Grant Period:
2021-2023
Grant Type:
General Operating
Grantee Since:
2019
Other Funders:
Hive Fund, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Foundation for a Just Society
Amount:
$115,000 per year for 2 years
Location:
Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States
Focus Area:
Albany, metro Atlanta, and Savannah
Mission
9to5 Georgia’s mission is to build a movement to achieve economic justice, by engaging directly affected women to improve working conditions. 9to5 Georgia is a statewide chapter of 9to5, National Association of Working Women. We are building an effective movement for change, using organizing, civic engagement, advocacy, coalition-building and leadership development strategies to build power and change public policy.
Partnerships
Georgia 9to5 partners with advocate including the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS), the YWCA, National Domestic Workers Alliance (Atlanta chapter), Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI), Black Voters Matter, and SisterSong. They led the formation of the South West Georgia Coalition (SOWEGA) and the Georgia Job/Family Collaborative.
Contact
Project Summary
The purpose of this grant to for Georgia 9to5 to expand capacity to organize around child care issues. The organization creates opportunities to have honest conversations with women, mostly single mothers, across the state and has heard over and over that child care is at the top of the list of challenges they face. Many members and constituents rely on informal, neighborhood or familial networks for child care due to the nature of their work, and have difficulty finding and affording quality care. On the other hand, 9to5 hears from child care teachers – professionals who are passionate about serving kids – yet don’t earn a living wage. In addition, women interested in becoming licensed to offer family child care in their home cannot handle the state and local administrative hurdles, zoning barriers and high startup fees. Georgia 9to5 will use this grant to make sure parents, providers and their allies have a platform to stand on, to say “no more”!
Georgia 9to5 will build capacity to demand accessible high quality child care for all Georgia’s families and a policy agenda benefitting women and families. The work will be routed by the concerns of members - and led by them. Their experiences will inform and lead all levels of decision-making so that authentic experiences inform social and policy change goals. Georgia 9to5 is specifically focused on building connections to home-based child care homes in Savannah and Albany, whose owner-operators are often black women. Two main strategies the group will employ are:
- Power of Participation trainings: This four-part series is designed as an entry to understanding the importance of individual power building and civic engagement, including by active participation in government processes, voting, and the Census. This program helps identify promising leaders and is grounded in racial and gender justice framework.
- Community Internship Project (CIP) – The CIP trains highly active members in base-building, through outreach and recruitment; to engage in grassroots organizing; to develop and execute campaign strategies; to develop effective messaging and gain media skills for issue campaigns; and to execute grassroots fundraising plans. Participants receive $15/hour with parent/provider participants who build their organizing skills, earn an hourly stipend and complete hands-on field campaign experience.
Selected Action Steps Related to RCCF Goals
Lift parent, child care teacher, home-based child care provider, caregiver and ally voices and increase their participation in crafting policy solutions in states and/or communities.
- Hold pop-up outreach and info sessions in salons, child care centers, schools, family child care homes and other local businesses.
- Hold 5 skills-building workshops and popular education training series; recruit at least 4 participants in the CIP program to become leaders in organizing for child care each year.
- Document 5 new child care stories and gain earned media placement for those stories each year.
Build effective coordination among RCCF grantees and advocacy groups, community groups, parents, child care teachers, home-based child care providers, caregivers, and allies.
- Attend regular coalition meetings and build relationships with early care and education advocacy groups.
- Hold town halls, convenings, and days of action featuring the voices and stories of recruited parent and provider leaders as event hosts, panel participants, presenters, featured speakers.
- Co-lead and engage 9to5 members in day of action in the capital to make direct contacts with and educate elected officials.
Expand financial resources to secure increased and equitable access to quality child care, including through intentional strategies to reach and prioritize children and families most affected by injustice and inequity.
- Work with child care resource and referral and state family child care association to engage family child care home owners to collect stories and lift up their voices, with a focus on Spanish-speaking providers. Identify challenges and potential solutions and
help craft a coalition action plan with partner agencies. - Meet and educate decision-makers on the need for increased support for access to high quality child care, including at least 2 local decision makers in each of the three cities of focus, as well as 4 state level leaders.
- Develop public champions for these issues through ongoing meetings with decision-makers to build awareness and support
for greater resources for high quality child care and making child care supports accessible to more families.
Updated June 12, 2020