Comedians Kathy Griffin, Sara Gilbert, Ashley Williams, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Artemis Pebdani, Jimmy Ray Bennett, Stephanie Courtney, Adam Kulbersh, Jim Cashman, and Angelina Spicer star in new video about bringing affordable, high-quality child care #WithinReach.
Washington, D.C. —(ENEWSPF)–October 18, 2016. Comedy stars are teaming up to get the word out about high-quality, affordable child care in a new video from the #WithinReach campaign, a project of the Center for American Progress. High-quality child care gives families a fair shot to make ends meet and get ahead and allows parents to participate more fully in the workforce—but skyrocketing costs mean that child care is often out of reach for millions of hard-working Americans, leaving families struggling to choose between their paycheck and their child’s care. In the new video, comedians Kathy Griffin, Sara Gilbert, Ashley Williams, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Artemis Pebdani, Jimmy Ray Bennett, Stephanie Courtney, Adam Kulbersh, Jim Cashman, and Angelina Spicer start a conversation about a solution.
“High-quality, affordable child care is a no-brainer, and we need to ask policymakers to invest in working families in America,” said Katie Hamm, Senior Director of Early Childhood Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Last year, the Center for American Progress launched the WithinReach campaign to elevate and create momentum around the need to put quality, affordable child care and pre-K within reach for kids, families, and the economy. The #WithinReach campaign unites national and state leaders, advocates, and the general public in a coordinated effort to make real progress on policies that will advance economic opportunities and support for working families and ensure the youngest Americans are equipped with the foundation they need to succeed in the future. Last year, CAP released a proposal that would provide a High-Quality Child Care Tax Credit to help low-income and middle-class families afford child care. The proposal would expand child care access to roughly 6 million children younger than age 5 in the United States, increasing the current service level more than fourfold while supporting financial security for working families.
Here are some fast facts on the state of child care in the United States:
- The average cost of center-based child care is nearly 30 percent of the median income for a family with an infant and a four-year-old.
- In all 50 states, child care costs more than median rent. In 28 states and the District of Columbia, child care costs more than college.
- Sixty-five percent of children under age 6 have both parents in the workforce, which means parents, especially working moms, are often left to make an impossible choice: cobbling together low-quality care they can afford to maintain their jobs or forgoing needed pay and leaving the workforce to stay at home and care for their child.
- Although mothers are now the primary breadwinner or co-breadwinner in nearly two-thirds of American families, women still spend more than twice as much time as men providing primary care to children, making access to early education a necessity for women’s economic security.
- Access to high-quality early education ensures parents stay in the workforce and improves child outcomes, which means less spending on child welfare services and the criminal justice system down the road and allows employers to keep talented, productive workers who are contributing to the economy.
- Early childhood education not only levels the playing field for children as they begin kindergarten. It also builds a workforce that will drive future economic growth, secures long-term economic competitiveness, and develops the nation’s future leaders.
Click here to watch the video.
Source: http://americanprogress.org
