Support Licensed Childcare & School Meals
Please contact your legislators locally before April 23rd. Congress is recessed from April 8th to April 23. Phone or email him/her, or send a post card locally. Attend a local meeting with your legislator, if possible.
Half of our families earn the median income or less (about $50,000 annually). This is not enough to pay for basic needs. The President’s budget subsidizes childcare for those with high salaries, but leaves those struggling financially with no support. Also,the republicans talk of cutting food stamps and school meals. Our children will starve without the food stamp program. Find contact information for your legislators here. You might say this:
- Support an increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) from the federal government. Congress should fund CCBDG to ensure that more of our
children have access to licensed childcare and are not exposed to abuse and neglect. Safe child care must be available around the clock to accommodate work hours. - Make The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) a refundable federal tax credit for ALL families with work-related child or dependent care expenses. This credit should help All parent(s) pay for safe childcare that enables them to work. For more information on these issues visit the Women’s Law Center. Example: Jennifer, a single mom with three kids, works in a childcare center. She has $14,500 in income and $1,500 in childcare expenses. At that level of income, she has no federal tax liability. She would receive a CDCTC of $0, because it is nonrefundable and she does not have tax liability.
3. Ask your legislators to protect the Supplemental Food Assistance Program (S
NAP and food stamps) from the budget cuts proposed by the President. SNAP protects 43 million people monthly from hunger, including children. SNAP includes the school meals program. Nearly half our children depend on school meals at one time or another. Hungry children cannot participate in school. They suffer serious illnesses and hospital visits frequently. You can find more information at No Kid Hungry.
