0:00

Hi, I'm Julia Louis-Dreyfus,

0:02

and guess what? I've got a podcast. It's

0:05

called Wiser Than Me, and each

0:07

week I get schooled on life by

0:09

women who are older and, yes, wiser

0:12

than me. Older women are this country's

0:14

biggest untapped natural resource,

0:16

and I want to hear from them. I

0:18

want to know what they've learned by living 70 or 80 or 85 years.

0:23

Jane Fonda, Darlene Love, Isabel

0:25

Allende, and many more. Subscribe

0:28

and get wise. Wiser than me.

0:30

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

0:33

Are

0:35

you concerned about America's broken child

0:37

care system? Join veteran reporter

0:39

Gloria Riviera on No One Is Coming to

0:41

Save Us as she talks to local leaders, policy

0:44

makers, parents, providers, and more about

0:46

solutions to the child care crisis in their

0:48

communities. Season three of No One Is

0:51

Coming to Save Us from Lemonada Media and

0:53

Neighborhood Villages wherever

0:55

you get your podcasts.

1:00

Lemonada.

1:14

Hi everyone. I'm so happy to be here.

1:16

Welcome to this episode of No One Is

1:18

Coming to Save Us. Recently I've been saying,

1:21

actually someone's coming to save us because

1:23

we're talking to such amazing people

1:25

who are out there doing incredible work. This

1:28

show is created in partnership with Lemonada Media

1:30

and Neighborhood Villages. I have to say

1:32

thank you to Oakland Starting Smart and Strong.

1:35

Oakland Starting Smart and Strong is a citywide

1:38

collaborative that advances racial

1:40

justice, develops and amplifies

1:43

community-driven solutions, and

1:45

advocates for changes in early

1:47

childhood policy and resources. We

1:50

also want to thank the David and Lucille

1:52

Packard Foundation and KDOL-TV

1:55

for their partnership and sponsorship for

1:58

this event. We've been to a

1:59

a lot of cities, we've had a lot of people

2:02

to think, I can tell you this would not happen

2:04

without them. So we are

2:06

in a debt of gratitude to them. This

2:09

season we are doing something special. It's season

2:11

three and we have set

2:13

out across the country. We've been in a lot

2:16

of cities. We're talking about

2:18

the problems in childcare. We do a lot of that.

2:20

There are a lot of problems in a broken system.

2:24

But our goal is really to shine

2:26

a light on what's being done, the solutions.

2:28

And I

2:30

can say when I started this season, I

2:32

was not feeling great. And

2:35

then I meet people like you're looking

2:37

at up here on the stage

2:39

and I hear about what

2:41

they've been able to accomplish. And

2:43

I feel very

2:44

inspired. And I think that

2:46

change is afoot. Change is happening. You're

2:49

going to hear a lot about the challenges families here

2:51

are facing. Childcare costs remain

2:55

completely unaffordable for

2:57

too many families. And there are still

2:59

so many barriers.

3:01

We know a lot about the barriers,

3:03

but even in just our discussion backstage,

3:06

it's a long list. But the

3:09

advocates here are doing a lot to try to change

3:11

that. So first, let me introduce you to

3:13

Clarissa Douthard. She is the

3:16

executive director of Parent Voices

3:18

Oakland. Welcome Clarissa. Thank you.

3:20

So happy to be here. Also

3:24

joining us is LaWanda Wesley. She

3:27

is the director of government relations

3:29

of early learning at the Child Care Resource

3:31

Center. Welcome, LaWanda.

3:36

Last but not least, we have Maisha

3:38

Jones, who is a parent

3:41

to two beautiful children. And

3:44

she's also a preschool educator. Welcome,

3:47

LaWanda. Hello. And

3:51

welcome to all of you to No One Is Coming to

3:53

Save Us. So let's

3:56

get started. We were chatting backstage.

3:58

I always like to hear. as much as

4:00

I can about personal stories

4:02

that have stayed with us. And,

4:05

Clarissa, you had one

4:07

for the record books. Would you share it with us? Sure.

4:10

You know, I had a long saga

4:14

trying to get childcare,

4:16

get a childcare subsidy that I didn't even know I needed.

4:19

I thought I would just have a baby and somehow magically

4:21

there would be

4:22

support in the United States. I

4:25

quickly found out that I was pretty on my own.

4:28

So, after

4:32

really working hard to get childcare for

4:34

my son, and I needed to go back to

4:36

work at four months old when he

4:38

was four months old, and then getting

4:41

that childcare and then trying

4:43

to keep that childcare, going through all the steps

4:45

to keep it, I ended up losing

4:47

my childcare after I

4:50

asked to get a raise and

4:53

was told that I should

4:56

follow whatever the government said

4:58

in terms of eligibility guidelines. So,

5:01

I asked to make less money in

5:04

order to keep my childcare subsidy, and

5:06

my employer said I should comply

5:08

with what the eligibility was. And so, I

5:10

was kicked off of my subsidy and I actually lost

5:13

my job.

5:13

And so, this was when my son

5:15

was three years old. We didn't

5:18

have really any preschool

5:21

for him. And when he

5:23

got to kindergarten, I was like, oh my gosh, thank gosh, we

5:26

made it. He's five years old. We

5:28

get to kindergarten. And then

5:30

he was

5:33

assessed over the summer before kindergarten.

5:37

And we were told

5:37

that he was not on track

5:39

to be reading at

5:40

grade level by third grade.

5:42

That, you

5:45

know, I needed to give him, we

5:47

needed to get him some more supports. And

5:50

when he was, I think his

5:53

first week

5:53

of kindergarten, I got a call from the principal

5:56

saying, you know, he's just not ready for

5:58

kindergarten.

5:59

And I think it's better that

6:02

he wait another year to attend school.

6:06

And I've actually unenrolled him for

6:08

you. You can look for another place to

6:11

put him because it would be

6:13

devastating to his confidence

6:15

and his self-esteem if he stayed

6:16

in a kindergarten classroom.

6:19

It would do more harm at

6:21

this point. There's nothing we can really do for him. And

6:24

I want to say I know that this

6:27

was a couple of things. I told them that he hadn't had

6:29

preschool. And

6:32

he's a young black boy. He's a little

6:34

black boy. And he was pushed

6:36

out of kindergarten. We've

6:38

heard from a lot of people in the public school system

6:41

where there is support for whatever it is,

6:43

whether it's attention-related

6:46

issues or a long

6:48

list of things that your child might be

6:50

struggling with. And there is support.

6:53

But to unenroll a child because

6:56

that child is not reading at a certain level

6:59

without any, here's

7:01

what we suggest you do. You

7:03

were left alone. Yeah. They

7:07

said we should try to find a preschool.

7:09

So I would essentially be back to square one,

7:12

the original problem I had. I said, well, I didn't

7:14

have a preschool. I was waiting on kindergarten. And

7:19

it wasn't even...

7:21

You're not expected to read in kindergarten.

7:23

We're talking about identifying letters

7:25

and numbers. And

7:28

this was the beginning of the school year. I

7:31

think there

7:33

were assumptions made about me and my family,

7:35

about my son and our capacity, racist

7:39

assumptions, classist assumptions. And

7:43

ultimately,

7:44

before he was even able to get into

7:47

the school system, it failed him. So

7:49

the childcare system failed him. The school

7:51

system failed him. And

7:54

there was a whole range of public

7:56

services that are

7:59

meant to provide. supports that didn't. It

8:01

failed him, it failed your family, it failed you,

8:03

it did not do anything

8:06

near what we're even told, right? We

8:08

have these babies and it's the message

8:10

is see you in kindergarten and that was

8:12

not the case for you. So,

8:15

LaWanda, I want to ask you because we're talking

8:17

about accessibility at kindergarten

8:20

but we know accessibility

8:22

is an issue, weightless or an issue,

8:24

as the mother of five who's

8:27

in early education, talk

8:29

us through what you encountered accessing

8:32

early education. Yeah, my

8:34

own story with accessing childcare

8:37

for five children was a long,

8:39

it was difficult even though myself, I

8:42

was a preschool teacher and so

8:44

when I found myself as a single mom

8:47

looking for childcare,

8:48

I was looking for childcare that

8:50

could fit the age group of my kids.

8:52

So, I had infants all the way to early elementary.

8:55

I finally found

8:57

that program, it took a while and then when

8:59

I found the program, I was in a great

9:01

job and I was working on my master's

9:04

at this time. I was like great, I'm working on my

9:06

master's, my kids are in childcare and I

9:09

have full-time work and at one point

9:11

my employer came to me and said,

9:13

we want to offer you a raise and

9:15

this is for one of the resource and referral agencies

9:18

that was in my community because you've done

9:20

such great work and I was supporting

9:23

actually a project that was called Child Care

9:25

Careers to get more of us into the child care

9:27

career field and it was during

9:29

the child care welfare

9:31

reform when we had something called TANF,

9:34

Temporary Assistance for Needed Families and we want to get more

9:36

of those folks in the field. So, I was running that program

9:38

for careers, they said we want to give you

9:40

a raise and give you more responsibility.

9:43

I said no, do not give me a raise

9:45

because if I go one more penny over

9:48

that amount, what's going to happen

9:50

is I will no longer be eligible

9:52

for the subsidy I'm getting for my

9:55

five children and in

9:57

the case you give me the raise anyway.

9:59

I'm going to end up paying $3,000 to $4,000. And

10:02

this is in the early 90s out of my pocket,

10:04

which was all the money I was making, right?

10:06

About $2,000 per pay period every

10:08

two weeks. There was no way, right? Essentially,

10:11

we would have been unhoused. We would have been, you know,

10:13

Clarissa, thinking about your story. So

10:17

my boss at the time said, we went to the board.

10:19

We've already, like, we already have done this

10:21

thing. I said, I can't take it. So

10:23

don't give me the promotion. I

10:25

will do the work. Don't give me the title. Give

10:28

me nothing, and I will still do the

10:29

work, because I believe in what I was

10:32

doing at the time in our community. And

10:34

so you think about your income is suppressed.

10:36

I had the opportunity to possibly

10:39

have a step forward in

10:41

economic mobility. But here, I was

10:44

not able to take a raise for years until

10:46

I waited until a few more of my kids were

10:50

actually in the elementary.

10:52

And then I was like, OK. But at that time,

10:54

that position had passed. Then I ended

10:57

up having to go into another sector of the

10:59

early education field and

11:02

do a job leap. So that's my

11:04

story, and that's not unusual, that

11:06

when you're taking subsidy, that you

11:09

cannot accept a

11:11

raise because you become ineligible

11:13

for all other public subsidies, including because

11:16

at the time, too, I was on, they

11:18

call at that time was food stamps. They call it CalFresh

11:21

now here in California. But

11:23

I was receiving those services. I was receiving

11:25

Medi-Cal. Everything just sort of keep us glued

11:28

and going into deep, deep poverty.

11:29

We were just coming. We were just starting to

11:32

touch, I say touch middle class,

11:34

but not quite. So I couldn't

11:37

get further into the middle class until

11:39

my kids really got into, honestly, high

11:42

school. And that's not so long ago if that

11:45

tells you anything. And I'm in my 50s. Yeah. There's

11:47

so much to your story that strikes me.

11:50

One is that we will educate you

11:52

to join early education. I

11:56

mean, you have a doctorate. Yeah.

11:58

It's expensive to get a doctorate. doctorate. But

12:02

it's this continual,

12:04

inescapable hamster wheel to

12:07

get where you should be. Because

12:10

of all the reasons that we talk about how we value

12:13

early educators and in COVID,

12:15

we saw that, right? We were pushed to the limit, we

12:17

saw it. And now we're in the hard work

12:20

of

12:21

taking what we saw and changing

12:24

it. I like the way you put it, all

12:26

of these social services to keep us glued

12:28

together. And I think the language is

12:30

so important because we've talked a lot

12:32

about the word subsidy and

12:35

how

12:36

shame is somehow integrated

12:39

into that word. And I am

12:41

changing the phrase food stamps to

12:43

CalFresh. I think there's a lot of work to

12:45

be done. Because when you compare it to

12:48

other countries,

12:49

those words are not used, right? Right.

12:53

I do think the welfare queen mentality still

12:56

exists, which we know was

12:58

a myth. And when World

13:00

War II was here, somehow

13:02

collectively, we were okay with universal

13:05

childcare. We've done it before. So

13:07

we were okay with that. All of us were working.

13:09

But I do think it is, there

13:12

is a layer of racism in there. Because as

13:14

soon as, you know, no offense, because my

13:16

family is very much diverse.

13:19

But as soon

13:19

as white women went back home

13:22

into the home and the rest of us women of color

13:24

were still on the line doing domestic work, that

13:27

included childcare, all of a sudden,

13:29

you don't get something for free, right?

13:32

You have to pay for it. So now you need to

13:34

have work requirements in order to

13:36

be worthy of it. And remember,

13:39

this is your situation. But when we were fighting

13:42

the war, and we were all in it together, universal

13:45

childcare was doable.

13:47

And then we have the pandemic. And

13:50

we saw doable again, because we're all

13:52

in it together. Oh, we're not in it

13:54

together anymore. Right. And

13:56

we're easing out of the pandemic. Memories are

13:58

short. Yes. And Here we are.

14:01

Maisha, I want to hear from you. Apologies

14:04

for it taking some time to get to you. But I

14:06

know that you are also in

14:08

early education and the mother of

14:10

two beautiful children. And you have a story

14:12

about waitlists. And there's some data

14:15

here about the waitlists in

14:17

this part of the country. What is your

14:19

story? So my daughter's 13 right

14:21

now.

14:22

And like he's

14:24

been said, I was like, oh, I can find childcare.

14:26

I'll just go out there and look for it. And then

14:29

they say, I went to the district. And they're like,

14:31

oh, go to this place. Go to this other site.

14:33

This is the wrong one. What's your neighborhood? I

14:36

go to another program where you get on the referral system.

14:39

And I put her on the list. And

14:41

I'm waiting for a phone call. But I've got to go

14:43

to work. So I go to work. And

14:45

she's at different places. There's

14:48

a family member that, week to week, somewhere

14:50

else, where whoever can take care of her. And

14:52

luckily, that worked out for me.

14:54

Because I didn't get a call for

14:57

her referral spot until she was in second grade.

15:00

And they were like, do you need services? I'm just checking

15:03

to see if you need your child to have a spot.

15:05

And I was like, what child? Oh,

15:08

she's in second grade. She's in class right now.

15:11

I want to say with my son, it wasn't

15:13

easier. I

15:16

did the scan the QR code. And

15:19

sometimes when it's online, you

15:21

fill out the wrong information.

15:22

I did that. It

15:25

says, what's the age? He turns

15:28

three in November. I thought the rule was 2.9. That's

15:32

what I'm understanding. And in the income

15:34

spot, I was like, oh, your yearly salary.

15:36

Put that in.

15:38

And I'm waiting. I work for the district. I'm

15:40

waiting for the response. I'm waiting. We're

15:43

emailing nothing. Oh,

15:47

your income is too much. I'm like,

15:49

I have my teacher at the district. I

15:52

don't make too much. Then it

15:54

was like, oh, your income first. Then your child is

15:57

too young to get in program. And I was

15:59

like, it's not. not 2.9? Are

16:02

you sure? Because I had

16:04

a 2.9 kid in my classroom and

16:06

so his birthday was in December and I'm like, um,

16:09

so my child can't get in because of age and

16:12

my income. I feel that the wrong spot, the wrong

16:14

location, the check the wrong box.

16:17

And so even though I had

16:19

the inside, which thinks

16:21

she's like, Oh, I got the inside. I can definitely get

16:23

this done. We were

16:26

enrollment happens February

16:28

and August. I was still pushing because

16:30

school's about to start. I got to go to work on Monday

16:33

pushing to get my child

16:35

into the preschool program because I filled out

16:37

the wrong box.

16:39

I mean, it just, again, this is something we say a lot,

16:42

Illuminati, it doesn't have to be this way. What

16:44

is the average cost of childcare

16:47

in this part of the country?

16:50

It can be upwards of over $2,000,

16:52

$3,000, depending if

16:55

it's an infant taller, it just depends

16:58

the younger the child, the more expensive it is.

17:01

So you think about that.

17:03

And if you think about the average cost of rent in

17:06

this part of the county and

17:08

you know, I live in a different county now, but

17:11

it can be upwards the same amount. So

17:14

just think it can become a wash. Like do

17:16

I, do I pay for housing or do

17:18

I pay for childcare? But you need

17:21

childcare so that you can go to work so you

17:23

can access housing. So you

17:25

wonder why people are doubling up, tripling

17:28

up, right? You wonder why people are

17:30

housing insecure. You have to make some

17:32

tough choices. And I just remember

17:34

one time thinking about some of the families who are

17:36

going to work, but they were living in under the

17:38

bridge here in Oakland, and

17:40

the tents and we're delivering diapers because

17:43

some of them were in need, but they were making

17:45

choices. So I can put my

17:47

kid in childcare, you know, try to figure

17:49

that out. But then I may not necessarily

17:51

have secure housing. So

17:53

there's trade offs when we don't

17:56

figure out how to do this as a collective. So you're

17:59

saying some of the families live in Oakland.

17:59

living under the bridge were making choices to

18:03

access childcare, early childcare, in

18:06

the absence of housing. Sometimes that, or

18:08

sometimes I've heard stories where they were

18:10

even leaving them with other folks. I

18:14

mean, there are no words for what the landscape. Yeah,

18:16

you do desperate things, and that results in

18:18

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19:47

Thank you.

19:59

touched on it briefly, how

20:02

is child care a racial justice issue?

20:05

What are the things that come to mind for you? Well,

20:08

one of the things that comes to mind is

20:10

actually LaWanda mentioned the program

20:12

TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy

20:14

Families, which was the program that

20:17

replaced AFDC. A

20:19

little bit of alphabet soup. You

20:21

know what I mean? We're with you. We're still

20:23

with you. All right. You know,

20:26

I understand the acronyms, but this is a very important moment

20:28

in history I think we're at another

20:30

precipice, another change

20:33

in the way that families

20:35

are viewed and exist in this country

20:37

economically, socially, and racially.

20:40

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families replaced

20:43

AFDC, which was aid to

20:45

families with dependent children or welfare.

20:48

Fun fact, the welfare queen is a

20:50

myth and also an actual person named

20:52

Linda Taylor. There is a podcast on Linda

20:55

Taylor's life. Very interesting character

20:57

in history. That

20:59

change to penalize black

21:02

women, immigrant women, for

21:06

making the very tough choice to either

21:08

stay at home with their babies, leave

21:10

their babies with someone else, enter

21:12

the workforce,

21:14

to have a safety net or not with

21:17

as few restrictions as possible. Because while

21:20

AFDC was not a perfect program,

21:23

it was a program that

21:25

allowed women who left

21:27

the job force either to have

21:30

a baby because

21:32

they were released for some reason.

21:35

There was a recession. That's a safety net

21:37

program. And the idea

21:39

that who was accessing safety

21:41

net programs or getting free

21:43

money was largely black and brown

21:45

women or women of color and immigrant

21:47

women is something that conservatives

21:49

have been able to attack. There's

21:51

overall safety nets around. What's

21:54

interesting is welfare

21:56

reform was not passed by conservatives.

21:58

It was passed by... Bill

22:00

Clinton and I'm a forever have a beef with

22:02

Bill Clinton because of that, you

22:04

know because it's single-handedly

22:06

that Sweeping legislation

22:08

put so many families into

22:10

poverty by tying Childcare

22:13

to work requirements

22:14

when actually child care is a human right

22:17

Access to child care becomes racialized

22:20

when we tie it to our labor to eligibility

22:23

requirements and when we require

22:26

that families prove they are worth

22:29

investing in and So it's

22:31

some families get the benefit of the doubt

22:34

some families are believed when they

22:36

say they need

22:36

help and others aren't There's

22:39

a history of underinvestment that

22:42

is racialized and I always

22:43

say if if

22:45

this country still didn't have to grapple with

22:48

the legacy of chattel slavery and We

22:51

were a homogeneous country that

22:53

didn't have black folks in it that would benefit

22:55

from social safety net programs We

22:57

would have them

22:59

we would have single-payer health care. We

23:01

would have free college. We

23:03

would have Childcare,

23:06

we would have food banks on every corner, but

23:08

because black folks Benefit

23:10

and we would in order them to for them to fully

23:13

benefit. We have to grapple with

23:15

that

23:15

Disturbing past and reconcile

23:18

as a country. We will continue

23:20

to spin our wheels at a legislative

23:22

level

23:23

It makes me think of what a

23:25

lot of talk is in Washington right now

23:27

and you can all speak to this. So

23:30

Initially people who have studied early education

23:33

Several of them say don't tie

23:35

child care to your job The danger

23:38

in that is that if you leave your place of

23:40

business where you work you lose your

23:42

child care However right now in

23:45

Washington the Secretary of

23:47

Commerce was instrumental in passing

23:49

the CHIP's program which is if you want to

23:51

borrow money from the government, there is a requirement

23:54

to provide childcare and

23:57

Part of the story is that there is an intention

23:59

to

23:59

to bring more women into the workforce.

24:03

There are several high paying entry level jobs.

24:06

I'm curious to know what you think in the absence

24:09

of an active solution right now of

24:12

more doors opening. Something

24:14

like the CHIPS program, which would

24:17

require businesses to provide early

24:19

education and childcare.

24:21

Is that a tenable solution? I

24:26

fundamentally believe that it is a mistake

24:29

for childcare to be treated like a commodity

24:32

on the private market. This

24:34

should be a public good that is

24:36

available to everyone. Incentivizing

24:39

corporations

24:40

to provide childcare is possibly

24:43

a step in the right direction. But tying

24:46

childcare and that labor and that workforce

24:51

to the profit margins of a

24:53

company that may or may not be treating

24:55

their employees well, when the quality

24:58

of life for a family is really hard,

25:01

depending on what income bracket you're in, I

25:04

don't see that as,

25:08

at best a band-aid,

25:09

at worst something that actually could

25:12

deepen income inequality. Because

25:14

one, we can't mandate what

25:17

these companies pay the providers

25:20

or how they manage or how safe

25:22

these environments are.

25:23

There's a reason why childcare

25:26

should be a public good and should have public

25:28

oversight. I think you make a complicated

25:31

relationship.

25:33

Right? And then how

25:35

do you reckon with that? You mean, to

25:37

your point, Clarissa, you may not be

25:40

faring well in that work, that

25:43

particular company, but because it's

25:45

tied to you having access to childcare. So

25:48

think about being sort of stuck. Because

25:50

you're like, I need this childcare, but it's

25:52

tied to this job. I really don't wanna

25:54

be at this job. I don't know. It feels messy.

25:57

Yeah, I was just thinking that same exact word. It

25:59

gets me.

25:59

messy, fast. It's one of those

26:02

programs that sounds good. It passed.

26:05

It was sort of what was, you

26:08

know, sort of salvaged from the end of Build

26:10

Back Better. But it's,

26:12

like you said, a bandaid and potentially,

26:14

you know, it's not going to heal the wound.

26:18

Speaking of

26:19

consistent issues California faces,

26:22

Maheshia, I'm curious if you can tell us about

26:24

the students whom you teach and

26:27

how housing instability shows

26:30

up in your classroom.

26:32

I'm in a space in the district where I'm on

26:34

executive board. So I sometimes

26:36

travel from site to site. And that

26:38

means I get to see parents coming,

26:40

see parents going, and then

26:43

hear from other teachers what

26:45

there are some problems that they're having to

26:48

trying to figure out how to support families. In

26:52

the summer I just noticed that there's families who

26:55

are

26:56

coming on the bus, getting there late. And

26:59

we hire teachers and don't explain

27:01

to them that these are homeless families.

27:04

And we can't say, hey, you're

27:07

late. I'm going to give you a warning.

27:09

If you're late again, you're going

27:12

to lose your spot. We

27:14

constantly say to families, you're

27:17

late dropping off. There's

27:20

a system where

27:21

I'm trying to figure out how to get housing. I'm

27:24

like, is this my job description to find housing? But

27:27

let me help you. I'll go online and look for it because

27:30

we don't have the space where

27:32

we have navigators at

27:34

our schools, but for

27:36

half a day, one day a week at

27:40

some sites.

27:41

And that does not support this

27:44

family's limit on food.

27:46

This family's got kicked out the shelter because

27:49

they didn't feel safe. And now where

27:51

can we go next? The shelters have lots

27:54

of rules.

27:57

And so here I am trying to figure out, well,

27:59

what can you do? you go? What can you do? Because in

28:01

the meantime, you're coming in saying,

28:03

Miss Maisha, this is going on. Or

28:06

I'm going to text from another teacher, this family

28:08

is going through this. What should they do? And I'm

28:10

like, I don't know. Call

28:13

the family navigator, call the enrollment

28:15

center, and ask them

28:17

to help.

28:18

Because as a teacher, I have

28:20

limited information. And I

28:23

there's no in our school sites, there's not

28:25

this scan the QR card, here's a paper

28:27

to hand to a family because they need information

28:30

right away. And you

28:33

got to know what program you can get into. We

28:35

can't say here's a list of programs,

28:38

but you might not qualify for this. Because there's

28:40

things you know about certain families. You're

28:42

coping, and how are you coping?

28:44

And if you're coping the way the program says you

28:46

should not be coping, although these things are

28:48

legal, you can't

28:51

sleep here. So now you're sleeping in

28:53

your car because they don't they're not working

28:55

with you to help you get through

28:57

your stress, your

28:59

anxiety, your depression.

29:02

And we're not giving tools to be like, hey we have

29:04

a group for you for

29:06

families who need because we're all online all

29:08

the time. And then the vicarious trauma

29:11

that educators go through in the class,

29:13

just I remember being in the school district, the stress

29:15

that you guys were going through. Bearing

29:18

witness to all of it.

29:20

Yeah there's a cost. There's a cost

29:23

and there's a one

29:25

bad day doesn't make for a good

29:28

day around the corner. Sometimes it does, sometimes

29:30

there are bright spots, but

29:33

it's

29:34

an unfathomable burden

29:37

to carry day in and day out.

29:40

I mean there's so much that we could talk about

29:42

going back to World War II. We know we can do

29:44

it. We know we can provide high quality

29:47

accessible

29:48

affordable care. Clorissa,

29:51

you were nodding your head pretty vigorously when Maisha

29:54

was speaking. What was on

29:56

your mind? A

29:58

few things. One of the...

30:00

campaigns that we ran. Shout

30:02

out to Bananas and shout out to

30:04

First Five, Alameda County. Shout out to so many

30:07

folks who are in the crowd right now who worked

30:09

with us. The late supervisor,

30:11

Wilma Chan, we organized.

30:15

We had a group of families who

30:19

after being in conversation and community,

30:21

right, this is about building trusting relationships

30:24

and Maisha really poignantly

30:26

illustrated the things

30:29

that organizers and teachers

30:31

do every day and being in conversation

30:34

with families who are impacted and

30:36

we learned that families were struggling

30:39

with housing and needed

30:42

emergency

30:42

child care, needed child care in order to find

30:44

housing, in order to get jobs

30:47

and we had no idea the number

30:50

of parent leaders at parent voices

30:52

who were actually living in shelters at

30:55

the time and I was floored

30:58

and I was also floored

31:01

at

31:02

the experiences families had in

31:04

shelters. So when Maisha was talking

31:06

about the different regulations

31:09

and not every agency

31:11

is a safe place for families with young children

31:15

and not every agency is equipped to

31:17

meet the needs of families who are

31:19

experiencing housing instability

31:21

and have really young children

31:24

and so we have, you know,

31:26

there were stories where babies

31:28

actually died, you

31:31

know, due to SIDS and

31:33

the conditions and

31:36

also we there is a very high black infant

31:38

mortality rate in Oakland, in

31:40

Alameda County and specifically Oakland. So

31:43

we were watching these conditions

31:45

and circumstances happen in real time

31:48

and so part of our organizing was

31:50

figuring out how we center those experiences,

31:53

build power and actually design services

31:56

that meet the needs

31:57

of families in crisis. deep

32:00

crisis. Yeah. Yeah. And

32:03

to your last point, I'm interested to hear from all

32:05

of you because, you know,

32:07

as you're all hearing, this can be a

32:09

difficult conversation to have because there are so many

32:12

persistent challenges.

32:14

So I'm curious if

32:16

when you look at the landscape, what are

32:18

the things that make you think, okay,

32:20

that's working?

32:22

Is it seeing a family who gets the help that

32:24

they need? Is it seeing somebody, a child,

32:27

be able to stay in the same school,

32:30

in the same district,

32:32

having overcome a housing

32:34

issue, having overcome, you know, all the

32:36

things that come as they cope, right? When

32:39

you look at the landscape,

32:40

what makes you think, okay, this is working

32:42

for families that face all the challenges we've

32:44

been talking about? Yeah.

32:48

I think one of the first things, so

32:50

AC Cares was the campaign that we

32:52

won, which is emergency

32:53

childcare vouchers for families experiencing

32:56

homelessness. Those families were

32:58

not being counted in the point in time count.

33:00

They were being passed over by systems.

33:03

One of the things I see working is when

33:06

we organize and build programs that start

33:08

from families who are the most marginalized,

33:11

the most

33:11

in crisis, and really listening

33:14

to those – not just listening to those stories because the

33:16

stories are important, but

33:18

the solutions, the ideas,

33:21

the brilliant, beautiful

33:23

imagination that human beings

33:25

have, the capacity to

33:28

influence and change

33:29

and bring power to their own

33:31

conditions when given the space and resources

33:33

to do so. I think that's

33:36

what lands us, these really

33:38

deep,

33:39

positive outcomes, right? So

33:42

AC Cares, of course, is an example

33:45

of that. I mean, that was the imagination

33:47

of families that were going through it. My

33:49

life is an example of that. I

33:53

had to start

33:53

organizing for childcare so I could get childcare

33:56

because parent voices was the only place

33:58

I could take my son. And,

34:01

you know, so I think community organizing is working,

34:04

right? It is working in partnership

34:07

with systems, in partnership

34:09

with champions in our elected

34:12

officials. Because we're talking

34:14

about, right, federal programs, Head Start.

34:17

And they're not always perfect, but

34:20

in some places they're more problematic than others,

34:23

and you had direct experience with that. What

34:25

was your experience with Head Start here? My

34:27

experience was we'd already built

34:30

a coalition of labor

34:33

unionized

34:34

childcare providers. That's

34:37

also a solution, organized

34:39

labor, and

34:42

building power with them. So it was our organization,

34:44

unions. And

34:47

then we also had a

34:48

progressive women of color majority

34:50

on city council, right? Elections

34:54

matter. Who's in power matters.

34:57

And also most of these women had experience

35:00

with childcare, experience

35:02

with either lack of childcare. One of

35:04

them

35:04

was a childcare provider herself. She was

35:06

a family childcare provider herself. And

35:09

so, you know, there were

35:12

these conditions that really supported

35:14

us intervening in stopping

35:16

three sites from being closed and 52 jobs

35:19

from being lost. Those jobs were women

35:22

of color. Many of them had been working

35:24

in the city's Head Start program for

35:26

many years. And

35:28

so there were multiple things

35:31

that led to that win. I will

35:33

say that that win was building

35:35

off of other wins, right? That

35:38

win was building off of

35:40

being part of one,

35:43

two ballot initiatives, right?

35:46

It was part of organizing with families,

35:48

again, who are experiencing houselessness

35:51

to win emergency vouchers and family

35:53

navigation. So

35:56

it's not that simple. And it's this

35:58

long term

35:59

process. So

36:01

we ran a very quick campaign to keep

36:03

those sites open. Those sites happen to be in

36:06

East Oakland, which is one

36:08

of the most impacted parts of our city

36:10

in every way, environmentally,

36:13

economically, politically. So

36:15

we were successful for a number

36:17

of reasons, but I will say we were successful. And the thing

36:20

I'm most proud of is

36:22

childcare providers and parents

36:24

working in such deep solidarity with each

36:26

other. I hear across the country, because

36:30

in doing this work, I hear across the country where childcare

36:32

providers and parents are pit against each other

36:34

and have a hard time figuring

36:37

out where they align on

36:38

issues. The truth is, for

36:40

us, our experience has been that family

36:42

childcare providers and the parents really came together.

36:45

And also, family childcare providers

36:48

came out

36:49

in support of the Head Start workers in

36:51

solidarity. And it was one of the most, I

36:54

would say, one of the most beautiful moments in my career

36:56

to see that, you know, even

36:58

as they were fighting their own battles,

37:01

OUSD teachers came out and

37:03

they said, oh, my gosh, they're doing this to the Head Start

37:05

teachers? You know, they're like, why are they struggling enough?

37:08

Why are they doing this to the...oh, no, we can't

37:10

have this. And they

37:12

came out and built a mural with us and organized.

37:15

And that's what is actually,

37:17

for me, going to be a huge part

37:20

of

37:21

how we pass the next big federal

37:23

legislation. It is from

37:25

the grassroots up. You cannot tell me

37:27

different at all. It

37:29

is these largely women of color

37:32

who have figured out how to resource

37:34

themselves to support each other, how to resource

37:37

themselves to support each other. And that's

37:39

what you're talking about when you're saying somebody says, wait, they're doing

37:41

this to Head Start. I'm going to come out and support. Oh,

37:44

my gosh. They're like, where would I need to call? I

37:46

would call my council person. I mean, it was beautiful.

37:49

Yeah, beautiful. That is beautiful. LaWanda,

37:52

you were now shaking your head. Yeah.

37:54

OK. Today was historic.

37:56

OK, tell us about what happened. There was over 3000. maybe

38:00

upwards 4,000 marchers

38:03

that included parents, parent voices,

38:06

statewide parent voices, but collectively across

38:08

the state and childcare providers. We

38:10

marched to a place where we called the swing space where

38:12

Governor Newsom is, and we

38:14

shouted, and we marched, and we

38:17

yelled, pay us now, give

38:20

us our contract. We are

38:22

women, we are women of color, and I will say

38:24

specifically for black women, we're earning 78 cents

38:27

less an hour as compared to our white

38:29

peers,

38:29

but I already imagine the

38:32

wage is suppressed. So the racial wage

38:34

gap is real, but the wage gap in general

38:36

for work that's done by primarily women

38:39

and women of color, it's unacceptable. There's

38:41

no other industry that you would, as

38:44

a government, say we care about children. Every politician

38:47

runs on this notion that education

38:50

is good for children and young children we should

38:52

invest, and as soon as you get an office,

38:55

you start acting brand new. Yeah,

38:59

and you're sitting across with them, with the data,

39:02

with all the knowledge, with the parents, we're bringing babies

39:04

to the capital, we're making dolls,

39:07

we're sending emails, we're doing all the

39:09

templates, we have advocacy committee groups, up

39:11

and down the state, in the city, and all of

39:13

a sudden, when we're sitting before you as

39:16

constituents, you can't

39:18

find the money.

39:20

And all the time, we have

39:22

women leaving the workforce, we have

39:24

the women who are doing the work leaving the workforce, and we

39:26

can go work for In-N-Out

39:28

and make $30 an hour. $30 an

39:30

hour. And get education assistance. I

39:33

can't make this up, go look at a Taco Bell. I

39:35

know, I know. Like with

39:38

education assistance and some level

39:40

of benefits, and here we are in

39:42

the classroom,

39:43

right, Maisha? Doing the work, and

39:46

we can't get what we need, and

39:48

so we are relying, at least 50% or more, rely

39:52

on some form of public subsidy.

39:55

As a professional, who's skilled,

39:57

who has AA degrees, certification, BH.

40:00

degrees. A doctorate. A doctorate. It

40:02

doesn't matter. Yeah. Family

40:04

child care providers who are amazingly

40:07

worthy, skilled, bright. Some of them,

40:09

average women in the city I know who provide care

40:12

are in their 60s.

40:13

And we're losing that. We're losing those folks because

40:16

it's time. It's time for them to rest. But

40:18

we can't retain. We can't

40:20

attract. And high school counselors

40:22

won't even refer their high

40:24

school students and you as a student go and sit with

40:26

your high school counselor. What profession

40:29

should I go into? When

40:31

they look at child care worker, they go,

40:34

oh, no. We're not going to pipeline you into

40:37

poverty. Oh my gosh. The

40:39

idea that a high school student would not

40:41

be counseled into early education breaks

40:44

my heart because the

40:46

reason that you do it is because you're passionate

40:48

about it. And it can be an

40:50

incredibly fulfilling

40:52

career.

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41:33

Hi everyone. It's Jen Psaki.

41:36

I'm excited to tell you that my weekly show on MSNBC

41:38

Inside with Jen Psaki is also available

41:41

as a podcast. I know from the years I spent

41:43

on campaign buses and foreign capitals and

41:45

in the Oval Office that there's always more to

41:47

a story under the surface. On my show,

41:49

we try to bring you inside all of it, breaking

41:52

down the things that matter and visiting with some of the

41:54

most fascinating people in the news today. Search

41:56

for Inside with Jen Psaki wherever you're listening

41:59

and follow. I'm going to start with

42:04

you.

42:14

We've talked a lot, the bubble

42:17

above my head, I'm thinking, I always hear

42:19

having covered politics from DC

42:21

for a long time, oh, the teacher's unions. Every

42:24

candidate goes to talk to the teacher's unions.

42:26

And when they're running, they're nervous,

42:29

they need that support. It's a powerful

42:31

organization.

42:33

Is there something similar for

42:36

early educators? Why does the

42:38

teacher's union hold so much power over

42:40

politicians when they're running? Is

42:43

it

42:43

misaligned with early educators? Where

42:46

is that cohesive, powerful

42:48

group? So

42:51

I also do other things like advocacy stuff like

42:54

early age. I'm an advisory group where

42:56

we meet across online with

42:59

people across from San Diego to

43:01

LA to Modesto. And

43:04

what the challenge has always been is that how

43:06

do we bring it right together? Even when

43:09

OUSD went on our own strike,

43:11

we struggled to

43:13

be like, well, in the

43:15

past,

43:17

we were not represented. And

43:19

over year, year after year, ECE

43:21

teachers did not get a raise because our funding's

43:23

different. Well, we still

43:26

have to negotiate what that looks like

43:28

for us. So

43:31

how do you come together

43:32

when at the end of the day, I looked at those

43:35

signs like, oh, I should go

43:37

work at the In-N-Out

43:39

Burger down the street because I'm like, yeah, I

43:41

don't have to deal with all the other stuff. So

43:45

when you have me thinking like that, it's

43:47

a whole other step to be like, come together.

43:49

How do you do that? And

43:51

we are just now coming to stand.

43:53

We are the same. Even

43:56

the family child care writers, we are the same. Head start,

43:58

we are the same. We are.

43:59

all one community

44:02

and because it's been so broken and we're

44:04

not the same community in someone's head

44:06

yes yes we go someone

44:09

said you're not we're not the same that's different because that's

44:11

different money that's different because their family child care they

44:14

don't have the same curriculum at that program

44:16

so

44:16

your child

44:19

won't get the best yes if

44:21

your public private family

44:23

child care which my great-aunt had

44:26

ran the child care and for many years and

44:30

you still get that sometimes that

44:32

love and compassion we don't recognize that in the

44:34

family child care setting you get more that because there's

44:36

not that top heavy what do you need to do

44:39

in this position so when we don't

44:41

recognize it and we're all been we've all been

44:43

divided

44:44

it's hard to set it's

44:46

like you got a sale togetherness yeah

44:49

we're together with the same walk arms yeah yeah

44:52

and for me as a parent first because

44:54

I'll say that all the time I'm a parent first an

44:56

advocate second and in the teacher and then that's

44:58

how I roll every day

45:00

and if you don't understand that you

45:02

have to be the the if your provider

45:04

is the is your teacher or your advocate

45:06

who are you who is it who is your teacher

45:09

who is your parent can the parents be advocates

45:11

they don't know some people don't know how are

45:13

they afraid to do it because they might get in

45:16

trouble or their their family might

45:18

be something might happen I'm not

45:20

documented

45:21

so these all these pieces that

45:24

stop families from coming together

45:26

with the teachers and stop the teachers from saying that's

45:29

that child care center that's been there that's come to us

45:31

that's been there for 30 years

45:33

and I've seen them bring kids to our program

45:36

we need to connect with them we won't step up our

45:38

comfort zone

45:40

and if we can't stop our comfort zone we

45:43

can't move forward as a team I

45:47

feel like that deserves a round of applause

45:50

we got big smiles from everybody here

45:52

well speaking

45:55

of coming together and the hard work that

45:57

can be successful when that does happen

45:59

I want to bring back Latoya Gale

46:02

from our co-producer, Neighborhood Villages.

46:06

Hopefully, some of you have some questions. If

46:08

something's percolating, please

46:11

get it to us. Ask your questions.

46:13

Hopefully, you know by now that Neighborhood Villages

46:16

does incredible work. They

46:19

are really working to make sure all families have access

46:22

to the kind of care that we're talking about.

46:24

So Latoya, you've

46:26

spent your career at Neighborhood Villages

46:29

in this work.

46:30

It's amazing to watch

46:32

Latoya listen in every city that we've

46:34

been in and hone in

46:36

on what stands out to someone who's really

46:38

an expert in the kind of work that gets

46:41

results. And I am in awe of

46:43

you and your work. So welcome back.

46:46

Hi. Thank you. Hi.

46:51

So I was thinking, when

46:53

we talk about what's happening in Oakland, what

46:55

resonates with you from this conversation? Something

46:58

that really resonates with me is

47:01

something I think we don't speak about a lot,

47:04

that all three of these beautiful black

47:06

women have brought up

47:08

how race is impacting

47:10

this crisis. We

47:12

know the history that this country has

47:14

with race. We know how that impacts

47:17

policies and who gets what in

47:20

this country and how hard our legislators are willing

47:23

to work for something. And so I want to say thank

47:26

you for speaking so candidly

47:28

and openly and honestly about that. Because if we

47:30

don't talk about it, we're

47:33

not going to do nothing about

47:34

it. Welcome to Oakland. Welcome

47:36

to Oakland, home of the Black

47:38

Panthers. Race like black

47:40

Panthers.

47:41

Yes, steeped in organizing

47:44

history and muscle. And it shows

47:46

here. The fact

47:48

that you guys had a, I

47:49

don't even know what you

47:51

got, not a strike, but a march. You

47:53

had a march to rally at your

47:55

state capital with 3,000 to 4,000 fans.

47:59

families and educators coming together.

48:02

Amazing! That

48:05

is amazing and the fact that they're coming together. Maisha,

48:08

what you just said about

48:10

convincing

48:12

people to lock arms. The

48:14

truth of the matter is, you know, sometimes

48:17

it's hard to convince people that you're on the same

48:19

team, right? Especially

48:22

when you have big, powerful teachers'

48:24

unions who might see themselves different than

48:27

early educators, right? We all

48:29

know education starts

48:29

before you get to kindergarten, right? And

48:32

so how are we, go ahead clap for

48:34

that. Yes, yes. How

48:38

are we coming together to

48:41

do that? And so, Luanda, when you

48:42

were talking about your march today, that's really

48:44

inspiring to hear. And

48:48

the other thing that stands out is that, you

48:50

know, Luanda can tell a story that happened 25, 30 years

48:52

ago.

48:53

And Clarissa

48:55

can tell a story that happened, what, 10? 15 years

48:58

ago. And you can tell a story that happened 10 years

49:01

ago and it's still the same story,

49:03

right? And so it really highlights

49:05

the importance of really

49:08

coming together and sticking this out because change

49:10

hasn't happened yet, right? We still

49:12

have changes to make. And this

49:14

room is filled, people on air cannot

49:17

see it. But this room is filled

49:19

with childcare, supporters and advocates.

49:21

And I am just inspired

49:23

in all to be in all of you guys' presence.

49:25

But yeah,

49:27

you guys are doing amazing work and

49:30

you're organizing. I think Clarissa, when you talk

49:32

about organizing, it has

49:34

to start from the ground up, right? Trickle

49:36

down, that didn't work. We all learned that, right?

49:38

Bush taught us that didn't work. But

49:41

we need to really be organizing from the ground

49:44

up. And I think about who's supporting

49:46

that organizing, right? Whether

49:48

it's unions, are unions gonna, when

49:51

I say support, I mean give money to, okay? Because

49:53

it takes money to do it. Is it gonna

49:55

be our philanthropy? Who is it gonna be, right?

49:58

So we can really move toward that. ultimate

50:00

goal of childcare being a public

50:02

good that's not means tested.

50:05

Like, you spoke about it so beautifully, Clarissa,

50:08

that it's something that you just

50:10

get. It's something for everyone. And

50:13

you don't have to quantify

50:14

or qualify yourself

50:16

or your children for it. And it's not about an

50:18

economy. When we think about, like I said, the history of this country,

50:21

it's not about let's put black and brown women to

50:23

work so everybody else can go to work. It's

50:27

about

50:28

our children and investing in our children

50:30

because

50:30

our children are our future and they're

50:32

the foundation of this country. And so I

50:35

just want to thank you for everything

50:37

that all of you guys do and for speaking about it.

50:40

Yeah, we've asked a lot of people, where

50:42

is the money? My

50:45

Isha's face is like, I don't know. I haven't

50:48

seen any. But we have been

50:50

in places where the percentage

50:52

of a sales tax has gone to fund some

50:54

incredible early education. Is that

50:56

something to build on or what's the reaction

50:59

from people when you talk about that?

51:01

You know, we ran one of our first tax

51:03

initiatives. And I will say what

51:06

we forgot to do when we did that one, our

51:08

first run was educate the

51:10

educators who were going to benefit from it. I

51:13

know we had many forums where

51:15

we brought folks together to really understand and

51:17

unpack it. What does it mean for

51:19

our bottom line? And I've always said things like this, you

51:21

can pay now or you could pay later. So do

51:23

you want to pay, and I'm just making up a number,

51:26

you know, $20,000 per child, per

51:29

year, and give them all these rich

51:31

experiences that Clarissa and Myesha talked

51:33

about? Or would you rather pay

51:35

upwards $90,000 a year to incarcerate someone? Because

51:40

we didn't pour in all the love, all the support,

51:42

all the resources. You're going to pay. So

51:44

do you want to pay now and put your down

51:47

payment and make those investments? Or

51:49

do you want to pay later and it looks like

51:51

incarceration? And I think I

51:53

just want to say there's multiple reasons why

51:55

incarceration happens in our communities.

51:58

Because I think we have a tendency to... to look for a silver

52:00

bullet. Like if we all have preschool, you know,

52:03

we will stay out of incarceration. And

52:06

I know you know

52:06

that. Yes, I do. But I

52:08

also want to say that systemic readiness,

52:11

systems being ready and actually

52:13

being coordinated, communicating

52:15

with each other is also really important. So we can dump

52:18

a bunch of money into a system.

52:20

You said a system that's broken. I

52:23

think the system is not broken. I think

52:25

it's designed for failure and it's working

52:27

exactly the way it should. Exactly. So

52:29

we can keep pumping a bunch of money. And I

52:32

do it.

52:32

I'm responsible for pumping a bunch

52:34

of money and to figure out

52:36

something for families. But if we

52:38

continue to not look

52:41

at how public systems function

52:44

for the public good, how agencies

52:47

are set up to deliver

52:49

services in the most equitable way, and

52:52

how administrators are people

52:55

who are actually community centered. And

52:58

we have infrastructure to really hold

53:01

systems. You know, I think that's also a really

53:03

big part of it. So we could have a billion dollars today and

53:05

we'd all take it. And that would be great. But

53:08

I think we would be doing ourselves

53:10

a disservice to not look at how systems operate.

53:12

Yeah, no, I love that. Thank you. And I love learning

53:15

from people like you that we do say

53:17

the system is broken. That narrative is out there.

53:19

That has been in many a headline. And

53:22

your point is the system

53:24

was designed

53:24

in a very flawed

53:27

way. Right? OK, anybody

53:29

have a story or a question that they would

53:31

like to ask? And it can be very

53:33

Oakland centered. It can be a big question.

53:36

Jennifer Cowang. I am with

53:38

the city of Oakland. I am a systems person,

53:41

but also a community-centered person, as

53:44

our friends know. And I am the

53:46

Children's Initiative Accountability Officer,

53:48

so a local tax measure that's supporting early

53:50

care and education and college access supports.

53:54

One of my questions is the ordinance

53:56

requires community engagement.

53:59

We know how difficult. it is to get that community

54:01

engagement in the different communities and

54:03

everybody wants a piece of the pie and we want

54:05

to do the good work. And so

54:07

I'm always looking for different ways to

54:09

engage community. There is the, you know, pay

54:12

people for their time and their money, but like, what

54:14

are other ways that you think, particularly

54:17

with this initiative in the city of Oakland,

54:19

that we engage folks and keep the

54:22

initiative can evolve over

54:24

five years. And so getting that community

54:26

input, so we're meeting community needs, not

54:29

just from advocates,

54:29

but from actual community is

54:32

important. So thoughts and ideas.

54:34

I would say it's about being present.

54:38

So for me as a parent, I

54:41

don't want to go to any more Zoom meetings

54:43

ever again. And if it's, if

54:45

it's a like, here's something, a resource, tell

54:48

your child this, I'm skipping the text message

54:50

because I don't, I don't care anymore. If

54:52

it's not in person, not, I want to do

54:54

it.

54:55

It's about being present every day. Like how

54:57

can we be present? I

55:01

know that we, I send messages on, on parents square two families

55:03

and they don't see him. Where is the paper? Can

55:06

we print it on some paper? Oh my gosh, parent square. Don't

55:10

laugh at parent square. It's

55:12

okay sometimes. But

55:14

I feel like for me, like even when

55:16

a daughter, like don't send me any more messages. Let's

55:18

be in person.

55:19

Let's find a, be at a park, make it an event

55:22

where people are excited to come. And

55:24

then every community, like my

55:27

school is the Royal. How

55:29

many times have I seen like, it's the bad

55:32

neighborhood. I'm like, and I'm like, I go to, I work

55:34

here. It's not that bad. What

55:36

are you talking about? These are people. My

55:38

kids walk through here every day.

55:40

And it's that part where we don't step

55:42

into spaces where we don't feel, where people

55:45

feel uncomfortable. We need

55:47

to get back to

55:48

real time, real

55:50

people, real connections. And

55:53

that's not happening when we're online. Right. We

55:56

can't lock arms if we're not together. But also

55:58

community engagement

55:59

for what? Right? I'm

56:02

not even trying to be funny. I mean community engagement, I mean,

56:04

and I'm not, it's not even totally

56:06

directed to you, but it's to the field.

56:09

Parent community engagement to what

56:11

end, right? Community

56:14

engagement for decision making that's

56:16

going to directly impact their lives and the people can

56:19

see the result of. You

56:22

know, folks are working two, three jobs and really

56:24

busy and we want

56:25

to make sure that they're, you know, it's

56:27

worth it for folks to show up even if in person.

56:30

So when decisions are made for people,

56:33

you know, but we just want their input, but they're

56:35

ultimately not, we want to make sure that there's

56:38

real stake for people to show up. I think

56:40

you'll start seeing a lot of people show up

56:42

when there's real power that they can bring

56:44

to the situation.

56:46

I just wanted to say if you're having in-person

56:48

things, they should absolutely be accessible for everyone

56:50

to come, whether that's transportation,

56:53

whether that's different abilities, because it's very

56:55

hard. Having things be online currently

56:57

has been very good for certain communities

57:00

and individuals and families because that

57:02

is a way that they can contribute and participate because they

57:04

weren't able to be there in person. So

57:07

just being mindful of like, if we're going

57:09

to go to in-person, let's make sure

57:11

that we can include everyone that's there, that

57:13

the spaces are accessible for

57:16

every type

57:16

of ability and that people actually have

57:18

means of transportation to get there because it's

57:21

hard. I was thinking about

57:23

that question too, and I was thinking co-constructing.

57:26

I've seen where the engagement is the highest

57:29

is when from the inception that the

57:31

communities engage in the co-designing of it,

57:33

and that's where I've seen the highest, which is

57:35

hard, but once you can get even

57:38

just two or three sometime, it has

57:40

the ripple effect, but it's the co-constructing

57:44

from the start and they are, and the other

57:46

part that's being successful is when they have a leadership

57:49

role in it, that they're activating

57:51

around something and they

57:52

have like, you're charged to go do

57:54

this, and then they go, and

57:56

we come back and we meet, and that's when I've seen...

57:59

here in Oakland where it's been the most

58:02

powerful and the strongest, but

58:04

you also need to go to your brokers, your community

58:06

brokers, to help you get

58:08

to them, to the other folks in the community.

58:11

And I've had to learn that the hard way.

58:13

I'm amazed at the

58:16

shift that I've had from feeling

58:19

not great about what's happening. And then I come speak

58:22

to people like you who are

58:24

so engaged that I end up thinking there's

58:27

no way this won't change. This will change. I

58:29

feel like it's the fight of one

58:31

of the fights of

58:33

my generation, the generation before me,

58:36

my mother's generation, the generations after me,

58:38

this is our, it can't be this

58:40

way. It's not sustainable. It's not sustainable.

58:42

You know, Gloria, before we end, I want to say at least here

58:44

in California historically, just

58:47

even yesterday and today, both the Senate

58:50

and the Assembly, both houses agreed

58:52

on $1.2 billion for childcare. And

59:00

it's because of folks in this room.

59:02

It's because of folks like Clarissa and

59:05

Myisha going to the Capitol,

59:07

doing the work

59:08

here in our own backyard in Oakland, who

59:11

made the difference. You know, we're just waiting for the

59:13

governor to sign on. We're also trying to make sure

59:15

that $1.2 billion is ongoing

59:17

money. So that's still another battle

59:19

that they want to give stipends. I was like, honey, no

59:22

one can budget with a stipend. If you

59:24

give us a, you know, it's not that we're not happy

59:26

when we get a $15,000 stipend or

59:29

however it comes out, but it's so

59:31

temporary, you can't do anything. So now we're trying to get

59:33

Governor Newsom, you know, our

59:36

governor of California, you know, we other

59:38

governors are

59:38

banning books. We

59:40

want children to be able to read. And we are the adults who

59:42

support that and facilitate as parents

59:45

and as caregivers and as early educators.

59:48

So we just need him to sign it

59:50

by tomorrow. Don't call out

59:52

DeSantis and not fund childcare.

59:55

All right. That's hard. That

59:59

is real money. That is real

1:00:01

money. I want to say a big thank you to LaToya

1:00:03

and our partners at Neighborhood Villages. I

1:00:06

want to say a big thank you to Oakland Starting

1:00:08

Smart and Strong. I also want to thank

1:00:10

the David and Lucille Packard Foundation

1:00:13

and KDOL TV for

1:00:15

their incredible partnership and support of

1:00:17

this event. Of course, a big thank

1:00:19

you to our panelists, Clarissa Douthard. She

1:00:22

is the Executive Director of Parent Voices Oakland.

1:00:25

Also a big thank you to LaWanda Wesley,

1:00:27

the Director of Government Relations of Early Learning

1:00:29

at the Child Care Resource Center, and

1:00:32

also Maisha Jones. She

1:00:34

is a preschool educator as well as

1:00:36

the parent of two beautiful children. Thank

1:00:39

you all for joining us.

1:00:43

Applause

1:00:56

Our

1:01:12

executive producers are Stephanie Whittles-Wax

1:01:15

and Jessica Cordova-Cramer, along

1:01:17

with me, Gloria Riviera. If

1:01:20

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