Let’s work together!
Projects seeking partners
Child care voter project
Child care educators fall in many of the overlapping demographics that are least likely to vote. Simultaneously, when lawmakers feel pressured to address the child care crisis, they too often turn to demand-side solutions that don’t address the heart of the system failure because they have a surface-level understanding of the needs of parents as a voting bloc. I am looking to conduct a survey and series of town hall-style conversations with child care educators to learn about their voting habits, hear what solutions and commitments educators are looking for from candidates, and surface key themes and points of view.
Child care retirement project
Child care has long been facing a retirement cliff as the baby boom-generation ages out of the workforce. Many of these devoted, passionate educators delayed their retirements to continue working through the pandemic in this time of great need for children, families, and their communities. Others wish to retire, but cannot afford to do so despite decades of devotion to the work. I would love to share their stories, needs, expertise, the changes they’ve observed through the course of their careers, and their fears and hopes for the future. This could take the form of a booklet or website that features pictures of educators and their programs through the years, a video storytelling project, or podcast.
Provider to parent calls to action
Child care educators are trusted messengers whose expertise and relationships put them in a unique position to engage parents as advocates. I have heard from so many educators and program administrators that they wish they could both offer parents low-lift calls to action and feel more comfortable engaging in conversations on a deeper level. Educators often wish to help parents understand how advocating for programs and voting with child care in mind makes a difference, but they don’t know where to start. This project could include focus groups and/or a survey to determine barriers and needs, a cohort, or resource creation, dissemination, and engagement as part of grassroots outreach.
Cultivating child care classroom teacher and assistant representation in policy making and advocacy
The majority of representation of child care centers in advocacy is from owners, administrators, and directors. As a former toddler teacher, I am extremely invested in finding ways to ensure that the voices of classroom staff are equally represented in policy, because their priorities and needs are not always the same as those of their employer. This project could also extend to family child care assistants and aides.