Read about what we’ve achieved…
Real Cost of Motherhood Receipts
A New York Times article published in April revealed that the White House has been considering ways to increase the birth rate in the United States and spoiler alert: they are bad ideas. From menstrual classes to help women learn how to get pregnant (what?) to a $5,000 baby bonus (um, excuse me, have you not been listening to us about the cost of childcare?) to a Medal of Motherhood for having six or more children (in this economy?! with these maternal mortality rates?!!), moms said“hell no” to these proposals. Moms mailed their “real cost of motherhood” receipts to the White House to show just how much it costs to have a baby in the United States. Over 130 moms from 40 different states mailed their receipts, making this our biggest action ever! Happy Mother’s Day!
4-1-1 Day of Action
On 4/11, moms gave legislators the 4-1-1 on what we have been dealing with during this childcare crisis with no paid family leave. Moms took action in 3 ways: going in-person to their representatives’ offices, hosting a phone bank with friends, and posting on social media all with the theme of : empty chairs, empty promises. Congress is doing nothing to ensure that families have access to affordable childcare and paid family leave, and we’re sick of it. We had moms in 24 states participate, making this our largest action ever!
Candidate Town Halls
During the month of October, MF moms hosted town halls in 4 different states that featured 14 different candidates and reached dozens of community members! We got these candidate to go on record about their positions on childcare and paid family leave to help raise up these issues for voters. Check out the video highlighting where the Colorado candidates stand!
Fired While Pregnant ABC Petition
In the year of 2024, women are still being fired for being pregnant. It’s illegal, and yet it is happening in droves. We have had enough. We wanted to know what our presidential candidates plan to do to pass paid family leave and ensure pregnant workers are protected. A group of moms delivered a petition with over 700 signatures to ABC to demand our question be asked during the presidential debate. Although there was not a question on family policies, we are committed to sharing these stories and calling for change by our lawmakers!
Senate Finance Committee Statements
On July 9, the Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing called “Examining the State of Child Care” where Senators and experts testified about the what is happening with the childcare crisis and what the be course of action would be. But you know what was missing? Moms. Not a single mom testified on the experience of actually living through the childcare crisis. So we spent 2 weeks helping moms submit their statements to go on public record in response to the hearing. Because of that effort, over 50 moms were able to submit their own stories! We will be heard!
Mother’s Day Town Halls
This year, we wanted to make sure elected officials and candidates knew what moms actually want for Mother’s Day, so we told them! Moms across the country (from Maine to Virginia to Colorado) hosted Mother’s Day Town Halls at their local parks and libraries to share their childcare and family leave stories with local elected officials and candidates (and even one federal Congresswoman!). Moms get stuff done, even on our own special day.
Washington D.C. Trip
Our members had the honor of being invited to join Care Can’t Wait’s Coalition in Washington D.C.! This trip included a town hall with childcare champions like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey as well as a Care Convening celebration at the White House.
Diaper Drop Off @Mike Johnson’s Office
Recently, The Century Foundation released their Care Report Card to show how states are doing with taking care of its children, families, and aging populations. No surprise: it was bad. So our moms gathered at the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to share exactly how “crappy” childcare is for families AND providers and to call on him to do-do better. This visit may or may not have included actual diapers filled with chocolate syrup to really drive the point home.
Valentine’s Day Nap Zap
Roses are red, Violets are Blue, the bill for Child Care is DUE
On February 2024 when Congress was set to vote on whether or not to allocate $16 billion to child care in the budget, C4C carried out the training for moms to call their congressperson and get our message across. All throughout Valentine’s Day week, we went through scripts and scenarios to call our representatives and jamming to cool tunes. Once we felt comfortable, we made the call and got our message across: “budget like a mother and support the $16B in funding”.
Holiday Coloring Sheets
“This holiday season, give the gift of affordable childcare” was our slogan for this holiday action! We created two different coloring sheets for families to print out, decorate with their kids, and send to legislators. We targeted 5 key Republican Representatives, but folks were welcome to send their sheets to their own legislators as well. Civic action for the whole family!
Domino Drop Off
September 30th marked the “Child Care Funding Cliff” that parents and childcare providers feared because it meant the loss of federal ARPA funding that helped stabilize childcare during the pandemic. We knew that the loss of this funding would have harmful effects for childcare providers, families, and children, and we wanted to make that known to the people with the power to stop it! Across the country, moms planned trips to their legislators’ offices to share the domino effect that the loss of this funding would have. From Maine to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, we took our dominoes and our kiddos and shared the reality that families are facing.
Invoice Selfie Action
Our stories are our power! Parents and childcare providers stepped into vulnerability to share the cost of their childcare (or their wages as childcare providers) compared to their family’s budget. The federal government says that affordable childcare should cost 7% of a family’s budget, but the reality is that that is very rare.
Petition Delivery to Bernie Sanders
The petition that started it all! We collected over 3,000 signatures from across the country calling on Senator Bernie Sanders, as Chair of the Senate HELP committee, to act on childcare legislation. A group of our members travelled to Washington, D.C. (babies and all) to deliver the petition, attend a HELP committee hearing on the childcare crisis, and meeting with Sen. Sanders’s Chief of Staff. What an awesome first action!
Mother Forward 