’s talk about dollars and cents. There's a 13:1 return on investment for every dollar we spend on early education. That's a better return than anything else we do as a nation. Kids who attend early learning programs do better in school, are more likely to graduate from high school, have better overall health, and go on to earn more money over their lifetime.

We can’t have true gender equity without universal childcare. It's critical to getting the millions of women we lost from the labor-force during the pandemic back to work. And, it ensures that women are in all of the places where decisions are made, from the C-Suite to the halls of Congress.

High quality early education prevents racial achievement gaps before they even happen. And good childcare reform should mean that early education and care workers – who are largely women of color – are given the salaries and benefits that they deserve.

Universal childcare is good business. Employers need employees; employees need childcare. The pandemic has shown us that it's pretty much as simple as that. Plus, saving families $30,000/year also puts more money in their pockets – money that can go to supporting local businesses and boosting local economies.

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