Grant Period:
2021-2023
Grant Type:
General Support
Other Funders:
Marguerite Casey Foundation Ms. Foundation Heising-Simons Foundation First 5 LA
Amount:
150,000 per year for 2 years
Location:
San Francisco, California, United States
Focus Area:
Statewide
Mission
Through grassroots organizing and leadership development, Parent Voices' activate and center the wisdom of parents to transform child care and ensure all systems that impact our families are just, fair, and inclusive.
Partnerships
Parent Voices works with a range of partners, including the Child Care Law Center, the Early Care and Education Coalition (made up of 40 ECE advocacy groups), and Child Care Providers United which is a joint effort of Service Employees International Union and United Domestic Workers. Parent Voices is part of the Work and Family Coalition and End Child Poverty Campaign in California. They also received a grant from the state to form a parent advisory to the state’s federal Preschool Development Grant. Nationally, they were a founding partner in the United Parent Leader Action Network.
Contact
Project Summary
Parent Voices has been organizing parent leaders for over 23 years with mostly part-time staff. This grant will support additional staffing capacity to ensure the voices of parents are heard as part of the opportunities growing from the election of new leadership that prioritizes early childhood investment. Governor Gavin Newsom seeks to create CA’s first master plan for early care and education and Parent Voices is working in partnership with the Administration to ensure RCCF Grantee Profile: Parent Voices (Statewide), March 2020 authentic parent engagement is central to the development of the plan. Parent Voices will also position its members to participate in the Parent Subcommittee as part of a new Early Learning Policy Council which informs the Governor, Legislature, and the Department of Education on ECE issues. There they will carry a message that what is proposed should support access, higher compensation for early educators, and increased quality improvements, and not trade off one for the other. The Governor won a dedicated funding source, cannabis tax revenues, to pay for more child care vouchers and center based slots, however, more resources are needed to ensure access, fair wages, and quality.
Parent Voices will work in concert with affiliated local chapters in 12 counties to ensure policymakers are educated on the true cost of equitable child care access. Parent Voices San Francisco won the first progressive revenue taxation initiative to fund $140 million for early care and education in June 2018.
A lawsuit was filed and on July 5th, 2019 a judge determined that the initiative was valid. The opponents will appeal, and the fight will continue through the judicial process, but this brings us one step closer to victory. If at the end of the process the courts side with the initiative, it will unleash a wave of opportunities for our local chapters to collect signatures and place child care initiatives on their ballots that will only need a simple majority to pass. Parent Voices Oakland organized as part of an effort to generate local revenue though public referendum in Alameda County which won 61 percent of the vote in March 2020 and is projected to generate $150 million a year.
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.
- Organize 250 parents to be engaged in crafting policy solutions.
- Support Parent Voices members to apply to be on Governor’s Early Childhood Policy Council Parent subcommittee.
- Engage the Governor’s office to include parental voice in the creation of the Master Plan on early care and education.
Build effective coordination among RCCF grantees and advocacy groups, community groups, parents, child care teachers, home-based child care providers, caregivers, and allies.
- Actively participate in early care and education coalitions at state and national level.
- Educate advocate partners on parent priorities.
- Share campaign wins and learn from others in RCCF cohort.
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.
- Share parent experiences in navigating child care systems and identify gaps in system.
- Support parents to share their stories with decision makers and the media increase access to quality child care.
- Host trainings and webinars, as well as written materials, to educate parents about new state subsidy rules and train parents to train other parents.
Updated March 27, 2020