Legislative and Budget Priorities

Thriving Families CA (TFC) is a 47-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

1. Secure ongoing and stable funding to support the state’s 20191 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 (2).

2. 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/seven days per week economy.

3. Establish fair and equitable policies for subsidized parents that that mirror the private market such as reimbursing for child care upfront as well as “holding harmless” family child care providers reimbursed based on attendance.

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Maximize the sharing of data systems and improvements in systems for seamless support to families.

4. 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

1. Collaborate with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) on building upon community-based programs that are uniquely positioned to talk with parents and support their under-resourced connections to needed services (i.e, child care, nutrition, immigration, housing/homelessness, foster care, mental health, transportation, etc.).

2. Strengthen funding, reduce unfunded mandates, maximize technology and reduce contract barriers in order to create a cohesive delivery system that values a coordinated delivery of programs with allocated monies.

3. 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.

4. Support a No Wrong Door framework that delivers coordinated resources regardless of access point.

5. 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.