Legislative and Budget Priorities
2026 Public Policy Aspirational Outcome: Realize a family focused delivery of coordinated supports and services that result in breaking a cycle of poverty for both the current and future generations.
Thriving Families California (TFC) is a 48-year network of community-based public and private nonprofits that serve as an entry point for families to access child care and a gateway to access other critical supports. Established in each of California’s 58 counties, these community partners have evolved to meet the unique needs of marginalized and poor communities by supporting income-eligible families with access to early care and educational programs in addition to food, housing, transportation, mental health, domestic violence, home visiting, health care, migrant services, immigration assistance, and more. Further, the unique evolution of these programs has resulted in the information and services delivered to families by staff sensitive to the unique cultural and linguistic diversity of the communities served. We value being a collaborative partner focused on breaking the cycles of poverty and directing resources and services to meeting the needs of underserved and under-resourced communities. To strengthen coordinated services for families, TFC will focus on:
Accessibility: Stabilize and fund a well-resourced family-focused community-based delivery system
- Secure ongoing and stable funding to support the state’s 2019(i) multi-year promise of adding 200,000 new child care slots by 2028. Currently, of the 200,000 promised, roughly 123,000 have been funded with 77,000 remaining(ii).
- Maximize blended one-time and ongoing federal and state dollars to honor parental choice of care in all quality settings, including transitional kindergarten, that best meets the real-time working needs of families in California’s 24 hour/7 days a week economy.
- Establish fair, equitable policies for subsidized parents that mirror the private market, such as prospective payment.
- Support a No Wrong Door framework that delivers coordinated resources regardless of access point.
Workforce: Ensure a well-resourced workforce and community partners, and a sustainable pipeline of new providers for the future that reflects the critical contribution of their services to a thriving economy
- Compensate early care and education providers through meaningful rate reform and timeline that recognizes quality and experience being delivered in early care and learning environments.
- Examine and fund community contractors, supporting both urban and rural counties, to connect critical needs of families to services that support self-sufficiency in the current generation and dismantle poverty in the next.
- Maximize the sharing of data systems and improvements in systems for seamless support to families.
- Fund a pathway to support individuals that choose Early Childhood Education as a vocation and value its importance as critical to a healthy and thriving economy.
Communities and Partnership: Strengthening a whole family/whole child approach to services can be successfully addressed when supported with a coordinated network of state, local, community and neighborhood stakeholders
- Collaborate with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to strengthen community-based programs that are uniquely positioned to directly engage parents and connect them to essential services, including child care, nutrition, immigration support, housing or homelessness assistance, foster care, mental health, and transportation.
- Increase funding, eliminate unfunded mandates, maximize technology and reduce contract barriers to create a unified delivery system that prioritizes a coordinated delivery of programs with dedicated resources.
- Align funding to modernize and integrate technology systems that enable prospective payment, electronic signatures and attendance records, and coordinated data sharing across programs.
- Show the data of working families’ contributions into the local and statewide economy via taxes through their Return on Investment (ROI) when they are employed and earning.
- Engage with chambers of commerce and employers in pursuit of mutually beneficial outcomes that support employees with access to stable child care and other services.
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1. Final slots DMC 2019-20_BA.pdf
2. Reference Documents for 2025 Local Assistance Estimates
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