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1:04

Lemonado.

1:18

Welcome everyone to this

1:21

live episode of No One is Coming

1:23

to Save Us. No One is Coming to Save Us

1:25

is created in partnership with Lemonado Media

1:27

and our friends at Neighborhood Villages. Thank

1:30

you, I have to say, to the Bainham Family Foundation

1:32

and the Jay Willard

1:35

and Alice S. Marriott Foundation for

1:37

their partnership in the creation of this event

1:39

and of course to our wonderful hosts

1:41

here at DCTV. This literally

1:43

would not happen without any of them and

1:46

so we owe a deep debt of gratitude

1:49

to them. I want to say a little bit about this

1:51

season of No One is Coming to Save Us. You

1:53

know, the first season we released about

1:55

a year and change into the crisis, still

1:58

very much during the pandemic and I think. collectively

2:00

parents were saying, what is going on?

2:02

I can't do this anymore. And we

2:04

really dug deep into how we got to that point.

2:07

In season two, we talked to a lot of smart people who

2:09

had a lot of smart things to say. The

2:12

trickle down effect when you don't take care

2:14

of young children, what happens? It's

2:17

quite vast, that effect. And

2:19

so now we are here in season three. And

2:22

I was saying to our wonderful panelists, I

2:25

feel very comfortably out of my depth because

2:28

we're getting so far beneath the

2:30

hood to really look at a local level

2:32

about what's being done to change things.

2:36

And thankfully, there are people far

2:38

smarter than I am on these issues, really

2:41

pushing change forward. And

2:43

DC, our nation's capital where we are

2:45

tonight, it's really emblematic of the

2:47

change that is possible. So let me introduce

2:49

you. First, I want to introduce you

2:51

to Marika Cox-Mishill. She's the vice

2:53

president of early childhood at the Baynum Family

2:56

Foundation. We are so

2:58

grateful that you're here with us. I know that you've all

3:00

worked together on these issues here in this

3:02

city for a long time. Also

3:04

joining us is Leshayda Ham-Campbell.

3:08

She's the founder and director of Petite

3:10

Scholars. I've read so much about Petite

3:13

Scholars. I'm so impressed with what you do

3:15

and so glad that you're here with us. Petite

3:17

Scholars is a network of childcare centers here

3:19

in DC. And then we are so happy to have

3:22

Bibi Otero here with us. Bibi

3:25

is the senior advisor to the Under 3 DC

3:28

Coalition. You're going to hear a lot about that.

3:30

It's a huge force of change

3:33

for good here in DC. She was also

3:35

the founder, CEO, and president

3:37

of Centro Nia for many years. That

3:39

was one of the largest early childhood

3:41

education centers here in DC. So

3:44

welcome, Bibi. I'm so glad that you're all here

3:46

with us today. So welcome to all

3:48

of you to No One Is Coming to Save Us. And let's

3:50

get started. Marika,

3:52

I would love to start with you.

3:54

And I want to ask you to

3:57

paint us a picture if there

3:59

is a typical program. profile of

4:01

what it looks like for someone seeking

4:04

affordable, accessible, high

4:06

quality child care in this

4:08

city today. Sure. As

4:11

a good early child educator, I'm going to start with

4:13

the strength. Good. Start

4:16

with the good news. Exactly. And

4:19

I'm glad you actually use quality, affordability,

4:22

and accessibility as the indicators

4:25

of strength to measure the effectiveness

4:28

of the child care system. So the

4:30

good news is that if you're a parent

4:33

of a three or four year old,

4:36

accessibility is pretty high. You

4:38

can find publicly

4:40

funded early childhood programs at

4:42

your neighborhood elementary school or

4:45

licensed child development

4:47

program. So that's the good news. More

4:49

than 70% of three and four year olds

4:52

are enrolled in our DC's

4:54

publicly funded pre-K

4:56

program, which

4:59

also helps with affordability because it's publicly funded.

5:02

Quality is still inequitable. Some

5:04

families have access to higher quality programs

5:08

and other families do not. It

5:10

gets quite grim when

5:12

we talk about infants and toddlers. For infants

5:14

and toddlers, we're certainly number one

5:17

in the cost of child

5:19

care and early learning. Accessibility

5:24

is again, inequitable. Some

5:26

families have it and some

5:27

families don't. So that's where

5:29

we have to focus the most on

5:31

our infants and toddlers. Is

5:33

there any story that you've heard that stays with

5:36

you that relates to this that

5:38

helps motivate you in your work? Sure.

5:41

Certainly stories from families. Some

5:46

have their child in a hospital and

5:48

prior to even coming home, their first

5:50

stop is to our early childhood

5:53

program to make sure they're on the wait

5:55

list.

5:56

So we go hospital, childcare program,

5:58

and then the fancy nursery.

9:59

That's where that's what

10:02

frames the conversations we have around

10:04

changing child care and Leshada.

10:06

I want to go to you

10:08

Because you've worked so closely with children

10:11

and their families and the staff

10:14

that serve them for so many years What

10:17

are you hearing from them about

10:20

what they're facing now now that

10:22

the pandemic is over What

10:26

are the challenges that they are grappling with every

10:28

day? I would say cost

10:32

Back to families again. There were a lot of

10:34

programs to my surprise during kovat

10:36

who escalated their prices and Then

10:39

they never returned to normal and they called it

10:41

like kovat payments because

10:43

they needed to purchase PPE or They

10:46

wanted to pay staff additional funding

10:48

to come during kovat But the cost

10:51

of child care went up exponentially

10:53

for families who chose to return During

10:56

the pandemic and then continued

10:58

to do so so cost

11:01

for families Returning to care

11:03

now that there are less centers because so many closed

11:07

I opened one center in June of 2021 and it

11:09

was there were about 50 Spots

11:14

for infants and toddlers. It was full on day one

11:16

and then I opened another program on

11:18

March of 2022 So still while

11:21

kovat is, you know surging And

11:23

we're having these surges of different variants

11:26

But on March day one when I opened

11:28

the program it opened at a hundred percent capacity

11:31

So there were families who were still You

11:34

know expecting and giving birth and

11:36

having their infants and toddlers who were

11:38

looking for care and luckily Those

11:41

were times where I'm opening centers,

11:43

but that's not the norm. You're waiting for

11:45

an infant toddler slot Most

11:47

of the time until August because

11:50

in August I can send my preschoolers who've

11:52

turned three to the public Charters

11:54

and to DCPS and to alternative

11:57

programs and then I have enrollment

11:59

spaces for families So only

12:01

from that August to maybe October window is

12:04

there an abundance of care. But if you're

12:06

looking for childcare for any other month during

12:08

the year, there is no availability. And

12:10

that's across

12:11

the board for the majority of the programs. And

12:13

I know you touched on with Marika about when families

12:16

are seeking care and she's like, once they give birth, no,

12:19

first trimester. Most

12:21

of my families who are touring, I

12:23

don't even know that they're expecting because there

12:25

is no baby bump because it's that early in

12:27

the process. And unfortunately, you have

12:30

to get on the list in your first trimester.

12:32

And then you have to give birth at a time where

12:35

you're looking for care August to October

12:37

because there is no care. So

12:39

that's the family's part of it. But with

12:41

the staff, I will say it's also

12:44

programming in care to take care of their

12:46

children because things still hadn't fully

12:49

opened. So even if my teachers were

12:51

back at work, I mean, I'm sorry, their children were

12:53

back at school, there may not have been an aftercare

12:55

program for them. So how do

12:57

they have care for their children where they're

12:59

still at work or just the cost of those

13:02

types of programs? I have teachers who literally

13:04

pick their children up from school. They leave.

13:07

That's their break time. They bring them back to the

13:09

center because we have unused space

13:11

or their children are in the hallways

13:14

doing their homework. But they can't

13:16

afford aftercare. They can't afford

13:18

additional programs that other families take

13:20

advantage of to make sure that their children are cared

13:22

for. So even with the things

13:25

that have given us additional funding for

13:27

teachers or pandemic pay

13:30

or subsidies that they were receiving during COVID,

13:33

especially the ones that were helping families

13:35

that are now null and void, they

13:37

still need the financial support and they still need care

13:40

for their children as well who are of school age

13:43

or even in child care programs.

13:45

In that description, what I'm hearing is that this is

13:48

a very threadbare patchwork

13:51

quilt of how do I get

13:53

through each day. And

13:55

you're talking about people who are teachers themselves,

13:58

going on a break. It just doesn't

14:01

sound like we like to say at La Monada. It

14:03

doesn't have to be this way. And we know that,

14:05

to Bernie Sanders' quote, we know that

14:08

in other parts of the country, and we all know the statistics

14:10

of the U.S. is right there alongside

14:13

Papua New Guinea in terms of what it provides

14:15

for families, which is nowhere

14:17

close to sufficient.

14:19

However, we are in a city where

14:22

there have been some wins.

14:24

So I want to talk about those. I

14:26

also want to talk about the creation of pre-K

14:29

and what kind of negative impact

14:31

that had on our zero to threes.

14:35

But, Bebe, let's start with you because,

14:38

OK, it's not all doom and gloom. There

14:40

have been successes. Let's talk

14:42

about what happened because you were

14:45

very much in it when pre-K passed.

14:48

What were the things to celebrate,

14:51

and what were the things that you felt this might

14:53

be a problem down the road?

14:54

I thought pre-K was important, and I was one

14:56

of those providers who felt like it was really an important

14:59

thing for us to move forward. What

15:01

I think is important to understand is that when we first

15:03

began to work on the universal pre-K piece,

15:06

it really was a zero to five strategy. And

15:09

it became very clear the policymakers were not

15:11

ready for a zero to five strategy in the district.

15:15

And so that we have to pare it down to

15:17

pre-K. So

15:20

sometimes the only way you can

15:22

get policies is when some shiny

15:24

object gets people's attention and pre-K

15:27

was the shiny object for several

15:29

years and continues to be in many places. And

15:32

we were able to, and there were confluence

15:34

of a number of things happened in the district. Charter

15:37

schools were in place, and charter schools were

15:39

allowed through the chartering

15:41

authority to start with children three years old.

15:45

So that led to the public school system

15:47

also saying, oh, we need to have three-year-olds. It's

15:49

a pipeline issue. And so this wasn't

15:52

about children. This was really about the pipeline

15:54

to

15:54

who gets to the

15:57

children first, to be really honest

15:59

and critical. about what was happening. We

16:03

were able to negotiate a trisector

16:05

pre-K, which was community-based

16:07

settings, charter schools, and the

16:10

DC public schools, to make sure

16:12

that that piece of legislation gave parents the options

16:15

for where they wanted their children. There

16:18

are a lot of issues that universal pre-K

16:20

races. One of those is

16:22

the care of children before and after

16:23

the very young children, which

16:26

can't really fit into before and after school programs

16:28

for children that are K3. So that's

16:31

one. The second is

16:33

the issue, the impact, the financial impact

16:35

on the childcare industry as

16:38

general, because we know that childcare

16:40

by and large is

16:42

small businesses, small

16:44

nonprofits, family childcare. Our

16:47

regulations are based on ratios

16:49

of number of children per teacher.

16:52

The older the children are, your ratios

16:54

are higher, right? So that if you've

16:56

got babies, and the ratio is three

16:58

to one, you're paying one teacher

17:00

for every three children if you've got four-year-olds,

17:03

and your ratio is 10 to one,

17:04

do the math. So it's

17:07

really important for

17:09

childcare centers to be able to have

17:11

the infants, the toddlers, the preschoolers, and

17:14

in many cases, the afterschool, to balance

17:16

and be able to at least make the

17:19

numbers work enough to survive. So

17:21

it has left many of the childcare

17:24

centers and organizations in

17:27

those places where you have universal pre-K, it

17:29

has left them in a situation where the

17:32

care that they provide becomes much more expensive

17:35

because they don't have a way to balance

17:37

out basically their

17:39

income and their revenue to be

17:41

able to meet their expenses. ["The

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a fairer, more inclusive financial

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system for all. Marika,

18:52

I know that you are working on this issue

18:54

as well, and I'm curious. You

18:56

said, Bebe, policymakers were

18:58

not ready to take on zero

19:00

to four. How

19:04

did you get lawmakers on

19:06

board at all? What you

19:08

see here reflects decades

19:11

of dynamic advocacy

19:14

at all levels, bringing in

19:17

the business community, U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

19:19

our local Chamber of Commerce, diversifying

19:22

who the advocates are. And so that early childhood

19:24

administrators like Lashada are

19:26

carrying the weight of the advocacy

19:29

messages, including families as well. I

19:32

just also want to point to something that was mentioned,

19:34

this idea of market. So in both Bebe's

19:37

and Lashada's response, you're hearing

19:39

that at the end of the day, the pricing is just based

19:41

on affordability.

19:41

Like, how much

19:43

can families bear? And even

19:46

the juggling of prices and having, OK,

19:48

I really can't charge what I really

19:50

should charge for infants and toddlers. So I'm

19:53

going to shave off some of the infant toddler expenses

19:55

and pass it on to pre-K and my aftercare. Exactly.

19:58

So everyone is on board.

19:59

just sort of operating in the space based

20:02

on what the market can afford in

20:05

the absence of public funding. All

20:07

parents, carers of children, when

20:10

you go look at the tuition,

20:13

it strikes me that it would be helpful to

20:15

know this is what will

20:17

make it work, it's not what it actually costs.

20:19

Absolutely. So, Leshada,

20:23

as the CEO, founder,

20:27

you are in charge of Petite Scholars. When

20:29

you are balancing your budget

20:32

and you know

20:34

you have to make compromises, how

20:37

do you approach that process? I

20:39

live very modestly. So,

20:42

I mean, honestly, and what is

20:44

considered profit just goes right back

20:47

into the program. We've

20:49

replicated by we, I mean me. I

20:51

own one location with a co-owner,

20:54

but the rest have been just me singularly

20:57

opening them. And now there are six

20:59

in the span of 11 years, and they're all within

21:01

a one mile radius of where we're sitting. But

21:04

how that occurred is a bit

21:06

of crazy in my processing,

21:10

but it was literally, before I even

21:12

get into the cost, Well, I wanna get to the crazy. I

21:14

was gonna say no. There were moms

21:17

especially calling and crying.

21:19

I'm sure you've had these calls, Phoebe. Like where

21:21

you're picking up the phone, it got to the point,

21:24

I was at my first location every day all

21:26

the time, and I'm answering the phones

21:28

and I'm fielding calls to talk about tours

21:31

and enrollment. And once you open

21:33

a program, it's technically full for the

21:35

next three years, because I'm gonna get infants,

21:38

and they're gonna with me, be with me until they

21:41

turn three. So, there creates maybe

21:43

at a campus eight to 10 slots, but

21:45

siblings are gonna take those. So,

21:48

there's three years of no enrollment.

21:50

And I mean, I would have the community angry

21:52

with me because they're like, what do you mean there

21:55

is no care for my child? Like

21:58

you're a childcare program, you take care of babies. Why can't I ever? enroll

22:00

in your program. And I started sending

22:02

out these very long messages where I'm explaining,

22:05

like, we're full, and that the siblings

22:07

are gonna take whatever vacancies occur, and

22:09

then you're gonna have to wait until August.

22:12

And if you're trying to join in January, you're

22:14

not gonna get these very

22:16

detailed in-depth. But it was phone

22:18

calls of crying and anxiety that

22:21

created anxiety in me. And it was literally like,

22:24

okay, maybe we need another location. And

22:27

opening up the next location, the exact same

22:29

thing would occur. And then I just

22:31

kept opening them. But financing,

22:33

literally funding them, I would take all of the

22:35

year's profit

22:36

and start opening the next one,

22:39

and take the profit as it came from the next year to

22:42

get that literally, like, you know, construct it out

22:44

and permit it and outfit it. And

22:46

then you even have to start hiring the teachers

22:48

before you're open. I

22:50

come to this with sort of a

22:53

everyday person's understanding of DC, which is

22:56

so often held up,

22:57

right? And for good reason. But

23:01

dig a little deeper,

23:02

and you see that it hasn't been easy and the challenges

23:05

are ongoing.

23:06

So, B.B., you look like you have something to add

23:09

here. I wanna hear it. I think I

23:11

ran a nonprofit,

23:13

which I started, that

23:15

served about 80% to 25% of

23:18

the populations were low-income families. And

23:21

the mission of it was to provide services

23:24

to low-income families. Same issues in

23:26

terms of getting on waiting lists when you're

23:28

pregnant or when you're thinking about getting pregnant,

23:31

making sure that you get pregnant on the right month so

23:33

that your child can

23:33

enter in the right months and so on. We

23:36

get classes on how to do that. See,

23:40

I might be. Yeah. The

23:44

reality is that as a

23:46

nonprofit, I always tell this to folks,

23:49

it's I had 52 funding sources to

23:53

make my program viable. So

23:54

whether it was the subsidy,

23:57

which came through the state. for

24:01

families who were below a certain

24:03

income level. Whatever parent fee

24:05

those families pay, those part of the subsidy. And

24:08

then all the services that we provide

24:10

for families that many childcare centers

24:12

provide,

24:14

especially those child care in the nonprofit

24:16

sector, especially those that are serving lower income families.

24:19

The family support services, the meals,

24:21

the meals are everywhere. We do

24:23

meals across the board. But there are a lot

24:25

of services that families also need

24:28

in order to stabilize. Child care

24:30

has always been one of the best mechanisms

24:36

towards a community development approach. And

24:39

so to isolate childcare as a service

24:41

that you need because you gotta go to work is

24:43

really unfair.

24:44

I think it is really a community

24:46

development approach to helping families stabilize.

24:49

When families are at the most critical

24:52

need when they've just had their babies. And

24:54

so to understand the context of childcare

24:56

in a community is really key. It's much

24:58

more than that definition of leave

25:01

your child in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon.

25:03

So it's a complicated piece of work

25:07

if you're going to actually provide the services

25:09

to families at the level that they need them. It

25:12

makes me think of a few things.

25:14

It makes me think of the trickle down effect.

25:16

And I've been to EDU-CARE here in DC.

25:19

And spoken with the new head there who talks

25:21

about helping parents

25:24

who have been in jail. They

25:27

also talk about re-jiggering

25:32

the accreditation process for experience.

25:35

Which was met when I speak to groups of early

25:38

educators. That's a very welcome

25:40

thing. People are excited to hear that, okay

25:43

no I don't have to have

25:44

letters behind my name and advanced degrees,

25:46

but it's my work inside the classroom that will be recognized.

25:49

So I take great inspiration from

25:51

those stories that we're rethinking

25:54

from the inside out. What needs to

25:56

happen. Marika I want to get your thoughts

25:58

on the Pay Equity Fund. Because that's a-

25:59

a huge point here in DC,

26:03

something that's been held up. Everything that I hold

26:05

up in terms of DC, I keep

26:07

thinking, oh, God, well, that's not quite what I thought it

26:09

was. So. Holding up with asteroids.

26:12

I know. I know. I can't wait. There's more.

26:14

Yeah. Yeah. But tell

26:17

us what you think of it. Sure. I mean, I'll just set

26:19

the context for a second, right? Yes. So in

26:21

early childhood, we create sort

26:24

of this false hierarchy

26:25

based on the setting. So if you're an early

26:27

childhood educator, during your practice

26:30

in a second grade classroom or

26:32

a pre-K classroom in an elementary school, you're

26:35

seen as an early childhood educator deserving

26:37

of professional respect. Even

26:40

your title is you're called an educator or a teacher.

26:44

Your compensation follows. Your

26:47

mental health break follows

26:48

in some ways in the summers for a

26:50

bit. You have paid PD days.

26:53

All that comes not

26:55

because of the complexity of your work, simply

26:57

because of where you're working. If

26:59

you're an early childhood educator and

27:02

end up in the level of the program, you

27:05

probably wouldn't get all of those supports

27:08

and the prestige simply because your settings

27:10

change and the fact that it's not publicly

27:12

funded at that level as well. So

27:15

the pay equity fund was an opportunity to sort of balance

27:17

that out to say, let's recognize all of

27:20

these individuals as early

27:22

childhood educators and try to narrow

27:24

the gap between what those who

27:26

were in the elementary school are paid versus

27:28

those who are in early

27:31

childhood programs in center-based settings

27:33

and home-based settings. It makes me remember

27:35

that I looked at a video on the Under

27:37

Three website and it was teachers talking about

27:39

the funds they received

27:42

as a result of the pay equity fund, which is

27:44

this tax that then

27:46

enables a bonus to go to early educators.

27:49

And one woman

27:51

was talking about using some of the money

27:53

to help her family buy a tombstone for her grandmother.

27:56

Another woman was saying,

27:59

think we're babysitters. You know,

28:02

and that's something that we've said many times on

28:04

this program, but it bears

28:06

repeating because it perfectly reflects

28:09

exactly what you all are talking about, which

28:11

is the perception of

28:14

early educators, right? And

28:16

the value that we bestow upon

28:18

them. Which is why language is so important,

28:21

right? I mean, for me, I'm really adamant

28:24

about calling them early childhood educators, which is why

28:26

the Pay Equity Fund

28:27

calls them early childhood educators.

28:30

We don't use terms like... Daycare

28:33

teacher. ...fam teacher, daycare worker. Even the

28:35

ambiguous childcare worker sometimes I'm like, don't

28:38

do that. I know. I always say

28:40

we don't take care of days. We take care of children.

28:42

That's absolutely true. And it has to percolate

28:45

through families because a lot of families

28:47

say, oh, my kid's in daycare. No,

28:50

it's the way that we speak about a very

28:52

important story. I do want to,

28:54

if you don't mind following up on the Pay

28:57

Equity, want a little bit of where

28:59

that is established in the district because I think it's

29:01

really important as people are listening, so what is this

29:03

Pay Equity piece?

29:06

We passed a piece of legislation in the district

29:08

in 2018 that, in fact,

29:11

where Marika was talking about pulling together

29:13

folks who were not the

29:15

traditional advocates in childcare, not the childcare

29:18

center directors who already have a lot of work. And

29:21

the advocates who already work to get that piece of legislation

29:23

in place and building into a piece of legislation

29:26

the fact that we needed to have a

29:29

parity with public education. So I think

29:31

that is really the key of why

29:33

pay equity is where it is in the district because

29:36

we set the marker for what pay equity

29:39

needed to be because folks

29:41

talk about living wage

29:43

or minimum

29:45

wage or living wage. All these terminologies

29:48

that doesn't say you are paid as an

29:50

educator like any other educator in your jurisdiction.

29:52

And I think that's the really important part that's

29:55

in our legislation that we put in, that

29:57

it needs to be parity. And then parity.

29:59

is defined as if I have a credential

30:02

of similar, the same credential as

30:04

a teacher in a public school, I had the same

30:06

years of experience, et cetera, I get

30:08

the same pay.

30:10

And so when you look at the District of Columbia and the

30:13

public school system has just negotiated

30:16

with the teacher's union, the entry level

30:19

for a 12-month teacher in

30:21

the public school system with a bachelor's degree

30:23

is now $75,000. That means

30:25

that the Bay Equity Fund will

30:27

fund that for a child care teacher

30:30

regardless of an early childhood educator,

30:32

regardless of where

30:35

you are in the city, whether you're in

30:37

a privately run center, whether you're in

30:39

a community-based setting, or you're in a

30:41

family child care center. That

30:44

is the marker for the District and

30:46

it is unique in the country. It's not

30:48

a bonus. It's not a supplement.

30:51

The first two years it's supplement until

30:53

we get a system in place. By next year it'll

30:55

be part of your base salary. None

30:58

of us would work in a place where somebody would

31:01

say your salary is $40,000 and we'll give

31:03

you a couple of extra thousand dollars unless

31:06

you're getting a bonus. You want their base

31:08

salary to be what you

31:10

can compete in the

31:12

market with as a professional. And

31:14

like with everything else, I think one of the things to be,

31:17

nothing is as simple as it sounds, right? You

31:20

mentioned earlier the pay is very

31:22

low. We know that the data

31:24

tells us that over 50% of our early

31:27

childhood educators receive

31:29

public supports, Medicaid,

31:31

child care subsidies, food stamps, et

31:33

cetera. You can't do supplements

31:36

and still, in fact, you've

31:39

probably experienced the same thing,

31:40

is that your teachers won't take a pay increase

31:43

because it puts them over the cliff for

31:45

the public's benefits. So

31:47

part of the equity fund is paying

31:49

for full 100% of

31:52

your health insurance for you and for

31:54

your family. For DC residents. For DC residents.

31:57

Yes. If your teacher is not in DC, the

31:59

and at least resident, it pays just for you.

32:02

But that was a very big piece

32:05

and negotiated with our health

32:08

exchange in the district. I mean, that is a huge

32:10

piece of legislation. And

32:13

it's easy to see why it would be held up as

32:16

an example of what is possible.

32:27

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33:35

My next question is for all of you, really,

33:38

do you have a recollection of a

33:41

lawmaker you were able to get on

33:43

board? Was there a conversation?

33:46

Bebe's laughing already. I think she has a few

33:48

recollections. But really, how

33:51

do you convince people to

33:53

pay for it? Champions are

33:55

really important, right? Champions

33:57

are critical. Vincent Gray was a great leader.

34:00

was chair of the city council when

34:03

we did Universal Pre-K.

34:04

He has been a champion in early care and education

34:07

from the very beginning. He was mayor

34:10

during the time that we passed

34:12

the

34:13

birth to three legislation. And

34:16

he was back in the city council when we passed the legislation,

34:19

I'm sorry. So he went from being mayor

34:21

supporting the implementation and then

34:23

to being at the council again. So having the

34:25

continuity of a champion. And

34:27

the other was you do

34:30

what advocates do. You shame people into

34:32

doing the work that they gotta do. And

34:35

you find and you are creative

34:37

enough to figure out where the dollars are.

34:40

And we all assume

34:43

the policymakers are the ones who make the policy. It's

34:45

really the community who makes the policy and

34:47

pushes policymakers to

34:49

do the right thing. Oh, I love that. I wanna get a t-shirt with that

34:51

on it. I love that line. But

34:53

that's the reality. So all of us as

34:56

advocates were able to really

34:58

identify and then get another

35:00

policymaker to say, yes, this is going

35:02

to be the funding mechanism that we'll

35:04

use

35:05

for the revenue for the fund.

35:07

And then it was partnering

35:09

with advocates. And in this

35:11

case, it was with the housing advocates so

35:13

that the revenue could be split between two

35:16

services, the childcare piece and the homelessness,

35:18

which was a big issue in the district. So those

35:20

are all the various pieces. And then we

35:22

sat everybody on the front when they were voting. And

35:24

it was unanimous.

35:26

That's incredible. I mean, that's absolutely

35:28

something we're celebrating. With the philanthropic

35:31

hat on, I think it's also important for philanthropic

35:33

organizations to support advocacy.

35:36

There seems to be such a false binary in

35:39

the philanthropic space where you either

35:41

are for direct service

35:43

and I'm only supporting direct service. Tell

35:45

me how many meals are served. I'll give you a

35:47

scholarship. I'll fund this

35:50

specific project. I'm not touching advocacy

35:52

at all. It's too scary. Or I'm only

35:54

touching advocacy. I could care less about what's

35:56

happening right now.

35:57

Whereas I think

35:59

we're... hearing here is that we need a both-and, we need to simultaneously

36:02

support programs providing direct

36:05

service and also pay attention to the

36:08

policy conditions and we need more philanthropic

36:10

organizations willing to do that because

36:13

advocacy is so important. There's no way there

36:15

could have been none without the philanthropic

36:17

dollars in advocacy. The

36:19

birth to three coalition, the under 3DC coalition

36:22

is

36:24

a critical piece of bringing

36:26

everybody together and so the work that BACEM

36:28

has done on that has been pretty amazing. And

36:30

LaShayda, are you talking to colleagues in other states

36:33

about what they're seeing? Are

36:35

they coming to you to ask, you know, what

36:38

does it look like in practice? How are your teachers

36:40

doing? Do you have hope that this could

36:42

be replicated in other places? I have

36:44

a friend, I don't even want to say the state, who

36:48

works in Florida. I

36:51

know you are that. Probably

36:53

a problematic state in some ways. So

36:57

there is some envy because there's been

36:59

grants ongoing

37:00

to help, you know, stay

37:03

afloat, to help open new programs

37:05

and things like that don't exist in other states.

37:08

Especially like the friend in Florida is like, how are you getting

37:10

funny to open a new program? And

37:12

I'm like, oh, you guys don't have that? And

37:15

it just doesn't exist. So

37:17

we're in a bad position, we're also in a good

37:19

position because we have the spotlight

37:22

on us. Legislation

37:24

occurs that does make it, you know,

37:25

better for our programs to exist

37:28

and, you know, support in opening

37:30

new programs which are much needed. Well, this

37:32

also goes to the leadership

37:35

of philanthropy. The BACEM Foundation set

37:37

up the first facilities fund.

37:40

They put a $9 million fund together. The

37:42

district

37:44

mirrored that and put a $9 million

37:46

fund together. So philanthropy can also

37:48

be really helpful in helping incentivize

37:51

public dollars in that way. And

37:54

so we ended up with close to $15 million in

37:56

facilities money for the kinds of things

37:58

that you're talking about in terms of the program.

37:59

of expansion. And do you think the state

38:02

funding would have had a chance had it not been

38:05

for the message bainum cent?

38:07

I think it was certainly much easier

38:10

because it was too separate funds they didn't

38:12

come comeingle them but but it provided

38:15

an opportunity for for the state

38:17

to say we're doing that too. And I think you like

38:19

we were saying earlier from the grassroots families were

38:21

complaining. I can't you want

38:24

families to come and move into the city there

38:26

is no child care for us. So how are we

38:28

going to come and live here and then when it does

38:30

exist it's not affordable. So

38:33

all of those things doesn't do you know

38:35

don't make the city the place that you will want to raise

38:37

your family if you can't afford

38:39

to live

38:40

here. And I often say to my family is

38:42

like well I guess you kind of pay it all on the front

38:44

end from birth to three and then from three

38:46

to four you

38:49

can go to Universal Preschool and if you average

38:51

that out but again who has twenty

38:53

four thousand dollars to thirty thousand dollars

38:55

a year to even spend and when

38:57

I would inquire with my family's like how are you affording

39:00

a the cost of housing just to purchase

39:02

your home in DC probably to

39:05

renovate it and then to also pay for child

39:07

care in this climate

39:09

and they would say like I have a parent

39:12

died or an uncle and I have my

39:14

nest egg of savings or I have a trust

39:16

fund but these unrealistic

39:19

like the average person doesn't have an insurance

39:21

policy that they inherited or a trust fund

39:23

that they're inheriting or this you know

39:26

tremendous savings that they're starting off

39:28

in life it is you know young families

39:30

who are struggling to get by and again

39:33

you're gonna see the disparity of care between

39:35

the haves and the haves not because the programming

39:38

is going to look different. Me

39:40

as a new mom when I walked into places and

39:42

I looked for child care before Batiste Scholars existed

39:45

I was walking in and walking out of

39:48

a lot of places because it's like

39:50

I don't want my child here and I'm coming with educator

39:52

eyes but so many families had nanny

39:55

shares because they

39:57

couldn't find programs that were of quality

39:59

so they received

39:59

seeking alternative sources, but then

40:02

when you found a program of quality, it was

40:04

just so expensive. And that was over

40:06

a decade ago, and it's only gotten worse.

40:09

Again, it doesn't have to be this way. No.

40:12

Well,

40:12

I want to thank all of you for participating.

40:15

We are going to move into taking some questions from

40:17

the audience. So audience, if you have something

40:19

on your mind, write it down,

40:22

get it to me. But

40:24

before that, we're going to speak

40:26

to Latoya. Latoya Gale

40:28

is our co-producer from Neighborhood

40:30

Villages. Latoya works to make

40:33

sure all families have access

40:35

to affordable, high-quality child

40:38

care. Latoya spent her

40:40

career in education and organizing.

40:42

So I think you'll have a lot to

40:44

talk about and advocacy. And

40:46

she's here to share with us her perspective

40:49

on how really we can all take action, not

40:51

only in DC, but across the country

40:53

as this show travels across the country.

40:57

So Latoya, when we talk

40:59

about what's happening in DC, and

41:01

we really do get under the hood,

41:04

I was able to keep up. So I'm going to give myself

41:06

a pat on the back.

41:09

You know this. What really resonates

41:12

with you when we talk about the Under 3

41:14

DC coalition, and why

41:16

does it resonate with you? How unique

41:19

is it in this country?

41:21

First of all, everybody forgets about zero

41:23

to three. Bebe said

41:25

it. There's this

41:28

idea that I guess education

41:30

starts, usually it's at

41:32

four. You're lucky if it's at three in

41:34

some places. And so just

41:37

to get people together to acknowledge

41:40

a child lives a whole life before

41:42

they're three years old. And in those three

41:45

years, so much

41:47

brain development is happening. And

41:50

we need to invest in them in those first

41:52

three years. And it's about the kids. It's not

41:54

just about

41:55

somebody has to go to work. So take this

41:57

small person. That

42:01

resonates strongly because

42:03

I'm a mom too. So, you know, that's

42:06

about community, not just

42:08

about working, not just about schools,

42:12

it's about all of us, you know?

42:14

When I hear that early

42:16

educators are gonna

42:18

have a starting salary of $75,000, that

42:22

makes me say, I could say

42:24

to my oldest child who's in college,

42:27

yeah, you could be an early educator. Because

42:30

the truth of the matter is, when you have

42:32

a job that's so important,

42:34

but so undervalued, it's

42:37

hard to tell our young

42:39

people who might love children, who

42:41

might love education,

42:43

to enter into that field

42:46

because they also have bills, they

42:49

have food to eat, they have all kinds of things to

42:51

take care of, and the way

42:53

that childcare is looked

42:56

at, and I've learned so

42:58

much just from talking to these three

43:00

women, I'm gonna tell you that. And

43:02

this is something

43:03

that I'm stealing from

43:05

Marika, words matter,

43:07

right? Childcare encompasses

43:09

a lot of things, and part

43:11

of what it encompasses is early, tell me if I'm misquoting

43:14

you, I'm doing it wrong. Part of what it

43:16

encompasses is early education,

43:18

right? But then there's this whole ecosystem

43:21

that a child comes with, right? And

43:23

how are we making sure that that whole

43:25

ecosystem around a child is

43:28

taken care of as well?

43:30

What is one thing that you think people

43:33

should know that they can do today? I

43:38

think people should, and this is such a great example,

43:40

you can actually change things. When

43:43

I think about your coalition tier,

43:45

right?

43:46

The reasons that, you

43:48

know, what you guys are doing stands out is

43:51

because it was done with the people

43:53

who know

43:53

what they're talking about. Those are the educators,

43:55

those are families, those are people on the ground, people who

43:57

support them, right? I

44:01

think people should, if you

44:03

hear this right now, look up who your

44:06

legislator is. And since we're in DC,

44:08

I'm gonna say, look up who your federal, who your

44:10

senator is, or your congressperson,

44:12

and call them,

44:14

or email them, or both, and

44:18

tell them your story. Tell

44:20

them why childcare is resonating

44:23

with you because they can't start

44:25

to solve a problem for you

44:27

without your perspective. They're gonna solve

44:29

something,

44:30

but I bet you it's not gonna be what you

44:32

need or what you want because they

44:34

did not hear from you. They

44:37

don't know how to solve this. And so

44:39

you have to help them solve this so you

44:42

can have some great things and

44:44

wherever you are that we have in

44:46

DC.

44:47

And something else, funding

44:50

advocacy. We think our

44:53

legislators are geniuses and it

44:55

would be great if they all really were, right? We

44:58

know, we know. It would be great if they all

45:00

really were.

45:01

But we need people in there who have our back,

45:04

right? And they need to be paid to do that too.

45:07

So just the idea that the Bay and Family

45:09

Foundation here is actually

45:12

funding and supporting advocacy

45:15

around an issue that is so important is, I

45:18

hope everybody hears that. If you're a

45:20

philanthropy and you heard that, follow the example. And

45:23

I'll just add from a media perspective, the

45:25

image. I love that in New Mexico, they

45:27

had circle time protests and

45:29

brought kids to

45:31

protests at circle time. And

45:34

I mean, I think about getting

45:36

out there and how easy and

45:38

often, especially in a place like DC, there are

45:40

peaceful protests. You can show

45:43

up. I saw protests on my way in today. I was like, maybe I

45:45

should stop by there. You guys do what you're talking about.

45:47

Just get in it and be like, what is this about? I do want

45:49

to give a shout out to Elizabeth Grginski

45:51

in New Mexico because

45:53

she was our head of early care

45:56

and education

45:56

in the District of Columbia when

45:58

we started to raise houses.

47:59

So we were saying like some are now going back to Chick-fil-A.

48:02

They were coming from restaurant industry, cleaning

48:05

industries, and then starting

48:07

as childcare providers, childcare

48:10

teachers, and then starting

48:12

their educational careers

48:15

in the university programs. So the

48:17

CDA was one small step, which is a credentialing

48:20

program that gives you the credentials

48:23

to say that you've been trained to work in early childhood

48:25

education, but now they're achieving bachelor's

48:27

degrees. Next Saturday, I'll have

48:29

five teachers who have

48:32

matriculated through a Spanish language

48:35

early childhood associate's

48:37

degree that

48:40

was offered here by the University of the District

48:43

of Columbia. So I

48:45

would just say that part of helping

48:47

women who are also moms

48:50

find their career, find their passion. This

48:53

degree is coming to them at no cost, so

48:56

it's fully funded. And so

48:58

there's a Spanish language component, and then there's

49:00

also the English language component. So

49:02

we have a total of maybe 15 staff

49:04

who are in

49:05

the process of just earning

49:07

their associates and then even moving on

49:09

to earn their bachelor's degree in early childhood

49:12

education. So that's one caveat where

49:14

it's exciting for me to just be

49:16

a part of their journey, to support

49:18

them in their educational endeavors. So

49:21

that is something that is amazing because you

49:23

should have been there during the process of like,

49:25

you can go back to school, and they're like, no. I

49:28

have a husband, I have a family, I have children,

49:30

I need to, I have other priorities.

49:32

And then over time being like, maybe I'll

49:34

try it. And then I'm ready to

49:37

apply, and now I'm ready to graduate.

49:40

As the founder of Petite Scholars,

49:42

it must be an incredible moment to see that

49:45

transformation in someone's life

49:48

for the cause that you're fighting for. Yes. Marika?

49:52

The thing for me is just being in

49:54

a DC TV studio. You

49:56

went, well, I'm an auto, right? I think I

49:58

tell folks all the time.

49:59

I first started my career in early childhood. Articles

50:02

about early childhood education was sort

50:04

of next to the obituary section.

50:07

Just the level of public awareness

50:09

just wasn't there. I guess it's

50:11

the life and birth. I guess I don't know. It's the life and birth

50:14

and death. The start and the end. Exactly, it's just like

50:16

right there. But just to

50:18

be in a space where

50:19

there's so much interest in

50:21

early childhood education, in the childcare

50:24

crisis, and on a apologetic

50:26

focus on the black and brown

50:28

women during this work, I think

50:30

just that level of public awareness gives

50:33

me hope. Yeah, I was so

50:35

encouraged to see President Biden say

50:38

the word childcare in a state

50:40

of the union address.

50:42

It remains one of the few bipartisan issues

50:44

we have. I mean, I feel like it at times, but.

50:46

Yeah. Yeah. Vivi,

50:48

do you want to round us out with something that

50:50

stays with you? Sure, a couple of things. What stays

50:53

with me is our ability in the district

50:55

to have passed a piece of legislation that is comprehensive.

50:58

That is not a single piece,

51:01

but really thinking about the system. The

51:03

second is that we have done everything

51:05

possible to protect those teachers who

51:07

have for years been in the trenches working

51:10

at very low salaries

51:12

and that we are counting experience

51:14

as part of that equity fund. And

51:16

so that they won't be displaced,

51:20

and at least making every attempt to

51:22

make sure that they're not displaced, because not

51:24

everybody's gonna be able to go back and get those degrees.

51:27

And so the years of experience, and often, and

51:29

anybody who's been a principal knows this, you

51:32

get a fresh person into

51:34

your classroom. It takes five years to

51:36

make them into real teachers after they get their degree.

51:39

And the people who are really making them the real teachers

51:41

are the teachers

51:42

who have been making $12 an hour for years. So

51:45

we need to make sure that we recognize those

51:47

folks and that those folks are valued for

51:50

the experience they brought as

51:52

we get new folks in who are getting

51:54

degrees and so on. So that, for me,

51:56

is a really important part in highlights on...

51:59

the work that we're doing in the district. And

52:02

I wanted to add children and the families. The,

52:05

I'll

52:07

get emotional. Our babies

52:10

who come to us and we get to watch them

52:12

grow and develop

52:14

and take those first steps and

52:17

say those first words, which for us is, hola

52:19

agua y mas.

52:23

But

52:26

just the, and I mean, and then to watch

52:28

the teachers like lean into

52:31

this experience, there

52:33

is no greater get, like I would walk in

52:35

often with like the lunch and then

52:37

everyone would like cheer. Yeah. And

52:41

so the teachers often talk about like who

52:43

gets greeted with cheers and hugs

52:45

and kisses. But when

52:48

our children are go off to preschool,

52:50

the revelation of the parents when

52:53

they're like, oh, the teacher says, my

52:55

child is so smart. And

52:58

they're like the smartest in the classroom, but

53:00

they don't want to say that. But just, I think

53:02

it also, they see them develop.

53:04

There's, you know, there's so much that happens between zero

53:07

to three. But then to have that also,

53:09

you know, supported by when

53:11

they enter the classroom. There are so many parents like

53:14

on the first day of preschool where they'll say, they

53:16

just walked in and they sat down

53:18

and they picked up a book. And

53:21

they forgot I was there. And I thought it was going to be this

53:23

tears

53:23

and separation anxiety and they

53:25

were ready. So we prepare them

53:28

for their future. Everything that we're

53:30

doing, everything that we're teaching them about living

53:32

and learning, experiencing and sharing and

53:35

just being present in the world. These are

53:37

just life experiences that they take on with

53:39

them. So there is a community that we're

53:41

building while we're also preparing our

53:44

little people for everything that they're going to experience

53:46

for the rest of their lives. What comes to my mind

53:48

is that there is power in community, right?

53:50

There is power to change. There is power to pass

53:52

legislation.

53:53

DC is doing it. Many other

53:55

places in this country are doing it as well. As

53:59

you said.

53:59

you know, to do a story about,

54:02

oh we just heard a baby coo. To

54:05

do a story that ends with they're ready.

54:08

Highlights just how important the work is to

54:11

get them there. So I want to say thank you to

54:14

all of you. This has been an incredible conversation.

54:16

Thank you to all of you for being a part of it. I

54:20

want to say thank you to Bibi Otero for the work

54:22

that you do. You've been such a force at

54:24

this table. And to Leshada,

54:27

thank you for everything that you do.

54:29

At Petite Scholars and Marika

54:32

Cox Mitchell, Bantam Family Foundation,

54:35

change makers and enablers for

54:37

all of this. And thank you to all of you for being

54:39

here for this episode of No One

54:41

is Coming to Save Us.

55:00

No One is Coming to Save Us is a lemonade

55:02

original produced with Neighborhood Villages.

55:05

The show is produced by Kyle Sheely and

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