2. Council for Professional Recognition | 2460 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 200091
“All Americans can be proud
that we have more women
in the workforce than ever
before,” President Donald
Trump declared this year in his
State of the Union address. “No
one has benefited more from
our thriving economy than
women, who filled 58 percent
of newly created jobs last year,”
he said as Vice President Mike
Pence applauded for women
in the crowd. At that moment,
cameras panned to the U.S.
House, where several rows
of female lawmakers rose to
their feet and cheered. Many
were freshman Democrats,
among the record number of
Democratic women elected to
Congress last year. In a rare
bipartisan moment, lawmakers
of both genders pumped
their fists and roared. But no
one brought up the pressing
questions that loomed over the
celebration. Who is providing
care and education for the
children as more women and
men advance in the workplace?
And how will early childhood
educators gain the respect,
equity and pay they deserve?
THE CRUSHING BURDEN
OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
CARE AND EDUCATION
America’s families — in many cases
mothers — wring their hands as they
wrestle with the issue of early child care. In
2018, child care costs increased for the fifth
straight year, and one in three households
now spend 20 percent of their income to have
someone else educate and care for their
children.1
It’s a crushing burden, as moms
pointed out in response to recent surveys.2
“I couldn’t afford to work, and I couldn’t afford
not to work,” one mother complained.3
“I love
being a parent, but the cost of child care is
so expensive,” another griped.4
“You use up
basically your full paycheck on child care and
then you’re not there. As much as they’re
learning, you’re not there to see all that, and it
kills you,” yet another of the moms moaned.5
The high cost of quality childhood care
and education also threatens to deal a
lethal blow to the country’s productivity
and economic growth. Nearly two-thirds
of U.S. mothers are now holding jobs, so
early childhood care and education play
a vital role in the workplace.6
Employees
with reliable, quality child care have fewer
absences, less turnover and greater job
satisfaction. Their children are better
off, too, since the ones who attend good
preschools grow up to be wealthier,
healthier and more law-abiding as adults.7
Quality early childhood care and education
help the workforce of today and tomorrow,
yet demand exceeds supply as families face
skyrocketing costs and a shrinking pool of
child care educators and workers. Despite
a booming U.S. economy, the economics of
child care are broken.8
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When new parents are thrust back into
the job market, society also expects them
to shop around for child care in a country
with no uniform standards for quality or
safety. Though nearly 11 million children,
half of them under age one, spend about
27 hours a week in an early childhood
care and education setting, the burden
is on parents — often the mothers — to
navigate a confusing, unaccountable and
typically private system pieced together
state by state for some of the smallest, most
vulnerable members of our country.9
Once
a family finds a convenient, viable option,
they’re likely to encounter a wait list since
laws regulate how many children childhood
care and education centers can accept.
Some parents resort to offering extra money
or other inducements while pleading for a
slot — a not infrequent practice that child
care centers call “cold-crying.”10
SNAGS IN THE EARLY
CHILDHOOD CARE AND
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Licensed childhood care and education
centers are either geographically or
financially out of reach for most U.S. families,
a conundrum that’s especially pronounced
in the child care deserts of America’s rural
heartland. The shortage is also acute in our
cities’ low-income neighborhoods, though
economically disadvantaged children are
the ones who benefit most.11
Low-income
families should enjoy adequate subsidies
under the Child Care Development Fund
(CCDF), the single largest source of early
childhood education funding in the country.
But the chronically under-resourced program
has failed to keep up with the true costs of
giving our young ones the quality care and
education they need.12
DESERTING OUR YOUNGEST CHILDREN
Parents across the country are discovering that they live in “child care deserts,” communities where
there are no licensed child care centers for children under 5 or less than one slot in licensed centers for
children 0 to 5. According to a recent report from the Center for American Progress, demand exceeds
supply in 9 states — Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont,
and West Virginia — and in Washington, DC. More specifically, there are 19 counties — all of them
mostly or completely rural — across the 6 states that have no licensed child care settings for infants or
toddlers. Of the 547 counties included in the study, only 20 have a slot for 1 in 3 children under age 3.1
While 51 percent of Americans reside in child care deserts, the deserts vary by income level and state.
More than 75 percent of Utah neighborhoods are located in child care deserts. Meanwhile fewer than
23 percent of Maine neighborhoods are. Families in rural areas have the greatest problem finding
licensed child education and care. Similarly, low-income urban neighborhoods are also more likely to
be child care deserts.2
The shortage of licensed care is especially challenging for Latino families. Sixty percent of Latino
families live in regions that have an undersupply of licensed child care options, according to the report.
The researchers also found that immigrant Latino households with children under 3 had significantly
less access to licensed care than those in native-born Latino households.3
And considering that
Latinos are the fastest-growing group in our nation, these figures only underscore the tragic fact that
we are deserting our children by failing to give them the quality care and education they need.
4. Council for Professional Recognition | 2460 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 200093
In theory, states set reimbursement rates for
subsidized childhood care and education by
conducting periodic market surveys of private
pay rates and follow the federal government’s
recommendation that public rates approach
or reach the 75th percentile of the private
market. In practice, most states fail to meet
this standard and instead pay closer to 50
percent of the private market.13
The last
time Maryland hit the 75 percent mark was
in 2001, and the subsidy now covers only
the least expensive 9 percent of childhood
care and education centers in the state.14
In
Pennsylvania, the pool of funding is capped
because much of it similarly goes to pay for
low-quality services, regardless of the number
of income-eligible children on waiting lists in
the state.15
Philadelphia alone has more than
19,000 disadvantaged 3- to 5-year-olds who
can’t access quality, licensed care.16
EXIT OF THE EARLY
CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE
Most families, especially low-income
families, simply can’t afford to pay
the true cost of quality childhood care
and education, so some centers can’t
pay decent salaries to their staff, many of
whom are women of color. “Cost is always
a thing in child care. We don’t pay teachers
enough,” said the owner of a preschool
in Colorado. But we can’t charge parents
more because they don’t have it. And that’s
always a balancing act. It’s super tough for
everybody on both sides.”17
While parents
are contending with sticker shock, the
members of the early childhood workforce
are struggling to get by on $8 to $14 an
hour. About 46 percent of them qualify for
public assistance, like a former educator
who responded to a recent survey:
“With having a growing family to
attend to, this field is not paying for
all the expenses, including loans
taken to receive a degree in the
field. Early childhood education
is super important, but it’s really
annoying how underpaid we are
compared with other teachers (from
grade school on up). We do the
same amount of work, if not more,
and put in longer hours. Some
things do not add up. I have been
seriously contemplating going back
to school for something else, but I’m
still in the education field since this
is my calling without doubt.” 18
But it’s hard to follow your chosen path
when you can’t put food on the table, as
other educators also point out.
“I love the job but I can’t afford to live on it,”
said a woman from Washington State. “A
lot of our teachers have second incomes
from second jobs because it’s impossible to
live on these wages.”19
And the irony of this
impossible pay, said a former educator from
New York, is that people in her field work
very hard. “I do not know a single teacher
who hasn’t given up lunch breaks or taken
work home to do into the wee hours of the
morning after putting their own children to
bed. It’s a hell of a lot to demand of people
who are making $20,320 a year, the national
median wage for early childhood teachers,
which is below the poverty threshold for a
family of four.”20
Many early childhood educators are angry
— and they won’t take it anymore. The
average turnover is 30 percent and may
reach as high as 44 percent as educators
quit the field.21
Many of them go to teach
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kindergarten in public schools, which also
have record turnover rates due to tight
budgets, lack of staff support and a rise in
incidents of violence.22
These downsides
notwithstanding, public kindergartens offer
higher pay and benefits than preschools,
and they are attracting some of the most
seasoned members of the early childhood
workforce. As centers scramble to fill vacant
spots, they often hire less educated staff,
leading to a decline in the overall quality of
learning.
Both parents and children lose out,
according to a former Colorado educator
who quit the field after seven years for a
job with partial health benefits and two
weeks of vacation. “People don’t realize
everything that goes into what we do, and
I really want people to know. I want it to be
important because it is,” she said. “We serve
this young population and we’re making it
possible for like 80 percent of our population
to be at work.”23
PRINCIPLES TO PROFESSIONALIZE THE EARLY CHILDHOOD
WORKFORCE
Numerous scientific studies have shown that the period from birth to age 5 is vital for brain
development and learning.1
The growing body of evidence makes it a no-brainer to realize we must
take vigorous steps to give the early childhood workforce the respect, equity and pay it deserves. As
we confront the child care crisis, we should act on four guiding principles to lead change for the early
childhood profession:
»» Respect: Acknowledge and demonstrate absolute dignity for practitioners. Professionalizing the
field should focus on professional capital rather than individual worker shortcomings and not keep
asking educators to simply wait for change.
»» Competence: Define the observable and measurable behaviors of characteristics that articulate the
field’s distinctive contributions. We must build early childhood education as a challenging discipline
using communities of practice and a new vision for higher education.
»» Strengths: Decide what is essential to retain and bring forward — and map and retain its assets.
As professional mastery increases, the soft skills may matter more than ever in practitioner
performance.
»» Equity: Address disparities, exercise power with others, protect the rights of colleagues and serve
as an instrument of professional cohesion. Professionalizing the field must include a focus on equity
and social justice, along with a willingness to be disturbed.2
The Council for Professional Recognition puts these ideals into action by administering the Child
Development Associate (CDA®
) national credentialing program. Based on a core set of competency
standards, the CDA program is a vital part of advancement in early childhood education and care.
Practitioners who earn a CDA have knowledge of best practices for working with young children,
greater commitment to their careers and a stronger connection to the community of early childhood
educators who are advocating for their field.
6. Council for Professional Recognition | 2460 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 200095
THE BUSINESS CASE
FOR BETTER EARLY
CHILDHOOD CARE AND
EDUCATION
Some prominent business leaders are
getting the message that early childhood
education matters for both our current and
future workforce. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
recently announced that he would invest $2
billion to create a network of free Montessori
schools for underserved children. Warren
Buffett has established the Buffett Institute
at the University of Nebraska and formed
an Early Childhood Workforce Commission
to address challenges ranging from the
statewide shortage of educators to a lack of
professional training and paltry wages.25
Action and innovation now will strengthen
the workforce today and for years to come,
according to Ready Nation, a bipartisan
network of business executives across
industries nationwide. The network is
committed to promoting smart investments in
America’s children and recently wrote a letter
to Congress in which it made the business
case for more and better child care.26
“The child care crisis,” the network told
Congress, “is costing our economy a
staggering $57 billion each year. As
business leaders, we recognize that this
lost productivity is hindering economic
growth and harming both employers
and employees. As the 116th Congress
progresses, we urge you to set up the
economy for long-term successes by
enacting policies that meaningfully improve
our nation’s child care system.” It was high
time to take “a historic step by improving
child care access and affordability.”27
UNCLE SAM STEPS IN
As we look to tomorrow, we should
heed history’s lessons and recall how
government once responded to a childhood
care and education crisis of the past.
During World War II, more and more men
found themselves on the front lines, leaving
ammunition factories short on workers.
In response, 6.5 million American women
joined the labor force, leaving millions of
young children without someone to educate
or care for them at home. So who took care
of Rosie the Riveter’s young ones while
she did her patriotic duty? The government
did by swiftly amending the Lanham Act,
a 1940 law that allowed for war-related
grants. In 1942, Uncle Sam provided money
to establish federally subsidized child care
centers that operated nationwide and served
families at all income levels.28
By the end of the war, between 550,000
and 600,000 children received some care
from the Lanham Act, and a report issued
at the time showed tremendous satisfaction
with the centers. More than 80 percent of
respondents had positive views, while nearly
90 percent said the centers should be set up
in every school district and made available
to both working and stay-at-home moms.29
In a more recent take on the far-reaching
program, Christopher Herbst of Arizona
State University explored how the program
affected children.
“They were more likely to be employed,
have higher earnings, and less likely to need
cash assistance as adults,” he concluded.
“In addition, the benefits of the program
accrued largely to the most economically
disadvantaged individuals” — just like they
do today.30
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Despite the evident pluses of the program,
the government cut off funding for the
centers as the war came to a close. Many
women who had entered the workforce as a
result of the war remained in the workforce
after the war, and women — especially poor
women and women of color — who had held
jobs long before the war continued to work
outside the home. By 1950, there were three
times as many working mothers as there
had been before the war, amounting to 33.9
percent of women in the paid workforce.31
Yet public opinion leaned heavily against
this trend in time of peace.32
PUTTING CHILDREN ON
THE POLITICAL AGENDA
But the tide of public opinion has turned
as more and more women bring
home the bacon from their jobs. In a 2016
bipartisan national poll, 82 percent of
Republicans, 86 percent of Independents
and 98 percent of Democrats said that
“making early education and child care
more affordable for working parents to give
children a strong start” is important for our
country.
Voters of all ages and all political parties
overwhelmingly back proposals to provide
sliding-scale support for working parents
to afford good early childhood care and
education, to increase standards and
oversight in child care settings, and to
improve the professionalization and pay
of the child care workforce. By large
margins, voters also are more likely to back
candidates for office who favor increased
funding for these and similar steps.33
Some of these voters have ramped
up their efforts to put the needs of our
youngest children on the political agenda.
Groundwork, Ohio, Child Care Resources
and Referral Association, Ohio Association
for the Education of Young Children
and Southwest Ohio Association for the
Education of Young Children have formed
the Ohio Equitable Access Coalition, a
group of early childhood educators recently
united behind a common policy agenda
and committed to advocate for increased
quality and access to early education
programs in the FY 20-21 state budget.34
In Michigan, parents from Detroit, Flint and
Grand Rapids have made plans to converge
on Lansing for an “Early Education 101”
session with lawmakers, the first significant
early childhood event to be held in the state
capital in about a decade.
“We decided to do this together so we
can speak with a collective voice,” said a
spokeswoman for the group who runs an
early childhood center in Flint. “These are
not just Detroit or Flint concerns.”35
They’re pressing national issues that
demand action from all who care about
children. And the early childhood
workforce should pitch in, according to the
Council for Professional Recognition, a
Washington, DC, nonprofit that promotes
improved performance and recognition of
professionals in the early childhood field.
The Council believes educators should take
up the mission to help the public understand
the value of early education and those who
teach young children. To help educators get
involved, the Council suggests a number of
ways to advocate for children:
8. Council for Professional Recognition | 2460 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 200097
POLITICIANS’ PROMISES TO FAMILIES ABOUT EARLY CARE AND
EDUCATION NEED TO BE FULFILLED
Early childhood care and education is now in the political spotlight. The issue has gained traction in
recent weeks since at least three candidates for president — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen.
Kirsten Gillebrand (D-NY) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) have raised concerns. On February 19,
2019, Warren introduced the Universal Child and Early Learning Act, which would create a network of
government-funded care centers with employees earning pay comparable with public school teachers.
The plan would be funded by a proposed tax on the wealthiest U.S. households and it would ensure
equity in education, Warren said. “The guarantee is about what each of our children is entitled to. Not just
the children of the wealthy, not just the children of the well-connected, but every one of our children is
entitled to good child care,”1
she said.
These words should strike a chord among voters, going by the gubernatorial elections last fall. Newly
elected governors in 16 states, ranging from Kansas to Connecticut, and Oregon to Ohio, have promised
to establish universal pre-K and invest in the early childhood workforce. In Colorado, Jared Polis pledged to
“establish universal pre-kindergarten and preschool in every community across the state within two years.”
In Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer ran on a platform prioritizing “the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.” She
proposed phasing in free, voluntary, full-day preschool for all 4-year-olds, expanding eligibility for child
care subsidies and raising provider reimbursement rates.2
During his campaign, California’s Gavin
Newsome vowed to invest $500 million in early education and care because “all children, not just the
children of a governor or a filmmaker, should have the good life in California.”3
Mayors in some of the nation’s biggest cities also have jumped on the bandwagon by making plans
for large public pre-K programs. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan envisions a universal pre-K program in
his city because he said he thinks “the challenge of kindergarten readiness is perhaps nowhere more
acute than it is in Detroit.”4
In Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh has pledged to create universal pre-K in
his city and made modest progress toward that goal in 2019 by enrolling 3,000 children.5
The de Blasio
administration in New York says it is undertaking “the largest and most ambitious expansion of pre-K of
any city in the nation’s history” and has already reached 70,000 children.”6
These and other programs face challenges that include crowding and ensuring quality benchmarks.
Additional issues include finding enough money to give educators adequate compensation and reaching
all eligible children. Now U.S. political leaders must overcome these roadblocks to keep the bold
promises they’ve made to give all children good care and education.
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» Team up with your colleagues to form your
own advocacy group
» Join forces with school boards and other
advocacy groups
» Vote in local, state and national elections
for candidates who support children and
families
» Attend town meetings and ensure that
early childhood issues get on the agenda
» Introduce the families you serve to
advocacy opportunities
» Start or join letter-writing campaigns to
urge all elected officials to support stronger
and better child care legislation
» Invite policymakers to visit your programs
and plan ahead to maximize the value of
the visit
» Start a blog about your work in the field
and include photos of children playing and
learning
» Express your point of view by writing letters
to the editor or op-eds for publication in
magazines, journals or newspapers.36
A TIMELY BLAST FROM
THE PAST
You can see the power of the written
word in an old opinion piece by former
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a fervent
advocate for human rights. From 1935
to 1962, Roosevelt wrote a syndicated
column titled My Day, and on September 8,
1945, she spoke out for the many working
mothers, social workers and early childhood
educators who had fought to keep the
Lanham preschools open.
In a much-quoted column, Roosevelt
praised the centers for allowing women to
be more productive, knowing their children
were safe and getting proper care.
“The closing of child care centers throughout
the country is certainly bringing to light the
fact that these centers were a real need,”
Roosevelt wrote. “We have to face the fact
that there are married women with young
children who have to work. In such cases
it would seem to be in the interests of the
community to organize child care centers
and see that they are properly run.”37
Failure to act would cost us in the long run,
Roosevelt cautioned her readers.
“These children are future citizens, and if
they are neglected in these early years, it
will hurt not only the children themselves
but the community as a whole. Many
communities can carry the expense of such
organization for children’s centers without
any state or federal help. But when state
help is needed it should be given; and when
states are incapable of giving sufficient help,
it should be forthcoming as it was in the war
years,” she wrote.38
And the passage of time has not tarnished
the truth of Roosevelt’s words. If we take
her advice, we can improve the state of our
union both today and tomorrow. United, we
can find the will and the way to end the child
care crisis and make our early childhood
care and education deserts bloom with new
chances for learning and growth. Then all
children will get the shot they deserve at a
better life, and women will have their day to
show just what they can achieve. Now that
would really be a reason for us all to stand
up together and cheer.
10. Council for Professional Recognition | 2460 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 200099
1 “Affordable Child Care May Be as Mythical as Unicorns.” July 25, 2018. CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/24/rising-child-
care-costs-put-squeeze-on-family-budgets.html. Wolfson, Alissa. July 28, 2018. “The Cost of Child Care Just Hit an All-time High.”
MarketWatch, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cost-of-child-care-just-hit-an-all-time-high-2018-07-28.
2 Hopkinson, Ashley. September 28, 2017. “California Voters Want Early Childhood as Priority Issue, Statewide Poll Shows.”
EdSource, https://edsource.org/2017/california-voters-want-early-childhood-as-priority-issue-statewide-poll-shows/588063.
BusinessWire. July 17, 2018. “Care.Com Survey Finds One in Three Families Spend 20% or More of Household Income on Child
Care,” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180717005236/en/Care.com-Survey-Finds-Families-Spend-20-Household.
3 Stevens, Katharine B. June 2017. “Workforce of Today, Workforce of Tomorrow: The Business Case for High-Quality Child Care.”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/reports/workforce-today-workforce-tomorrow.
4 Fraga, Lynette, Dionne Dobbins, Kristina Haynie, Jess Tercha, Jen Bump, Maggie Norton, Krista Scott, Jessica Rose-Malm,
Jasmin Springfield and Jacob Stewart. 2018. “The U.S. and the High Cost of Child Care.” Child Care Aware of America, http://usa.
childcareaware.org/advocacy-public-policy/resources/research/costofcare/.
5 Stevens. June 2017.
6 Ibid.
7 Cannon, Jill S., M. Rebecca Kilburn, Lynn A. Karoly, Teryn Mattox, Ashley N. Muchow, Maya Buenaventura. Investing Early:
Taking Stock of Outcomes and Economic Returns from Early Childhood Programs. 2017. RAND Corporation, https://www.rand.org/
pubs/research_reports/RR1993.html.
8 Ho, Sally. September 8, 2018. “Broken Economics for Preschool Workers.” U.S. News & World Report, https://www.usnews.com/
news/business/articles/2018-09-08/broken-economics-for-preschool-workers-child-care-sector.
9 Erickson, Megan. August 28, 2018. “A Blueprint for Universal Childhood.” Jacobin, https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/a-blueprint-
for-universal-childhood.
10 Ho. September 8, 2018.
11 Hirsh-Pasek, Thy, Andres S. Bustamante, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff. December 28, 2017. Funding Childhood poverty
programs is Key to Social Mobility. Brookings Institute, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2017/12/28/
funding-childhood-poverty-programs-are-key-to-social-mobility/.
12 Early Childhood Education Transformative Initiative. March 2016. “Early Childhood Education Teachers 2.0: Strategies to
Transform the Profession.” William Penn Foundation, https://williampennfoundation.org/sites/default/files/reports/MELC%20
Workforce%20Report%20-%20March%202016.pdf.
13 Ibid.
14 Cox, Erin and Yvonne Wenger. “Child Care Subsidy for Working Parents — Neglected for Decades — Gets Election-year
Attention.” February 1, 2018. Baltimore Sun, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-child-care-subsidy-
20180126-story.html.
15 Early Childhood Education Transformative Initiative. March 2016.
16 Ibid.
17 Daniel, Stephanie. August 29, 2018. “Low Pay, High Turnover Plagues Colorado Preschool Teachers.” Live Radio: KUNC, https://
www.kunc.org/post/low-pay-high-turnover-plagues-colorado-preschool-teachers#stream/0.
18 Early Childhood Education Initiative. March 2016.
19 Ho. 2018
20 Erickson. 2018.
21 Jung, Carrie. September 17, 2018. “To Stem Tide of Child Care Staff Turnover, Providers Try Increasing Benefits.” WBUR, https://
www.wbur.org/edify/2018/09/17/childcare-staff-turnover.
22 Hackman, Michelle and Eric Morath. December 28, 2018. “Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record.” Wall Street Journal,
https://www.wsj.com/articles/teachers-quit-jobs-at-highest-rate-on-record-11545993052.
23 Daniel. 2018.
24 Goldman, Dana. September 21, 2018. “Bezos Cites a Big Number, But Few Details, in Plan for Low-Income Montessori Schools.”
New York Times, https://www.wbur.org/edify/2018/09/17/childcare-staff-turnover.
25 Buffett Early Childhood Institute. 2019. “Early Childhood Workforce Commission,” https://buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu/our-work/
early-childhood-workforce-commission.
26 Ready Nation, Council for a Strong America. February 13, 2019. “Letter to Congress: Business Leaders urge Action to Fight Child
Care Crisis,” https://www.strongnation.org/articles/844-letter-to-congress-business-leaders-urge-action-to-fight-child-care-crisis.
27 Ibid.
28 Kurtz, Dana. July 23, 2018. “We Have a Child Care Crisis in the Country. We Had the Solution 78 years ago.” Washington Post,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/23/we-have-a-childcare-crisis-in-this-country-we-had-the-solution-
78-years-ago/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.23213ed5ee5e. Cohen, Dana. November 18, 2015. “Who Took Care of Rosie the Riveter’s
Kids?” Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/daycare-world-war-rosie-riveter/415650/.
11. 10 (800) 424-4310 | cdafeedback@cdacouncil.org | www.cdacouncil.org |
29 Ibid.
30 Herbst, Chris M. December 2013. “Universal Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children’s Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence
from the Lanham Act of 1940.” IZA Discussion Paper 7846, http://ftp.iza.org/dp7846.pdf.
31 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. 2018. Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
32 Cohen. 2018.
33 Halpin, Karl Agne and Marjorie Pomero. September 2018. “Affordable Child Care and Early Learning for All Families:
National Public Opinion Study.” Center for American Progress, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/
reports/2018/09/13/457470/affordable-child-care-early-learning-families/.
34 “Statewide Early Childhood Organizations Announce Equitable Access Coalition Unified and Mobilized Behind Shared Policy
Agenda.” Groundwork Ohio, https://mailchi.mp/b61b9f0f821b/groundworkohio.
35 Einhorn, Erin. February 7, 2019. “Here’s how Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids Advocates are “Trying to Put Early Childhood
Education on the State Policy Agenda in Lansing.” Chalkbeat, https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/detroit/2019/01/17/heres-how-detroit-
flint-and-grand-rapids-advocates-are-trying-to-put-early-childhood-education-on-the-state-policy-agenda-in-lansing/.
36 Washington, Valora, ed. 2017. Essentials for Working with Young Children. Washington, DC: Council for Professional Recognition.
37 Roosevelt, Eleanor. September 8, 1945. My Day, https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1945&_
f=md000125.
38 Ibid.
Deserting Our Youngest Children
1 Jessen-Howard, Steven, Rasheed Malik, Simon Workman and Katie Hamm. October 31, 2018. “Understanding Infant and Toddler
Child Deserts.” Center for American Progress, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2018/10/31/460128/
understanding-infant-toddler-child-care-deserts/.
2 Ibid. Hampton, Rachelle. December 7, 2018. “More than Half of Americans Live in Child Care Deserts, and We’re Not Doing
Much to Fix It.” Slate, https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/12/child-care-deserts-new-cap-report.html.
3 Cantu-Pawlik, Stacy. January 2, 2019. “Latinos, Rural Communities Disproportionately Affected by Child Care Deserts. Salud
America!, https://salud-america.org/latinos-rural-communities-disproportionately-live-in-child-care-deserts/.
Principles to Professionalize the Early Childhood Workforce
1 “Early Brain Development and Health.” February 6, 2019. Department of Health & Human Services, https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/
childdevelopment/early-brain-development.html.
2 Washington, Valora, Ph.D. and Brenda Gadson. With a foreword by Marcy Whitebrook. 2017. The New Early Childhood
Professional: Building on Competence and Strength. New York: Teachers College Press.
Politicians’ Promises to Families about Early Care and Education Need to Be Fulfilled
1 Astor, Maggie. “Elizabeth Warren Proposes Universal Child Care.” February 19, 2019. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.
com/2019/02/19/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-child-care.html.
2 Hamm, Katie, Cristina Nova and Steven Jessen Howard. November 7, 2018. “Newly Elected Governors Support Expanding
Early Childhood Programs.” Center for American Progress, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/
news/2018/11/07/460604/newly-elected-governors-support-expanding-early-childhood-programs/.
3 Stavely, Zaidee. January 9, 2019. “Gov. “Newsome Proposing to Expand Services for Babies and Toddlers.” EdSource, https://
edsource.org/2019/gov-newsom-proposing-to-expand-services-for-babies-and-toddlers/606886.
4 Einhorn, Erin. February 8, 2019. “Universal Pre-K for Detroit? Affordable Child Care? How Michigan Should Spend Federal
Funds.” Crain’s Detroit Business, https://www.crainsdetroit.com/node/738626/printable/print.
5 Lazar, Kay. February 21, 2019. “Day Care is Hard to Find and Expensive. Boston is Looking to Help. Boston Globe, https://www.
bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/21/sos-child-care-boston-says-feels-parents-pain/cXRXqD5s97EwJ8yX2TcbBI/story.html.
6 Amin, Reema. January 4, 2019. “Amid Questions Over New Transit Program, De Blasio Downplays Challenges of Rolling
Out Universal Pre-K. Chalkbeat, https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/02/21/sos-child-care-boston-says-feels-parents-pain/
cXRXqD5s97EwJ8yX2TcbBI/story.html.
Suggested Citation: Washington, Valora, Ph.D, and Lisa Yarkony. Child Care for All:
Finding the Will and the Way. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington, D.C,
February 2019. Reprint with permission.