*MAKE SOME NOISE: Tell our Congressional delegation to support funding for child care*
On March 11, 2021, Congress passed the AMERICA RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA), which allotted $24 billion specifically for childcare providers. The childcare funding provision of ARPA ended on September 30, 2023, causing a steep drop off in federal child care funding.
The Century Foundation https://tcf.org/content/report/child-care-cliff/, a think tank based in New York, predicts that five states will suffer the most from the loss of federal child care funding — Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia https://tcf-ccs-map.netlify.app/assets/factsheets/Child%20Care%20State%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20West%20Virginia.pdf. Without intervention, 23,231 children in our state are expected to lose their child care as a result of the loss of federal funding
On September 13, 2023, U.S. Senators Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, Catherine Clark and Rosa de Laura, along with 33 additional colleagues introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act to extend the federal child care stabilization funding. Additionally, 78 members of the US House of Representatives signed the bill.
*To date, West Virginia Senators and Representatives have failed to join with the other members of Congress. *
*MAKE SOME NOISE! Tell our Congressional delegation to SUPPORT the Child Care Stabilization Act (S. 2777 and H.R. 5433). *
*Let them know that West Virginia children deserve high-quality care, childcare, and education!*
*The Honorable Joe Manchin III* United States Senate 306 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC, 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3954 E-mail: senator_manchin@manchin.senate.gov
*The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito* United States Senate 172 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC, 20510 Phone: (202) 224-6472 E-mail: https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/contact-my-office
*The Honorable Carol Miller* U.S. House of Representatives - 1st District 465 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3452 Email: https://millerforms.house.gov/contact/
*The Honorable Alex Mooney* U.S. House of Representatives - 2nd District 2228 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C 20511 Phone: (202) 225-2711 Email: https://mooney.house.gov/contact/
*Want more information?* LWVWV members Nancy Ulrich and Joe Golden have a summary of the bills and child care issues in West Virginia in the fall issue of the https://lwvwv.org/2023/10/30/fall-voter-2023/WV Voter https://lwvwv.org/2023/10/30/fall-voter-2023/.
Child care is critical for West Virginia's economy and families, but many have no or limited access to it. Watch this short video to learn more about the child care crisis and what we can do to address it: https://tinyurl.com/WVNeedsChildCare
*Help LWVWV and partners #SolveChildCare.*
Additional resources:
https://www.dominionpost.com/2023/10/11/local-childcare-advocates-push-for-f...
https://tcf.org/content/report/child-care-cliff/
https://childcareforeveryfamily.org/action/
*Want to know how your state legislators voted on issues related to protecting children and families? *Explore LWVWV's Legislative Scorecard at https://lwvwv.org/. To learn more, check out this article on the scorecard at West Virginia Watch https://westvirginiawatch.com/2023/11/02/the-league-of-women-voters-in-wv-releases-scorecard-for-2023-regular-session/ .