On a good day in December 1983, I cooked Vienna sausages and grits on a borrowed kerosene heater that — given my poverty-stricken state — had begrudgingly become another mouth to feed. Every day I had to buy fuel for it. Heartbroken and adjusting to an unfamiliar, substandard way of living, my first year in Jacksonville was dreadful. From day one I vowed to lift myself and two boys out of destitution as soon as I could — either by getting a job or returning to school. But a severe lack of resources, primarily child care for my toddler, made it nearly impossible for me to envision being able to do either.
In Jacksonville, our financial situation was far from secure compared to our previous life in Savannah. There, with my domestic partner and I both working, we enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in a remarkable Victorian home and neighborhood. However, his struggles with PTSD from his time in Vietnam led to unpredictable violent outbursts, prompting me to flee with the children for our safety.
Having Affordable Childcare Was Essential to Securing My Kids’ Futures
With no concrete plan, we ended up briefly homeless in Jacksonville, relying on a moving truck and strangers for shelter. Despite having funds for rent and security deposit, my lack of a job, credit, or even public assistance made it difficult to secure housing. We ended up in a tiny, unequipped unit in a dilapidated cement tenement. This experience reinforced the importance of finding affordable childcare, as it became clear that without it, keeping a job or pursuing an education in order to improve and stabilize our living conditions would be unachievable.
Thanks to Sylvia, a friend at church who coached me, I decided to attend community college. Sylvia had an answer to all of my initial hesitancies about doing so. When I told her I couldn’t afford it, she said that financial aid programs such as Pell Grants and Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG) would take care of my tuition and books. And, that if I performed well academically, I could also qualify for merit awards. But most of all, Sylvia had the answer to my biggest looming concern — the availability of child care for my toddler. She said the cost could be covered by a government-subsidized program.
And she was right — I plummeted into poverty with my family through no fault of my own, but there were at least some social safety net benefits to help us get by.
Affordable Care Gave Me Freedom to Choose My Educational and Professional Goals
Without such vital support, I couldn’t have taken advantage of any of the other forms of aid. Knowing my two-year-old would be properly looked after enabled me to not only attend my classes, but focus on my studies with peace of mind.
During my second year of college, I completed two unpaid internships: one in a television newsroom, and another at a city lifestyle magazine, Jacksonville Today. That internship led to me having my first published and well-paying piece ever — in a brand-new national newspaper called USA Today. Armed with that byline, I was able to convince local publications to let me freelance for them. As a result, my income increased, and then stabilized when I became a newspaper staff writer.
Affordable child care was the key to me confidently pursuing higher education, discovering a skill I hadn’t realized I possessed, and applying that talent as a way to lift me and my children out of deep poverty. Without that assistance, I might have stayed stuck in it and opened the way to a second generation of the condition. To this day, nearly 40 years later, I am still grateful for having received such support and the opportunities for professional growth that came my way. Affordable child care is bound to be the answer to others’ success, as well.
With the assurance that my child was safe and cared for, I pursued my dreams with confidence and focus, minimizing the time my family endured deep poverty.
Care is Now Unaffordable for Too Many, But a Provider-led Movement Has Solutions
As it did in my case, accessible child care offers long-term benefits for children, families, and society, including improved educational outcomes, greater workforce participation, and reduced dependence on the social safety net. But unfortunately, the cost of child care has skyrocketed since I last required its services, rendering it unaffordable for many workers and further restricting their access to proper care for their children. Some families can pay up to 30% of their income towards child care — making it unaffordable almost everywhere in the U.S.
I urge members of Congress to fund, support and expand child care initiatives, envisioning a future where every child in our country has access to affordable child care. Only by eliminating barriers to childcare can struggling parents pursue their educational and occupational goals, enabling them to secure a better future for their families.
The pandemic-era stabilization funds that saved up to 10 million child care slots ended last fall, threatening the childcare sector once again as well as the families, children, and businesses that depend on child care. And we’re facing another cliff this fall. That’s why Community Change Action is organizing its 3rd Annual National Day Without Child Care to give a glimpse of what would happen if providers were all forced to close their doors for good. If we don’t make a change, all of us will pay the price of an underfunded system.
As a parent and grandparent, I stand in solidarity with those taking actions on May 13 to demand affordable care for all families who need it, thriving wages for early childhood educators, a childcare system built on racial and gender equity, and an expanded, inclusive child tax credit.
In my state of Georgia, Community Change Childcare Changemakers are hosting an event for Day Without Child Care in Atlanta from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET at Liberty Plaza. It’s just one of 84 events planned in 26 states around the country this year.
Grassroots organizers such as these, dedicated to making our economy work for everyone, are what will make more success stories like mine possible.