Every few months, there’s a flurry of media coverage about the challenges facing the child care industry, reminding the country that one of its most essential services is still at a crisis point. At Imagine, we never stop thinking about this reality. We are constantly looking for opportunities to relieve these pressures and we take great pride in these efforts – to make child care more accessible, to maintain the highest standards of quality, and to invest in our employees. We also believe that our employee-owned model is a blueprint for success for child care providers.
Yet we know that robust public policy that supports our industry – and your family – is the most effective way to end the never-ending cycle of child care crises.
And so we were thrilled and honored to meet with the offices of New York State Senators Schumer and Gillibrand last week to discuss just these issues. In those meetings, we talked about how our teachers choose this profession because teaching young children is rewarding and joyful. We talked about how every person at Imagine believes that teaching young children can literally change the world. We talked about how we value the trust our families show us by letting us care for and educate their children, and how we want to do more to make care widely accessible and affordable.
And then we asked them to do more. To do more to prioritize childcare in this year’s appropriations discussions. To do more to fight for today’s families to make sure safe and effective care and early childhood education is not a luxury but a right. To do more to recognize that teachers in this industry work so hard, and their pay and benefits rarely reflect their passion and expertise. To do more and be part of the change we are pushing for everyday.
The meetings with Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand were just one small step. We need as many people as possible to ask them to do more.
Please use your voice to advocate for our industry and your own families.
We will continue to look for opportunities every day that will help transform this industry into the one families, teachers, and communities deserve. If you would like to learn more about our advocacy efforts and how to get involved, sign up here.
