Overview of our SUCCESSFUL Campaign to Restore Stage 3 Child Care!

Friday night October 8th, 2010 then Governor Arnold Schwarzennegar singlehandedly eliminated CalWORKs Stage 3 child care, beginning November 1^st.
The governor designated this funding instead to build up a reserve fund, which is for use in bad budget years. He clearly doesn’t understand that families are struggling right now.
More than 80,000 children each year are served by Stage 3 subsidies. There is currently no guidance or plan for what options these families have other than to apply for AP child care vouchers, for which there is currently a waiting list of an estimated 196,00 children statewide.

Special Thanks to the Legal Team of: Public Interest Law Project, Child Care Law Center, Western Center on Law and Poverty, Public Counsel Law Center, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles, and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles who filed the lawsuit, on behalf of Parent Voices Oakland, that led to the Stage 3 Child Care Restoration!

What parents and providers impacted by the cuts did to win the Campaign:

Attended legislative visits on Tuesday, Oct 12, 2010 at 9am, the first day legislators were back at work since the Governor\'s announcement.
Protested outside of the Governor\'s Debate at Dominincan University on Oct 12, 2010. 40 parents, providers, and children held signs to restore the funding and carried umbrellas.
Called, faxed, and emailed legislators and the Governor in their local office and Sacramento office on Wedn, Oct 13, 2010 and asked them to: \"Restore the funding for Stage 3 child care slashed by the Governor with his blue pencil veto. Elimination of Stage 3 child care threatens parents ability to work, jobs for child care providers and our economic security.\" To date, the Governor\'s office has been receiving 50-60 calls a day....he needs to hear from more parents and providers every day!
Rallied in Sacramento on Friday, Oct 15, 2010 to show that parents will not standby and watch our livlihoods, everything we worked so hard for, and our children\'s safety and security be yanked from us without a fight! We wore ponchos, brought umbrellas and showed the Legislature and the public that it\'s RAINING NOW!
Protested outside of the Women\'s Conference in Long Beach, CA on Oct 26, 2010. Organized by Community Voices and Child Care Providers United, 500 parents, providers, and children called out the Governor for his shameful act.
Participated in a press conf with Alameda County Legislators and the Superintendent on Oct 26, 2010
Worked to get a resolution passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in support of restoring child care funding on Oct 26, 2010
Attended a town hall meeting and were key experts on the panel about the impacts in Martinez on Oct 29, 2010
Paraded in downtown Fresno with 150 children in costumes to protest the cuts on Oct 30, 2010
Collected 5000 signatures so far on our online petition and hand delivered to Governor-Elect Jerry Brown on Nov 4, 2010
On Nov 17, 2010, Parent Voices Oakland won a lawsuit that keeps the Stage 3 Child Care program in effect until Dec 31st!
Educated and informed parents about applying for the CalWORKs Diversion program which enabled eligible parents to qualify for Stage 2 child care Nov-Dec
Attended the swearing in ceremony of new legislators on Dec 6, 2010. The next day, AB 1 (Perez) and SB 12 (Corbett) legislation was introduced to restore Stage 3 child care funding.
Helped parents in December and January apply for the Diversion program.
Parent Voices chapters from Oakland, Hayward, SF, Marin, Sonoma, Stockton, Fresno, Contra Costa and LA attended budget hearings asking legislators to reject child care cuts on Feb 2, 2011
800 parents, children, and child care supporters attended the annual Stand for Children Day in the Capitol on May 4, 2011.

This campaign could not have been won without the PARENTS THEMSELVES determined to take action! Please join us and be part of a grassroots parent led movement! To find a local Parent Voices chapter click here http://www.parentvoices.org/contact-us.html; if you don\'t have a local chapter in your area, contact Statewide Organizer, Mary Ignatius at 415-882-0234 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thank you to everyone for your outpour of support! People across the state worked around the clock to get this decision reversed, but don\'t take this for granted. Politicians will continue to make cuts to programs unless they hear from all of us! We still need every single parent and provider who need subsidized child care to be involved and empower yourself to take action!