CHILDCARE IS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND IT’S CRUMBLING
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because many childcare providers won’t be able to afford to reopen, as parents are expected to return to work there will be far fewer childcare options available. Teachers and caregivers will be returning to work in an environment with small children in which infectious diseases can be difficult to control without proper deep cleaning and PPE. I am asking the Senator to support the Coronavirus Child Care And Education Relief Act as part of an effort to provide safe affordable childcare for working families and their children, a living wage for teachers and caregivers, and the resources for providers to protect everyone from COVID-19.
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because many childcare providers won’t be able to afford to reopen, as parents are expected to return to work there will be far fewer childcare options available. Teachers and caregivers will be returning to work in an environment with small children in which infectious diseases can be difficult to control without proper deep cleaning and PPE. I am asking the Representative to support the Coronavirus Child Care And Education Relief Act as part of an effort to provide safe affordable childcare for working families and their children, a living wage for teachers and caregivers, and the resources for providers to protect everyone from COVID-19.
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: DUMP TRUMP, FLIP THE SENATE, ELECT REPS WHO WILL PROTECT OUR RIGHTS. AND KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF.
- Keep learning about racism –how is baked into our country’s design and how it works today. Justice in June has 10-, 25-, and 45-minute actions you can take every day. They recommend this video.
- Turn out for elections work! Indivisible Oregon is partnering with Swing Left and its smart Super State Strategy. We’ve adopted Arizona—where we are working to flip the White House, the Senate, and the state legislature (to roll back Republican gerrymandering). Action is the antidote to anxiety (and despair)!
- Join our letter writing events on Zoom every Saturday —sign up at https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-oregon. Or join any of hundreds of letter-writing parties all over the country, whenever it fits your schedule.
- Write letters to voters from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with votefwd.org and get started.
- Host your own virtual letter-writing party through Swing Left. It’s easy and fun.
- Coming soon: Indivisible Oregon phone-banking parties!
BACKGROUND:
Safe, reliable, affordable childcare is vital to the economic well-being of working families. 11.8 million working families depend on non-family childcare in order to go to work.
Now childcare is a looming crisis. Historically the care and education of young children in this country has received little government attention or support. Even before the pandemic it was a patchwork of uneven regulation and quality that often depended on what families could find or afford.
Early childhood teachers and caregivers work in a field which pays low wages and rarely provides health insurance. They are returning to work in an environment with small children in which infectious diseases can be difficult to control.
Many of the childcare providers that closed due to the pandemic lack the financial support to reopen and to pay for the supplies necessary to prevent the spread of the virus. As parents are expected to return to work there will be far fewer childcare options available, particularly in communities of color which were already underserved.
Congress must support funding to provide safe affordable childcare for working families and their children, a living wage for teachers and caregivers, and the resources for providers to protect everyone from COVID-19.
