Whoa. Childcare costs more than college in most states right now. That’s a national emergency in my book.  

But you can do something to help address this challenge and fix it. You can educate city leaders about how they can strengthen early learning programs, like pre-k and childcare, in your community while making them more affordable!

Can you lend a hand in your city?

The lack of access to high quality, affordable childcare is a big problem that we can help solve together. How? Well, last week, we released the Strong Start for Strong Cities guide with our partners at the National League of Cities and School Readiness Consulting. This guide includes best practices, examples from cities, and MomsRising member stories to show local leaders across the country, like mayors and city councilmembers, how they can help advance early learning for their residents.

It’s already a very popular guide and people are getting great feedback when they share it with local leaders. So we’re off to an amazing start! In fact, the guide has only been out for a week and we already have deliveries underway in cities like Chicago, San Antonio, and Miami, but it’s not enough. We want to make sure all local leaders get the message loud and clear that early learning programs, like childcare and pre-k, need to be made a top priority.

Add your city to the list by signing up to drop off a packet to your local leader in person.

It’s easy! You can even drop off your materials to your local city office while you’re out running regular errands. Feel free to bring a friend, your kids, or other people with you. And don’t forget to share your inside scoop on how your drop off went by emailing us at StrongCities@MomsRising.org so we can follow up with your city leader and track their progress on early learning.

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Thousands have signed on, shared their stories, and taken to social media to raise their voice with one message — “Our neighborhoods need affordable, safe, and enriching childcare and pre-k programs for all of our children!”   

That’s why just last week we released the Strong Start for Strong Cities guide, an innovative resource that shows local leaders how they can strengthen early learning programs, like pre-k and childcare, for their residents. Our goal is to translate support for early learning into action at the community level…and to positive change!

Can you make sure this critical resource that shows leaders how they can strengthen programs like childcare and Pre-K gets it into the hands of your local leader? Click here to sign up and learn more about how you can share great information with your local leaders!

We need solutions at every level to address the crisis around childcare. Right now, childcare costs often exceed the costs of housing, tuition, transportation, and food for working families. And with moms now serving as three-quarters of the primary or co-breadwinners, it’s no surprise that parents are urging leaders to make affordable, quality early learning programs like childcare and Pre-K a top priority. After all, parents need safe, enriching places for their children to be so they can work; and children need safe, enriching early learning places to be so they can thrive.

It’s time to be part of the solution by giving city leaders the tools and information they need to make change or continue their leadership on early learning.

Why are we focusing on city leaders?

Because local leaders, like mayors and city councilmembers, are on the frontlines connecting with their local early learning programs (like childcare and pre-k) daily -- a unique, ground-level perspective that is essential to advancing access to high-quality early learning programs across the country. Many local leaders are already doing this and we want to lift up their actions and inspire other leaders around the country. We’ve been working with our partners at the National League of Cities and School Readiness Consulting to develop the Strong Start for Strong Cities guide with proven best practices and tools for advancing high-quality early learning at the city and municipal level.

Delivering this resource is a fun and meaningful activity to do with your kids this summer and you don’t have to have any special knowledge or expertise! By taking the time to share this with your local leader, you’ll be showing them that people care about this issue and come ready with local solutions. And if your local leaders are early education and care champions already, we still want you engaged because we also want to recognize existing leaders who are making early learning more accessible and affordable.  

And city leaders are doing A LOT:

• In 2006, Fort Worth, Texas city leaders opened Family Resource Centers offering parent education programs and consultations with early childhood specialists.

• The Seattle Preschool Program Levy in Washington was proposed and approved by voters in 2014 for an evidence-based pilot universal pre-k program that plans to serve 2,000 children in 100 classrooms by 2018.

• Last year, Durham Mayor Bell in North Carolina led the City Council to pass a resolution for a task force to explore expanded access to high-quality pre-k with a vision of universal pre-k for Durham’s children.

• In 2015, the City of Rochester, NY provided funding for a joint developmental screening initiative, which will build capacity for training childcare staff and support kids. 

But they can’t do it all alone! 

Our community leaders need to know that parents are behind them! And delivering the resource guide will send them a strong message that we have their back and urge them to do everything within their power to support early learning programs like childcare and pre-k. If you're ready to get involved, sign up here or email us at StrongCities@momsrising.org.