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Month: September 2023

Civil Rights Leaders: New Legislative Maps Dilute the Political Power of Black Voters

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Sept. 27, 2023

COLUMBUS – After the Ohio Redistricting Commission adopted its 5th set of maps, civil rights leaders with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Unity Coalition and the Ohio NAACP noted that the new maps diluted the political power of Black voters. They released the following statement:

“For over a year, communities of color have been living in state legislative and congressional districts separated from or combined with communities where they do not share common interests; nor have the issues of concern to these voters been addressed by the new legislator who should be representing them,” said Pierrette “Petee” Talley, petitioner and Executive Director, Ohio Unity Coalition. “By ignoring the racial impact of the new maps on these citizens, the Commission has done a grave disservice by not assuring that districts are drawn that do not disenfranchise some voters at the expense of others. This minimizes voters’ ability to elect candidates to represent their interests. We are better than this as a state, it’s time to trust citizens, not politicians.”

The new maps indicate a Republican-to-Democratic advantage of 61 to 38 in the Ohio House, and a 23 to 10 Republican advantage in the Ohio Senate.

“It is extremely frustrating that politicians are looking out for their own interests. Consequently, Black and Brown communities will end up with the short end of the stick,” said Jeniece L. Brock, Policy & Advocacy Director at the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. “These maps dilute the political power of underrepresented communities, and it is evident politicians cannot be trusted with the task of drawing fair districts. We need an independent commission absent of politicians and with an inclusive process that allows Ohioans to have fair and just representation.”

“This process was rushed and it was not representative of the needs and perspectives of communities of color, especially Black voters,” said Prentiss Haney, co-director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.

“Ohio voters have been fighting for fair and equitable maps for the last two years, and we won’t stop now,” said Tom Roberts, president of the Ohio NAACP. “Our work for fair maps and an inclusive democracy continues.”

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Revolve Fund Raises $1.9 Million to Help Businesses Led by People of Color

Posted on

For Immediate Release

BALTIMORE – Since it launched in 2020 as a pilot, the Revolve Fund has raised $1.9 million to help Black, Latinx, Indigenous and other people of color increase access to capital. Founded and managed by James Wahls, the Revolve Fund is a philanthropic initiative that assists persons of color seeking to open, grow or scale their business or nonprofit. Wahls brings 15 years of experience in the philanthropic, impact investing and legal sectors.

“For entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders of color, systemic barriers disproportionately prevent their businesses and nonprofits from equitable capital access,” said James Wahls, founder and managing director for Revolve Fund, and senior vice president of programs and initiatives at Mission Investors Exchange. “Revolve intentionally deploys ‘friends and family-like’ funding to increase capital access, a critical factor for success.”

Revolve offers interest-free, recoverable capital to support Black/African American, Latinx, Indigenous and other people of color-led businesses, nonprofits, and financial intermediaries. To date, the fund has deployed more than $560,000.

READ MORE: https://www.citybiz.co/article/469467/revolve-fund-raises-1-9-million-to-help-businesses-led-by-people-of-color/

This National Voter Registration Day, the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative to Focus on State-Level Voter Purges

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Sept. 18, 2023

ATLANTA – The Black Southern Women’s Collaborative (BSWC) will celebrate National Voter Registration Day, on September 19, by engaging Black communities around the threat of voter purges, and by registering Black communities to vote. The network of Black women organizers in the South is also highlighting the ways in which their group is pushing back. The BSWC includes Kendra Cotton, executive director of the New Georgia Project; Rev. Rhonda Thomas, executive director of Faith in Florida; Nsombi Lambright, executive director of One Voice; Ashley K. Shelton, president and founder of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice; Tameka Greer, executive director of Memphis Artists for Change; and Phyllis Hill, BSWC founder and national organizing director for Faith in Action. They released the following statement:

“Studies show that 60% of eligible voters are never asked to register,” said Rev. Rhonda Thomas, BSWC member and executive director of Faith in Florida. “Given the many people who have been removed from the voting rolls, we want to spend National Voter Registration Day engaging as many people as possible and ensuring they register to vote or confirm that their registration is up to date.”

Faith in Florida will celebrate Nation Voter Registration Day in Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville is the oldest black town in the United States. Incorporated on August 15, 1887, by 27 black men, it was one of the first self-governing all black municipalities in the United States.  

Faith in Florida’s goal is to register 200 voters and encourage 100 people to encourage at least 100 people to complete the vote by mail applications. “We hope to expand the electorate in 41 counties,” Thomas said.

“This is a moment to dialogue with voters about their registration, their plans for voting, and the reasons our votes matter,” said Tameka Greer, BSWC member and executive director of Memphis Artists for Change. “We are also engaging voters who are at risk of being purged from the voting rolls and encouraging them to check their registration status.”

“One vote may seem insignificant, but every vote is an opportunity to help create the future we envision,” said Nsombi Lambright, BSWC member and executive director of One Voice. “It is part of a larger strategy, but it is a component that cannot be overlooked or ignored. “We will use this as an opportunity to not only sign up new voters but to reclaim voters pushed out of the system through purging.”

To date, One Voice has collected lists of inactive voters from six circuit clerks offices and are actively pursuing the remaining 76 counties in Mississippi.

“The ballot booth is another opportunity to ensure our demands are met and that the evil of systemic racism is confronted and dismantled,” said BSWC member and founder and president of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice Ashley K. Shelton. “Every election matters, which is why it’s crucial that we avail ourselves of moments like National Voter Registration Day to engage with voters and prepare them to turn out on election day.”

“We have an awesome opportunity to continue the work of those who came before us, and to simultaneously organize to make life better for those who will come after us,” said Kendra Cotton, BSWC member and executive director of the New Georgia Project.

The New Georgia Project has registered 41,000 people to vote since January 2023, and intends to register an additional 300 people on National Voter Registration Day.

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What Early Child Care Providers Are Saying Ahead of the Looming End of Pandemic-Era ARPA Funding

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Sept. 15, 2023

WASHINGTON – On a Sept. 14 national media call, early childhood education providers and advocates raised alarms on the escalating child care crisis given that pandemic-era funding for early childhood education will expire on September 30. The Raising Child Care Fund – which includes grassroots groups in Alabama (Alabama Institute for Social Justice); California (Parent Voices); Louisiana (Power Coalition for Equity and Justice); Washington, D.C. (SPACEs in Action); Georgia (9 to 5); Ohio (the Ohio Organizing Collaborative); West Virginia (Rattle the Windows); Minnesota (Kids Count on Us/ISAIAH); New Mexico (OLE); and Pennsylvania (First Up) – organized the call.

California

“We are deeply concerned for families across the nation who benefitted from federal American Rescue Plan Act co-payment waivers that expire on September 30, 2023,” said Mary Ignatius, executive director of Parent Voices in California. “These co-payment waivers allowed families to divert those funds to cover inflation rising costs such as gas, food, and other basic needs to keep their families stable. When these fees return, families will have to make difficult budget choices of what to cut in order to keep their child care assistance.  In California we are grateful that the combination of grassroots parent organizing, labor, and champions in the Legislature and our Governor agreed to extend that relief by permanently eliminating fees for families earning below 75% of the State Median Income and capping co-payments at 1% of income for those earning up to 85% of State Median Income.  This is why we need federal solutions so families across the country can benefit from this necessary relief.”  

Georgia

“ARPA funding helped me to pay the rent for my building, provide a pay increase, keep the lights on and the water bill paid,” Felicia Shuman, an early childhood education provider in Savannah, and a leader with 9to5 in Georgia. “If I didn’t have the extra funding, I would have had to close my doors.”

“I’ve been a provider for over thirty years,” said Sandra Shepherd, owner of the Little Shepherd Learning Academy, and a leader with 9to5 in Georgia. “The ARPA funding was the first time in a decade that my center was able to receive funding to help us meet the needs of parents as well as educators.”

Louisiana

“There is no economy without early care and education,” said Rochelle Wilcox, owner of four early childhood learning centers in the New Orleans area. “People cannot go to work and businesses cannot run without early childhood education and care. These small businesses are the backbone of the economy. We need the local, state, and federal government to realize that if we cannot open our doors, people cannot go to work, and the economy will fail. The first 1000 days are the most important days that we have with young children. We are not valuing the teachers, providers and small business owners that open their doors to these little people every day. We know that 158,000 children need to be served and we’re only serving 19,000. We are already at the cliff.”

Minnesota

“ARPA funds were lifesaving to our child care program in Minnesota,” said Karin Swenson, executive director of Meadow Park Preschool and Childcare Center, and a leader with Kids Count on Us. “If the federal government allows ARPA funding to expire without a plan in place, we will indeed endure a worsening child care cliff. This is not a new problem, but we have been slowly losing more and more child care programs. The pandemic shed light on how precarious our system is.”

“I opened my center to address the needs of families in rural Minnesota,” said Courtney Greiner, owner and director of ESCO Mini’s and a leader with Kids Count on Us. “We operate on the thinnest margins due to the lack of funding. The money we have to pay staff comes directly from tuition. If we charge too much, families will leave the workforce to care for their children, meaning they’ll leave the workforce. There is no situation where the amount parents can reasonably pay is enough to pay our teachers. That’s why we need the ARPA funding.”

 

Ohio

“As the child care stabilization grant reaches its culmination, Ohio stands poised with an $8 billion surplus fund,” said Trina Averette, early childhood educator with the CEO Project of in Ohio. “Our next steps are pivotal: equitable funding across the delivery system is not just essential—it’s critical. The promise of our future rests on how we choose to support our dedicated workforce today.” 

“The child care system disproportionately relies on Black, brown, and immigrant women to care for Ohio’s kids,” said Tarezz Thompson, an early childhood educator and leader with the CEO Project in Ohio. “They are underpaid, under-resourced, and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of physical and emotional labor they’re performing for our families. The end of pandemic era funding will only make things worse.” 

Pennsylvania

“Our Latino community has grown 45% and if there is a child care crisis for our English speaking providers, who were born in the U.S. and understand the language, this is a bigger crisis for our English second language educators,” said Rosanna Matos. “When new funds are made available, they’re not always disclosed in a language that providers can understand and avail themselves of. ARPA was accessible and we must continue to fight to show that it is needed.”

“Without ARPA funding most of our providers would not have been able to stay in business,” said Tyrone Scott, from First Up. “Even with those dollars, we still saw almost 2200 child care providers shut down permanently. If the federal government does not step in, childcare providers will shut down and that means families will not be able to work. We raised our reimbursement rate to 60% of market rate. We are in a place of such extreme staffing shortages that some of our best providers are having to turn families away. This is not anecdotal. In a survey conducted this summer, we found that there are 3600 open child care positions, meaning that 35,000 children are not being served.”

West Virginia

“In West Virginia, we’ve put a lot of energy and work into child care policy changes,” said Amy Hutchison of Rattle the Windows in West Virginia. “We have over 6,000 working parents in West Virginia who have been forced to work or stay at home. At least 64 percent of West Virginians live in a child care desert. Our biggest fear is that once that funding stops, people will fall off that cliff and have to close their doors. This is a workforce participation issue. Childcare is a starting point for jumpstarting and sustaining the economy and workforce.”

“In West Virginia, we have low workforce participation and battles with poverty. But ARPA funding helped a lot of families go back to work, which helped some come out of poverty,” said Melissa Colagrosso, owner and provider of A Place to Grow Childcare in Fayette County, West Virginia. “We saw a lot of families going back to the workforce. I saw families who were able to buy their first home because they could both work. As eligibility is cut back and funding decreases, centers are closing down. Child care is not a viable business, but the economy doesn’t work without it. This is an economic decision that you can’t get people to work if you don’t have children in a safe healthy environment.”

“We were there when the schools closed, we were there when families needed somewhere to go so families could work during the pandemic,” said Tiffany Gale, an early childhood education provider in West Virginia. 

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Clock is Ticking: Advocates Raise Alarms About the 3.2 Million Children Likely to Lose Child Care with End of Federal Funds

Posted on

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON – Advocates with the Raising Child Care Fund continue to sound the alarm on the impact of the end of pandemic era investments in early child care funding. They released the following statement:

“It is troublesome to be forced to choose between work and caring for one’s child,” said LaDon Love of SPACEs in Action. “And it is disheartening to care for other people’s kids, knowing you are not earning enough to care for yourself or your children. Yet this is the position of countless families in communities across the country. And things are about to get worse.”

On September 30, pandemic-era investments for child care will cease. When this happens, more than three million children will lose access to child care nationwide. Many early childhood education and care programs will close their doors or decrease availability when they run out of federal funds (The Century Foundation Fund estimates 70,000 child care programs nationwide could end). This will adversely impact countless parents and caregivers who will be unable to work without the federal subsidies for child care.

We know that all parents deserve quality, affordable, and reliable child care, and all children deserve a safe place to be nurtured, educated and stimulated. We know what is possible with investment.

“In Minnesota, advocates won historic funding for childcare, including $600 million to keep and retain childcare teachers with Great Start Workforce Compensation Supports,” said Kelly Martinson with Kids Count On Us, a project of ISAIAH.

“This funding has the deepest meaning for us because we’ve seen it work,” said Karin Swenson of Meadow Park Preschool and Child Care Center and member of Kids Count on Us. “We’ve been able to encourage people to enter the early childhood field and retain them because we can pay them closer to the wages they deserve. We managed to take a pandemic-era grant program from COVID relief funds and turn it into permanent ongoing funding for hiring and retaining childcare teachers.”

“It took extensive organizing, and we made it happen,” Swenson said. “With this funding, we’re setting a foundation. Now we can start building upon that foundation to transform our childcare system into one that is affordable for every family, high quality for every Minnesota child, and a career path for childcare teachers. We won a new Department of Children, Youth, and Families that we’ve been working toward for several years. We also got the Childcare Assistance program reimbursement rates raised to the national standard after being cut 20 years ago.”

Minnesota doesn’t have to be an anomaly, but funding is required. Without an extension of pandemic funding for childcare, many families will be left out in the cold.

“Throughout the Ohio budget process, we have been advocating for adequate funding for early childhood education and care,” said Tami Lunan of the The CEO Project, an initiative of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. “Unfortunately, the Ohio Senate passed a cruel version of the budget that removes hundreds of millions of dollars in childcare funding from the Ohio budget.  If passed, it would make Ohio one of the worst states in the nation to raise a family. We desperately need federal funding, and for Ohio legislators to do the right thing for kids.”

Advocates also say the pain of cuts will not be evenly felt. “The child care system disproportionately relies on Black, brown, and immigrant women to care for children,” Lunan added. “They are underpaid, under-resourced, and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of physical and emotional inherent in their jobs. It will also harm employers who can only keep their businesses going with child care for their workers.”

“Those with means will get the care that they need and everyone else will suffer,” said Amy Hutchison, Rattle the Windows.

For more information or to speak to a parent, provider or advocate in Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, West Virginia, or another state please let us know.

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The Raising Child Care Fund is an initiative of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC) that pools private foundation dollars to give grants to groups that amplify the voices of families, early educators, and allies.