“DC Doesn’t WORK Without Child Care!” is more than a slogan for Empower DC’s Child Care for All Campaign, it’s the harsh reality facing thousands of low and moderate income working families who rely on child care assistance to ensure their ability to work.
Unfortunately, recent changes by the Fenty Administration and the Mayor’s proposed budget for FY 2010 are only contributing to the challenges already faced by families working to make ends meet.
Empower DC’s grassroots membership base is raising their voices to educate policy makers that child care is not a luxury, but rather a necessity for all working people, and it must be made a priority.
FY 2010 Child Care Budget
The DC City Council is wrapping up budget hearings this week, and getting down to the business of making changes to the city budget, the final version of which is expected to be voted on May 12th. DC’s budget is made up of $6.25 billion in local dollars collected from taxes and fees, plus federal money bringing the total budget to $8.97 billion. Revenue projections forecast an $800 million decline in revenue from FY 2009, causing the city to raise fees and cut programs to make up for the budget short fall.
Child care is among many social services and community programs that face cuts.
The Mayor’s budget proposes a 4.8 percent reduction in child care funding from FY 2009. Despite Adrian Fenty’s support for child care funding when chairman of the Council’s Human Services Committee, since becoming Mayor he has proposed cuts to child care in each budget he has submitted to the Council. The child care budget was cut by over $4 million going into FY 2009, and reduced further mid-year. The number of children being served by child care programs declined by 1,300 from FY 2007 to FY 2009. The Administration has not said how many more slots will be lost due to cuts in the FY 2010 budget, but clearly the number will continue to decline under the Mayor’s proposal.
The FY 2010 Early Care and Education Administration totals $89 million, a reduction of $4.5 million from FY 2009, and a reduction of $12 million when compared to the original FY 2009 budget. After adjusting for inflation, the budget for child care has declined by $20 million, or 20 percent, since 2007.
Additionally, the proposed FY 2010 budget for the Pre-K for All Initiative is only $5.1 million, down from $9.5 million at the start of FY 2009, and will not support an expansion as intended in the Pre-K for All legislation passed by the Council in 2008.
More information on the Child Care budget is available here.
Other Child Care Challenges
The child care community is also concerned about other changes affecting DC residents, including:
- The proposed elimination of child care services at Parks and Recreation sites. Mayor Fenty abruptly closed four child care programs in December, impacting hundreds of children and workers. The Mayor’s FY 2010 budget proposes to eliminate the remaining 15 programs, displacing more than 100 additional workers and several hundred children. According to Neil Rodgers, staff of Harry Thomas Jr., who chairs the Council Committee on Parks and Recreation, the child care centers proposed to be eliminated are all gold-quality, accredited centers that are funded by federal, not local, dollars. The budget for these programs, $5.1 million, has been directed to cover other child care activities in the Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) budget.The Administration has not said where they expect impacted families to go to receive this care;
- The abolishment of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee. Members of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Early Childhood Development (MACECD) were notified by letter in March that the commission, originally established in 1979, had been dissolved. MACECD had been an active body, working to bring together early childhood professionals, consumers and advocates to draft policy and budget recommendations on numerous topics including accreditation, setting rates, family child care, before and after school care, professional development, and more. Empower DC submitted a sign-on letter to the Mayor and Council calling for the reinstatement of MACECD. Approximately 200 individuals and organizations endorsed the letter and we await a response from the Administration; and,
- The Child Care Development Block Grant. The Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary source of federal money provided to states for the provision of child care assistance to support low to moderate income working families. D.C. is required to create a CCDBG State Plan every two years outlining how the state will utilize CCDBG funds.
Upcoming opportunities for residents to weigh-in on the use of CCDBG funds are as follows:
Wednesday, April 22 6-8 PM
Child Care Development Block Grant Informational Meeting
Office of Unified Communications
2720 Martin Luther King Jr., Ave., S.E.
For more information call Diane Paige:
Thursday, April 30th 6-8 PM
Child Care Development Block Grant Informational Meeting
Bell Multicultural School
3101 16th Street, NW, 6-8pm
For more information call Diane Paige
Monday, May 4th 6:30-8:30 PM
Child Care for All Campaign Meeting
Preparation for Block Grant Hearing
Child Care Provided – call for address and RSVP
Empower DC –
Saturday, May 16th Noon-2 PM
Child Care Development Block Grant Hearing
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library
901 G Street, NW, A-5
For more information or to sign up to testify call
Parisa Norouzi is the Co-Director/Organizer of Empower DC’s District of Columbia Grassroots Empowerment Project. Niccola Reed is the Child Care for All Campaign’s Child Care Organizer.
Empower DC is a city-wide, membership based grassroots organizing project whose mission is to enhance, improve and promote the self-advocacy of low and moderate income residents in the District of Columbia in order to bring about sustained improvements in their quality of life. Empower DC is currently engaged in grassroots advocacy campaigns on the issues of affordable housing, preserving public property, and ensuring quality, affordable and accessible child care for all DC families. For more information contact Parisa Norouzi, CoDirector, at
Empower DC is a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.
For current information on how the issue of child care is being handled in Virginia, click here.
