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

Hola, amigos. It's

0:36

Chef Jose Andres. I

0:38

am a cook and someone

0:41

that

0:41

passionately believes complex

0:43

problems often have

0:45

very simple solutions, like

0:48

sitting down together and sharing our

0:51

stories.

0:52

Now, guess what? I

0:54

have a podcast, Longer

0:57

Tables, where I do

0:59

just that. Each episode

1:02

features brilliant people like Stacey

1:04

Abrams, Ron Howard, and Jane

1:07

Goodall

1:08

talking about food, life, and everything

1:10

in between. Listen to Longer

1:13

Tables wherever you get podcasts.

1:20

Lemonada

1:35

Welcome, everyone, to this episode of No One

1:37

Is Coming to Save Us. I am your host, Gloria

1:39

Rivera. And as you

1:41

know by now, if you've been listening to the show,

1:44

this season we're doing something special.

1:47

We are setting out across the country to not

1:49

only talk about the problems in childcare

1:52

— we talk about those a great deal — but

1:54

we also want to shine light

1:56

on solutions and really learn

1:59

from those.

1:59

across the country who

2:02

are doing the very difficult work,

2:05

but very fruitful work in

2:07

their own communities to make things better

2:09

in early education and childcare. We

2:12

are here virtually today to hear from

2:14

truly amazing advocates who

2:17

are engaged in the work of making childcare

2:19

affordable and accessible. We talk about

2:22

those two things a lot, affordable

2:24

and accessible for families across

2:27

the great state of Texas. I

2:29

need

2:29

to say a big thank you to Early Matters

2:32

for their partnership and sponsorship of

2:34

this event. Without Early Matters, this just

2:37

would not happen. Early Matters

2:39

is a coalition of business, civic education,

2:42

nonprofit and philanthropic leaders

2:44

who work together in their regions to

2:46

solve local issues facing

2:48

children, our littlest ones, ages

2:51

birth to eight through programs

2:53

and policy. Early Matters is

2:55

responsible for bringing us all together

2:58

here today. So thank

2:59

you, thank you, thank you to them. In

3:02

a moment, we're going to hear more about the challenges families

3:05

are facing and the unique ways they're

3:07

making it work in Texas and they are making it

3:09

work. Early Matters has built

3:11

a coalition of not just childcare providers,

3:14

advocates and families, but also businesses,

3:17

we need businesses, philanthropists and

3:19

community leaders who are all collaborating

3:23

together on some truly

3:25

amazing work. And I would love to

3:27

now introduce you to some of them. So

3:30

first, we're going to speak to

3:32

council member Vanessa Fuentes.

3:35

She is representing District Two in the

3:37

up and coming city of Austin, Texas. Welcome

3:40

council member Fuentes.

3:42

Hi there, happy to be here.

3:44

So happy to have you. Also, we're

3:47

joined by Natalie Boyle. She

3:49

is the founder and CEO of

3:51

an incredible organization, Mommy's in Need.

3:54

When someone is going through a health crisis,

3:57

Mommy's in Need provides care for

3:59

kids. It's such important

4:02

work. It's so needed. And they

4:04

do that so that the families can access

4:07

healthcare. What do you do if you need to go

4:09

see the doctor with your children?

4:12

Since its inception in 2014, Mommies

4:14

in Need has provided tens of thousands

4:17

of hours of free childcare.

4:19

Welcome, Natalie.

4:20

Thank you so much for having me.

4:23

Absolutely. We are so happy to have

4:25

you here. And last but not least, I'm

4:27

so excited to welcome you. This is Sarah

4:30

Beret, Dr. Sarah Beret. She is the

4:32

CEO of Pre-K4 San

4:34

Antonio, the city's award-winning

4:37

early learning program. You're going to hear

4:39

a lot about it. And it is truly

4:42

worth every recognition it has received.

4:45

Dr. Beret has more than 25 years

4:47

of experience in education, over 30

4:50

years of experience in the field. She has been a

4:52

professor, a teacher,

4:53

a principal, and a district

4:55

administrator, someone who cares so

4:58

deeply about this topic. Welcome, Sarah.

5:01

Thank you. Happy to be with everyone. I'm

5:03

so glad we're all here together. And I want to say to our

5:06

listeners, welcome to all of you to this

5:08

episode of No One Is Coming To

5:10

Save Us. I want to jump right

5:13

in, and I would love to start with

5:15

Natalie. Texas is

5:17

one of the largest states in the country, but

5:20

it also has a lot of shared

5:22

challenges with other cities across the country.

5:25

So can you start us off

5:28

pretty generally with the headlines, what

5:30

challenges are you seeing

5:33

in the state of Texas for families who

5:35

are just trying to access childcare? What does

5:37

it look like for them?

5:38

Yeah, so it definitely

5:41

is something that is very

5:43

difficult in a lot of ways. And one of

5:45

those things is coming out of COVID. We've had so

5:48

many childcare centers that have had to shut down. And

5:51

even more so when the kind of funding,

5:53

the bedrock funding that a lot of centers

5:56

have been using when that goes away. And

5:58

so we have essentially a very... difficult

6:00

supply and demand problem. So

6:02

when we're looking at that and but what

6:05

I will say is that I think as

6:07

you mentioned with early matters Dallas, there's

6:09

a lot of people trying to figure out

6:12

very creative ways to make a system

6:14

work. And so what

6:16

I see is a lot of innovation happening

6:19

despite the difficulties that are

6:21

going on in the area.

6:23

The numbers are pretty astounding and I

6:25

am curious to know as I compare them

6:27

to other cities but we're talking about

6:30

according to one study 27 fewer

6:33

programs now in the state of Texas than

6:35

there were in 2020. That is we can't we cannot

6:39

keep going down that road or we

6:41

will be be in real trouble.

6:44

So I want to go to Dr. Beret.

6:47

You told me to call you Sarah so I will call you Sarah.

6:50

I have permission. You know the roles

6:52

that you have played in this area

6:55

are so significant. You've

6:57

been doing this work for a long time. Tell

6:59

us about your work and how you ended up at pre-k4

7:02

essay. I read a little bit about it

7:05

and something that came to mind you know that

7:07

old saying if you build it they will come. I'd

7:10

love to hear how that applies

7:12

to where you are now but first tell us about

7:14

the program and what you

7:17

hope to see for the program in the future.

7:20

The research is really clear that if you are

7:22

going to change

7:23

the future you have to start in

7:25

early ed. It's in fact you know I'm

7:27

an educational researcher I can tell you there's lots

7:29

of different strategies but the most effective

7:32

cost-wise and outcome-wise is

7:34

early education and so they conceptualized

7:37

pre-k4 essay which is

7:40

really a brilliant architectural

7:42

design. I can say that because I didn't have anything to do with it this

7:44

is long before I got to pre-k4 essay but essentially

7:46

what they did was say we want to

7:49

demonstrate what high quality looks like so we're

7:51

going to build these four amazing preschools

7:53

which are going to increase the access but

7:55

we're also going to put in professional learning to

7:58

make sure that any early learning education. in

8:00

San Antonio has access to the training they need.

8:03

We're going to provide grants so other programs can

8:05

be amazing as well. And then we're going to engage

8:07

families because we know that young children are embedded

8:09

within families. And so it's really important they

8:12

are the first and most important teachers of their

8:14

children. And they put this idea before the voters

8:16

and really it was kind of crazy what they were asking because they

8:18

said, hey San Antonio, will you raise

8:21

your local sales tax by an eighth of a cent

8:23

to fund this new innovative program

8:26

that nobody else was really doing? And

8:28

San Antonio, because it's an amazing

8:31

community that it is, that's very invested in

8:33

children and youth, said yes, let's

8:35

do it. And I came

8:37

in in 2016, which was when the program had

8:39

started, really was through its build out phase.

8:41

We'd opened our four centers, we were serving 2000 four-year-olds.

8:46

And we were starting with four-year-olds because we were leveraging

8:48

state funding for pre-K. Texas is

8:50

not ahead in many educational arenas. However,

8:52

we have had state funded pre-K

8:56

since the 80s, right? Perhaps

8:58

not enough funding, but at least we've had it. And

9:01

so San Antonio

9:03

was leveraging that. And I came in then to say,

9:05

okay, we've got these four amazing centers that show

9:07

what's possible. When young children have access to

9:09

a highly skilled teacher and an evidence-based curriculum,

9:12

they can learn at very high levels. Because

9:14

part of what was built into pre-K for SA was

9:16

also independent research to

9:18

say, is this working? We're going to have

9:20

public investment and we need to know, does it matter?

9:23

And the research was saying, yes, absolutely

9:26

it does and we need more of it and we need to expand.

9:28

And so I got to come in after having spent,

9:30

as you said, a career doing lots of different things in education.

9:33

I actually had started out in early ed

9:36

and then went on to do all the different things,

9:38

including running a PhD program where

9:40

I was on a research team for over

9:42

a decade, looking at schools around the world

9:45

and educational equity. And what I

9:47

saw were lots of pockets

9:49

of excellence, but many more classrooms

9:51

with disengaged children, disengaged teachers,

9:53

particularly in the early years. So I heard about this place

9:56

called pre-K for SA. I came

9:58

to visit and I was blown away. that

10:00

they, San Antonio had taken all the research

10:02

that we know about what works in early learning and

10:05

really applied it to this great innovation.

10:08

And the good news is, I told my husband after visiting,

10:10

hey, I'm just gonna go sit there because I've seen nothing like

10:12

it. Fortunately, they actually hired me, so I

10:15

get a salary to do that. And that's why I came.

10:17

I left a full tenured professorship to come

10:19

do this because I think the

10:21

power of what San Antonio was trying

10:24

to do was so incredible. And I

10:26

wanted the opportunity to be part of that.

10:29

It's incredible to hear that you left a full

10:31

tenured professorship to come

10:33

do this work. That's how important you felt

10:35

that it was. And we need more

10:38

highly skilled, highly observant,

10:41

highly impactful people doing

10:43

this work. Vanessa, when you hear what's

10:45

going on in San Antonio and you look at your region

10:47

that you're representing, what are

10:50

some of the common things that you identify with

10:52

that you think are also challenges where

10:54

you are?

10:55

Well, I'm inspired to hear about

10:58

San Antonio's pre-k for SA

11:00

model. It's an incredible model and shows

11:02

what a community who is bound

11:05

together can do when they coalesce and

11:07

round an initiative. And the

11:10

challenges that we're facing here in Austin, Austin,

11:12

we just broke in the top 10 largest

11:14

cities. We're now the 10th largest city in this country,

11:18

which is wonderful. But even as a prosperous

11:20

city, we are also one of the most

11:23

segregated communities in America, both

11:25

by income and by race. And

11:27

for what that looks like, for me as a policymaker

11:30

in Austin, is understanding

11:32

that affordability is the number one

11:35

challenge that we have as a city. And

11:37

childcare costs are one of the top

11:39

costs for our families right behind

11:42

housing. I have families in my

11:44

district who are paying $1,200 per

11:47

month per child for

11:49

childcare options. And

11:52

that is way too much for families

11:54

who are living paycheck

11:55

to paycheck. And so we have a childcare

11:58

accessibility problem.

11:59

in our city. We also have

12:02

long wait lists. I had one

12:04

constituent share with me that as

12:07

soon as she got pregnant she signed up for

12:09

a wait list on a childcare center and

12:12

she did not get a spot until the

12:14

child was six months old. That's

12:17

how bad it is. We have super

12:20

long wait lists, the price are high.

12:22

And then we've also had some regulatory

12:25

zoning issues that I would love to talk a little

12:27

bit more about later. But what

12:30

we know is that when you have this reality, when there's

12:32

a lack of childcare options, when it's unaffordable

12:35

for many working families

12:37

in our city, this causes stress and

12:39

anxiety for parents. And

12:41

this is already coming out of the pandemic.

12:44

It's confounded the situation that we're in.

12:47

And ultimately families want

12:49

safe, reliable options for

12:52

their children. And what I know

12:54

is that we're not alone in this. This is an

12:56

issue not only in the state of Texas, but

12:58

all across America. And the

13:00

last thing I want to touch on is that the

13:03

financial model is broken

13:06

all around. Our parents are paying way

13:08

too much, ridiculous costs, our

13:10

educators, childcare workers, our essential workers

13:13

are way underpaid, and our

13:15

providers are working at the margins.

13:17

And so this is a complex issue,

13:19

one that we have had

13:21

some innovative strategies that we've employed.

13:24

And I'd love to chat more about it later. But I

13:26

just wanted to kind of set the scene of the reality

13:28

for many of our families.

13:29

I know, and there's no limit to

13:32

how impactful it is to set the scene,

13:35

because what we're hearing is the same thing.

13:38

We all share the same

13:40

challenges that have taken

13:43

this broken system to where it is right

13:46

now. And COVID really highlighted

13:48

that. It's interesting because always who's

13:50

going to pay for it, right? That's always the bone of contention.

13:53

And to think that an eighth, what

13:55

was it? An eighth percent of the local

13:57

sales tax that voters set up

13:59

okay, we can do that. You

14:02

know, that answers that very important question

14:05

of how we're going to pay for

14:08

it. And I want to talk about zoning

14:10

because when you talk about zoning, I don't know

14:12

what that means and how that comes into

14:16

what childcare looks like. So we will definitely

14:18

get to that. In fact, why don't we go there right

14:20

now? Why don't you take us there right now because we're touching

14:22

on it. Sure. So in

14:24

our city, we have childcare deserts. These are

14:27

areas where we do not have enough

14:29

options for the population

14:31

that we serve. And what we

14:32

know in the city of Austin, I had one,

14:36

one resident reach out and told me, you know what, we

14:38

don't have enough options. I want to be a part of the solution.

14:40

I'm going to open up a childcare center. Do you

14:43

know how much it costs to go through the permitting

14:45

process because operating a childcare

14:47

is not a permitted use in many parts

14:50

of the city. It was going to cost him $20,000 before he even

14:54

broke ground on the

14:56

center just to go through the regulatory

14:58

process. That's how much barriers we have.

15:01

So the first policy I brought forward this calendar

15:03

year was around reducing

15:06

those barriers, relaxing the zoning and making

15:08

sure that, you know, in all parts of our city,

15:10

we would be able to have childcare

15:12

centers operated. And we also, and

15:14

this is a critical part of it, we set up a grant

15:16

program because many of our childcare centers,

15:19

they're small businesses, they need assistance

15:21

to help get started. And so we set up a grant program

15:24

to where we can help invest and fund

15:27

these childcare centers if they are operating within

15:30

a childcare desert. So that's one

15:32

of the ways that we've taken a look at how can we

15:34

make sure that every family in every

15:36

part of the city has options, but

15:39

certainly a lot more work needs to be done.

15:42

When I was preparing for another event,

15:45

I was looking at the site, I believe

15:47

it's on the Center for American Progress, where you can zoom

15:49

in on a specific region and it will tell

15:52

you how many providers are operating and

15:54

how many children, how many providers,

15:56

how many home providers, and then how many children

15:58

there are under the age of five.

15:59

And it was astounding. Even

16:02

for me, I've done this show for, this is the third

16:04

season. Those numbers

16:06

were not remotely

16:09

in sync.

17:46

I want to go back to Sarah because I know that serving 2,000 four-year-olds

17:48

is a very important part of the conversation. Serving 2,000

17:51

four-year-olds is fantastic,

17:54

but

17:54

am I correct to ask you about

17:57

your work and finding spots for those who do

17:59

not? Get placement.

18:02

What is your work look like in that area?

18:04

First of all, we have a waiting list for our pre-k

18:06

school. So we have 2,000 slots

18:09

and this year we had 6,000 applications So

18:11

immediately what we're doing is connecting

18:13

families to other programs whether

18:16

they're and we're agnostic Like it we

18:18

know families need choices So whether it's a public school

18:20

private school parochial school charter school

18:23

child developments that are in We just want to make

18:25

sure that they know that there's an affordable

18:27

option out there and and in San Antonio every

18:30

four-year-old has An affordable option

18:32

because most of our districts they've seen the power of

18:34

early learning and they are offering universal pre-k

18:37

Even though the state doesn't fund it for them and

18:40

this is where early matters has come in They're helping

18:42

us because they're doing a pre-k campaign

18:45

and really Across

18:47

the board helping the community to understand it's

18:49

time to enroll kids. Let's get them in let's get

18:51

them connected But even before that

18:54

birth to age 3 we're working with

18:56

a network of a 57 child development

18:58

centers to help them Increase,

19:01

you know their business model, but also

19:03

get more enrollment and let families know There

19:06

are providers out there that are going to work with you

19:08

that have scholarships through our workforce

19:11

development You can afford this we can help

19:13

you with this They've got sliding scales and

19:15

so increasingly pre-k for SA is focused

19:17

on that part of the work now that we've leveraged

19:20

the state funding To get more pre-k 3s and 4 spots

19:23

We were gonna focus before the age of 3

19:25

and it's really critical work because

19:27

you know families need that as you say It's a

19:29

it's a big stressor on families to not know, you

19:31

know Six months is a long time to wait to figure

19:34

out what you're gonna do with your infant, right? If you have to go

19:36

to work Where is your infant gonna be your if

19:38

it's probably gonna be with a neighbor or relative who may

19:40

or may not be? You know equipped to provide

19:42

that kind of high-quality early learning and care

19:45

Right. It takes me back to something. My own mom said in the

19:48

first season She would go knock

19:50

on doors in the neighborhood because she wanted to go back

19:52

to work She only had a very short time

19:54

in college before she found out she was pregnant. She

19:57

said I would say hi My name is Charlotte.

19:59

I'm

19:59

I'm looking for someone to care for my child so

20:02

that I can go to work. Very simple.

20:05

That is the need. I

20:07

wanna go back to talk

20:09

to Natalie a little bit about

20:12

that need, right? I need

20:14

someone to care for my child so I can do XYZ.

20:18

Sometimes XYZ is go

20:20

to the doctor.

20:22

Child care can be challenging for many reasons,

20:24

but health crises

20:26

are one of the leading challenges.

20:29

Families face. Can you

20:31

tell us a little bit about how that specifically

20:34

led to the creation of Mommies in Need?

20:36

Yeah, absolutely. So honestly

20:39

it came from just me being a parent.

20:42

I had twins and

20:45

they're 11 now, but when they were babies,

20:47

from the time they were six weeks old until they

20:49

were about two and a half, I went through a series

20:51

of life-threatening medical challenges

20:54

and I was in the hospital a lot. I had six

20:56

surgeries. I had to consistently

20:59

try to find someone to watch newborn

21:01

twins and I was very lucky

21:04

because I had family support. My

21:06

husband and I could afford to hire an Annie to

21:08

fill in some gaps, but I just

21:10

started realizing the lack of support

21:12

there is. And particularly if you're a stay-at-home

21:14

parent already, you're not getting disability.

21:17

You don't have a lot of options on

21:19

how you're gonna take care of the kids. And so a friend

21:22

of mine, Annie, got diagnosed with colon

21:24

cancer and she didn't have access to

21:27

those same resources. So essentially

21:29

in the hospital, I was like, well, I'm better now

21:31

and I don't need my nanny and why don't I send her to you?

21:34

And then we'll just, we got a bunch

21:36

of friends at church to pitch in for it, right? And

21:39

what we discovered very quickly was that everyone

21:42

was asking me, hey, I know someone that needs this

21:44

help. And so we started going,

21:46

okay, well maybe this is more. And centers

21:48

of our community, right? Because if

21:51

you don't have stable housing, we

21:53

can't send a nanny to your home. If

21:56

you have eight people living in a small

21:58

one bedroom, it's not a safe place. an

22:00

environment that we can do that. And then the other

22:02

piece is that not everyone, you know, the in-home care

22:04

is like full-time. You get a nanny 40

22:07

hours a week for up to six months, but

22:09

you have to be completely disabled during

22:11

that time. That's the criteria, right?

22:13

And, and then not everybody needs

22:16

that full-time care. And so that's,

22:18

that's when I got introduced to the chief innovations

22:20

officer at Parkland hospital, which for Dallas

22:22

is the only safety net hospital. So it

22:24

sees almost, you know, a hundred percent

22:27

underinsured, uninsured, Medicaid, you

22:29

know, all of those kinds of things, very

22:32

low income families. And so what we discovered there,

22:34

when we started talking to them about like, Hey, could

22:37

you put a childcare at a hospital? Why

22:39

don't we see? So they did a research study

22:42

and, and they found when they limited

22:44

it to women of reproductive age, childcare

22:47

was the number one reason

22:49

that women missed medical appointments. And

22:52

that seems like common sense. But

22:54

when I tell you how, when this was presented,

22:57

the room was just a gas. They couldn't believe

23:00

that that was such a big issue.

23:02

And, and so then we started

23:04

working on the pilot and we built Annie's

23:06

place, named for my friend who

23:08

unfortunately passed away a few years ago. And it

23:10

was around the time we were going to open the center. And so

23:13

it was really beautiful for us to get to do that

23:15

in her honor. But it is

23:17

a childcare center on the hospital

23:20

campus. It provides free childcare

23:22

for anyone needing any kind of medical

23:24

appointment. And so it is, it's a

23:26

drop-in center. So people come, they

23:29

drop their kids off, they go get chemotherapy,

23:31

they go get dialysis, whatever they need to do.

23:33

And, and they're able

23:35

to access the healthcare

23:37

that wasn't available to them previously.

23:40

And so with the Annie's place model, so

23:42

we opened in November of 2020, which

23:44

was an absolutely wild thing to

23:46

do as a childcare center. So that we were calling

23:49

licensing and they're like, wait, I'm sorry, you're

23:51

opening a childcare center at the hospital

23:54

that is the center of this pandemic. And

23:56

we're like, yes, we're going to do

23:57

that. But, well.

23:59

The people that were using our services there needed

24:03

it so badly. Nobody

24:05

was going in for preventative anything at that point. People

24:07

were going because they had chemotherapy.

24:10

It was things they could not be missing. And

24:13

then because of that situation, we started

24:15

developing some different

24:17

needs. And that was of NICU babies

24:20

who couldn't, the parents couldn't stay with the

24:22

NICU baby because of having

24:24

another sibling. And then the

24:26

last piece, which kind of led us to the next phase of our

24:28

growth, was getting

24:29

called by the clinics and being like, we are so

24:32

short staffed. We don't have any nurses

24:34

today. We have one nurse, but she doesn't have childcare.

24:37

And we started kind of adapting that. And

24:39

so that's where we got to this caring for kids

24:41

so families can access healthcare. So

24:43

we're right at that intersection of healthcare

24:45

and childcare. And that's sort of how we

24:48

got there.

24:49

That is an incredible story. I mean, it's amazing that

24:51

now three seasons in, this is the first

24:53

time I've heard about a drop in childcare

24:56

center at a hospital. And

24:58

it strikes me as one of those simple, it's

25:00

so simple. It's such a simple idea.

25:03

But was there any one moment where you thought,

25:05

okay, now someone's on board, a big decision

25:08

maker who is going to green light it?

25:10

Yeah, absolutely. It was when Dr.

25:12

Fred Sarise, who is a very well-respected

25:16

person in the medical community and the CEO of Parkland,

25:19

when he had the first conversation

25:21

with us and he got it. And he said,

25:23

this needs to happen. And

25:25

the beautiful thing about having worked with Parkland

25:28

is that they always wanted us to

25:30

develop this as a pilot. So in,

25:32

we are actually soon

25:34

to be announced, but we are working

25:37

on our second location with a different hospital

25:39

partner.

25:40

It is something that, as you said, it makes

25:43

sense. It's a solvable, I mean,

25:45

what we stumbled on was a solvable problem. Because

25:48

if you had a childcare center at every

25:50

hospital, at every clinic, then

25:52

no person would ever have to miss their medical

25:54

care because they didn't have access to childcare. And

25:56

the thing that I think has been really interesting.

26:00

is that as we've developed into that area

26:02

of wanting to serve the hospital staff

26:04

as well, of considering that a part of healthcare access,

26:07

we now, so we're doing an expansion at Parkland, so

26:10

we will both have a full-time childcare

26:12

center focused on lower-income employees,

26:14

techs, janitorial staff, the people

26:17

without whom the whole hospital shuts down, but

26:20

for whom childcare is outrageously expensive,

26:23

and we'll have both that alongside

26:25

the drop-in center that's for patients. And

26:27

so that holistic solution is what

26:29

we're working on expanding.

26:33

That's incredible. And so it still

26:35

is a lot of hope in me. And I'm

26:37

curious, Vanessa, in your

26:39

work on policy

26:41

and zoning, you

26:43

have experience in looking at the bottom line

26:46

and that number being insurmountable

26:49

to a lot of people to open a childcare

26:51

center.

26:53

What do you take from the work that Mommies

26:55

in Need has done, and how

26:57

do you apply it to your own efforts to

27:00

change mine, secure funding

27:03

really towards opening more doors,

27:05

right? Because we have that 27 percent fewer

27:08

programs in the state of Texas now.

27:10

So how do you take what

27:12

you've seen over there and apply it to your own work? What

27:15

I think is really neat about what Natalie

27:17

shared about Mommies in Need program

27:19

is that understanding the role

27:22

and the influence that your organization

27:24

has. So, for example, the city of Austin,

27:27

as an employer, we passed

27:29

a policy that asked for and directed

27:31

for any new city facility

27:34

that is built or constructed that

27:36

there has to be a childcare center within.

27:39

And that includes for leased buildings as

27:41

well. So that is helpful for

27:44

workers at the city, but it's also important

27:46

for residents who are neighbors

27:49

around the city facility. I have a new building

27:51

being built in my district. We have a public

27:53

health facility that is slated

27:56

to open up next year, and that will

27:58

also have a childcare center. And it's going to be a to be one of the

28:00

larger childcare centers in our neighborhood.

28:03

So it's leveraging that power, that

28:05

influence that you have as an organization.

28:08

And then, of course, you know, as a policymaker in the

28:11

city, you know, we take a look at how we

28:13

fund our investments. We took advantage of

28:15

the Federal American Rescue

28:18

Act. We made an eleven million dollar

28:20

investment in our in our city, and that included

28:24

investing in childcare workers

28:26

and training and expanding services

28:28

within our school districts for pre-K four

28:30

and pre-K three. But that wouldn't

28:32

have been possible without the work

28:34

of early matters, which is a great organization

28:37

that really convenes nonprofit

28:40

civic organizations, government, business

28:42

leaders to come together. So I'm

28:44

really lucky that in our city, we

28:46

have a early childhood strategic

28:49

plan that sets out our vision

28:51

for how we can improve and ensure

28:53

that we have equitable access to affordable,

28:56

high quality childcare. But those

28:58

are some of the ways that we've been thinking about

29:00

this through that work. And the one

29:02

last thing I want to mention is

29:04

we also funded a study that's taking a look

29:06

at nontraditional childcare.

29:09

So understanding that for many of our

29:11

working families who have a late night shift, think

29:13

your nurses, people who work at the airport,

29:16

who work in hospitality, you know, finding

29:18

childcare centers that are available after

29:20

hours is really challenging. And

29:22

so I'm excited to see that study move

29:25

forward and looking forward to what comes back

29:27

from that study, because we need to

29:29

do a lot more within that space to

29:31

provide options as well.

29:33

I want to talk to Sarah about getting

29:36

pre-K four essay off

29:38

the ground and how you

29:41

view collaboration,

29:43

right? The business leaders, the philanthropists.

29:45

I mean, we have relied so

29:47

heavily on the generosity of

29:50

organizations like early matters

29:53

all over the country. People have stepped up

29:55

in the absence of really federal

29:58

funding being provided.

29:59

So Sarah, what have you seen in the

30:02

opening of these four locations? What

30:04

has been a big positive in how you've seen collaboration

30:07

come to financial fruition? Yeah,

30:10

so we have lots of visitors that

30:13

come from all over the nation to look at Pre-K

30:15

for SA, see what we're doing in San Antonio, and try and figure

30:17

out if they can do it in their own community. And

30:19

one of the things that I always tell

30:21

them is the reasons that Pre-K for

30:23

SA came into existence is because

30:26

of the support from business and civic

30:28

leaders, hands down. That's

30:29

why. Because

30:32

early learning folks, we're busy doing the work. We're

30:34

not great advocates in terms of generally

30:37

at the policy level or making people

30:39

aware of what we do. We're so entrenched

30:41

in the work that it's sometimes hard to get up

30:44

and make people understand

30:46

the needs of early learning and why it's so

30:49

powerful. And so

30:51

they were instrumental in helping get Pre-K

30:54

for SA off the ground. But then when

30:56

we started to look at our mission of really changing

30:58

the infrastructure of the whole

30:59

early learning ecosystem in San Antonio,

31:02

we realized we needed to bring them back to the

31:04

table and help them understand it's not

31:07

just about Pre-K for SA alone

31:09

is not going to solve every problem, right? We

31:11

need to work collectively on

31:13

this. And so, well, that's

31:15

when we got involved with early matters

31:17

because I had heard about early matters in Dallas and early

31:20

matters in Austin. I thought that's what we need here

31:22

in San Antonio. So we got a couple

31:24

of key business leaders, including Peter

31:26

Holt and Joe Strauss, the former

31:29

speaker of the house to say, would you

31:31

convene a group of business leaders to learn

31:34

about early learning, why it's so critical

31:37

as to businesses and to our

31:39

entire future in San Antonio, and then help

31:41

us figure out how do we engage business

31:44

leaders in the work of changing

31:46

and strengthening the infrastructure, but also

31:48

of policymaking because

31:51

business leaders have the ear

31:53

of policymakers for lots of different

31:55

reasons. And we felt like

31:57

if we could help business leaders understand.

32:00

the importance of it to their bottom lines,

32:02

but also to them as good community

32:04

members that they would help us. And that's really what

32:06

has happened. We've, Texas

32:09

is a little bit different, I think, than some of the states

32:11

where we, you know, we talk about New Mexico who had great

32:13

leadership at the state level and they've done tremendous

32:15

things. In Texas, while we've had

32:18

support from the governor and some

32:20

other state leaders, it really has been cities

32:22

that have moved it forward and showing what

32:24

can be done and then putting

32:27

forward policy and that's where early matters comes

32:29

in. Taking all the great stuff that's happening across

32:31

all the different cities in Texas and rolling

32:34

it up into what are the policy

32:36

levers that we can leverage

32:39

to make changes to improve early

32:41

learning and care. And our business leaders are key to

32:43

that because they've gone to bat, they've written op-eds, they

32:45

call people, they convene people, they

32:47

really have been a tremendous asset.

33:00

Parent Voices Oakland is working to build an inclusive

33:02

movement with parents, childcare providers,

33:05

and early educators through community

33:07

organizing, advocacy, and leadership

33:09

development that centers communities most

33:12

impacted by the childcare crisis.

33:14

By focusing on how all our communities

33:16

can thrive, they have secured consecutive

33:19

victories to increase funding, improve

33:21

quality, and provide better access

33:23

to childcare. Join the movement

33:25

and learn more at www.pvoakland.org.

33:30

That's p-v-oakland.org.

33:33

And thank you to the David and Lucille Packard

33:35

Foundation for their continued support

33:37

of Parent Voices Oakland and for making this

33:39

message possible.

33:42

I'm Liz Flock. I

33:44

wanna tell you a story about how

33:46

generations of trauma can lead to a point

33:48

of no return.

33:50

In 2017, a black woman named Devon Gray killed

33:53

her white boyfriend, John Vance. She

33:56

says it was self-defense and he was incredibly

33:58

abusive.

33:59

Then she took a blind plea for manslaughter

34:02

and got 15 years. From

34:05

Lemonado Media, this is Blind

34:07

Plea,

34:08

available now wherever you get your podcasts.

34:24

I'm curious if, Natalie,

34:26

you felt like once the doors were open during

34:28

the pandemic, the least likely time anyone would

34:30

open any kind of childcare center. I can't

34:32

believe I'm only hearing about this now. But

34:35

have you seen the impact

34:38

that bringing people in to see what's

34:40

happening, has that had a positive

34:43

effect on opening minds up to

34:46

what is possible? It's a very simple question.

34:49

Yeah, and it's interesting because everybody's

34:51

kind of mentioned sort of what early matters Dallas

34:53

means to their organization. And for us, those

34:56

kinds of things, what we've discovered

34:59

is we've discovered a model that

35:01

works because we have...

35:04

So the way it is, Parkland

35:06

owns our building and they basically cover

35:09

everything they would for any other building. So

35:11

we're able to operate without a huge amount

35:13

of overhead, which means we

35:15

can pay our staff living wage, which means

35:17

we can do, and we're able

35:20

to make it affordable for families because

35:22

we don't have that. And what I

35:24

love is the opportunity to say,

35:26

hey, if we can do that here,

35:29

where else could that apply? Where

35:31

else could you put in a childcare center?

35:34

And the other piece is, we do drop-in care.

35:36

Well, a lot of employers would

35:39

hugely benefit from a place

35:41

that wasn't maybe their regular daycare center all

35:43

the time, but hey, my mom watches

35:45

the kids most of the time, but she's out sick. So

35:48

I can still come to work and have

35:50

that. And so I do think there's a lot

35:52

of opportunity to start

35:55

thinking a little bit differently. And what

35:57

we've done that's been so successful is

35:59

saying... hey, when the space in the overhead

36:01

is provided, and that could be by a

36:03

school. That could be in

36:06

any kind of situation. And I think it opens

36:09

up some possibilities for systematic

36:13

change here for able to kind of use different

36:15

types of places and organizations

36:17

and companies to be able

36:19

to create a solution for their

36:22

employees.

36:23

It's interesting to hear you say that because the

36:25

image that came to my mind was a patchwork quilt. We're

36:28

in this scenario in which we really

36:30

have to look at all the different parts

36:32

that we can bring together to provide a comprehensive

36:35

early education and childcare

36:37

scenario for families. And

36:40

we talk a lot about choice and how important

36:42

that choice is. I'm curious to ask

36:44

Vanessa, because I know that you've worked

36:46

on several different issues and

36:48

we're focusing in on early education

36:50

and childcare right now, but

36:52

do you see a positive impact

36:56

post the zoning regulation changes,

36:58

post working on something very specific to

37:00

help people open the doors? Has

37:03

there been a trickle down effect of that that you've been

37:05

able to see yet, or are you still in process?

37:08

I think certainly we've seen a little

37:10

bit of an impact. I mean, we're still very early

37:13

on in the implementation of those

37:15

changes and the need and the scale

37:18

of the issue is so great that we

37:20

certainly need something bigger

37:22

and something much more targeted.

37:25

And I'm looking forward to working with our partners

37:28

here in Austin on what that could be. Certainly have

37:30

my eyes out for San Antonio and their

37:32

model. But the reality is,

37:34

is that this is an issue that we're

37:37

having not just in Austin, but all

37:39

over our state. And I really think it's not

37:42

on local governments alone. We need

37:44

federal support, we need state support,

37:47

we need our business community,

37:49

our philanthropic sector, everyone

37:51

has to be involved, but the solutions

37:54

for our communities have to be tailored

37:56

to the communities we serve because what works in

37:59

San Antonio might not. not work here in Austin

38:01

and might not work in Dallas. And

38:03

that's why I really love community-led

38:05

and community-driven solutions and why organizations

38:08

like Early Matters and United Way, when

38:11

they come together, when they can use their

38:13

convening power, we can come up

38:15

with something super dynamic.

38:17

Right, I love that phrase, convening power. There

38:19

is power in coming together. And

38:21

I'm curious if we can do some real time

38:24

discussion brainstorming here. Sarah,

38:26

if I'm a CEO of a business or,

38:28

you know, Vanessa, if

38:30

I'm a legislator that has impact

38:33

potential on new laws or Natalie,

38:37

if I'm the CEO of a hospital, what

38:39

works?

38:40

What is the messaging?

38:42

And I'd love for Sarah to go first and

38:44

tell us, what is the messaging

38:46

that you see click?

38:49

Yeah, and I spent a lot of time on this

38:51

because we went up for reauthorization in 2020

38:53

and I spent the years before helping

38:56

people to understand the benefits

38:58

of early learning. And a couple

39:01

of messages that really resonated with business

39:03

and community leaders was this idea that 90% of

39:05

the brain develops before the age of five.

39:08

And the brain we have at age five is largely

39:10

the brain we have for the rest of our lives. Now we continue

39:13

to learn and grow, but that architecture,

39:15

if we build it and it's strong, then

39:18

that sets children up for

39:20

strong, not just K-12 education

39:23

experiences, but for life. And

39:25

it's really the economists who have demonstrated

39:28

this. The support for early learning and

39:30

the research comes from economists who've been able

39:32

to demonstrate that the best

39:34

return on an investment you're going to get

39:37

in the education pipeline is starting

39:39

in the earliest years. And the other

39:42

sort of sound bite that people think

39:44

about is that in the youngest

39:47

years, in the first few years of life,

39:49

children develop a million

39:51

synapses a second. A

39:54

million brain synapses every second,

39:57

which means not just every day, but

39:59

every minute.

39:59

of a child's life matters. And

40:03

the way that children develop

40:05

strong brain architecture is

40:08

through positive adult child interactions,

40:11

which means that adults in the children's lives,

40:13

the more they are interacting in a positive

40:15

way and engaging with children

40:17

in a way that supports them, the stronger

40:20

the children are going to be set up for life. And

40:22

those have been things that really resonated

40:25

with business leaders. And then to say, and guess what? Public

40:27

funding doesn't really start until age five.

40:29

So if we had it to do, I've

40:32

spent my life in K-12 education for

40:34

the most part in higher ed, but

40:36

if we had it to do over again,

40:38

I think, if we knew then what we know now, we

40:41

would fund

40:42

public school, if you will, or public

40:44

education would start at birth and

40:46

maybe end at ninth grade. And that becomes the option

40:49

like college. And we do some kinds of things like that

40:51

because the other piece is it doesn't make

40:53

any sense. Parents with young

40:55

children tend to be at the earliest years of their earning

40:57

potential, right? So they're making the least they will ever

40:59

make.

41:00

And that's where the costs are the greatest. It just

41:03

doesn't make any sense from an economic perspective.

41:05

And it certainly doesn't make sense from a

41:08

perspective of businesses who want to

41:10

have really strong workforce. And

41:12

those great leaders are gonna lead their communities. And

41:14

so the research is really clear. And I think that's what has

41:17

spoken to business leaders. And the global

41:19

example is very clear. And President

41:21

Biden spoke about this. I've

41:24

said, it's been a long time since

41:26

the president in his State of the Union even mentioned

41:28

the word childcare, but

41:30

Biden has cited that about half

41:33

of our three and four year olds are enrolled in

41:35

any kind of early education, where in places like

41:37

Germany and France, the UK, that's

41:39

like 90%. And

41:41

we spoke to people, Americans who live

41:43

in Berlin, who said, we're not coming

41:45

back till we're done with a keto is the

41:48

colloquial term that they called it, where

41:51

she was funny. She said, you can go and there's

41:54

early education, early care for your baby.

41:57

There are also therapists there. There's job

41:59

support.

41:59

there, you know, it's like a one-stop shop

42:02

for supporting people when

42:04

they become parents, because that's where

42:07

we have gone astray. So

42:09

the work that you all are doing is putting

42:12

us back on a track. And

42:15

there's a lot of positivity in this conversation,

42:17

so that makes me believe that

42:19

there's some editing as

42:21

we go, right? What do we want this

42:24

to actually look like? You

42:27

know, I want to go back to Vanessa

42:29

to just ask, you know,

42:31

what should lawmakers

42:33

be doing? What kind of role should they be

42:35

playing in expanding access

42:38

to child care outside of

42:40

zoning, outside of the things that you've

42:42

mentioned already?

42:44

Well, you know, I have a

42:46

fundamental belief that every

42:50

family, regardless if you're white, black

42:52

or brown, should have access to high-quality,

42:55

affordable child care, and

42:57

that we should leverage the power and

42:59

influence that we have as local policymakers

43:03

to bring forward policies that support

43:06

pro-working families. I've

43:09

been really proud to champion raising

43:11

the minimum wage in the city of Austin

43:14

to $20 per hour, one of the highest municipal

43:17

city wages in the country. I've also

43:20

led the effort to expand paid parental

43:22

leave, where our city will have 12 weeks

43:24

paid leave for our families.

43:27

And so I think that there's a lot that we

43:29

can do from a policy standpoint and

43:32

from a convening standpoint. And

43:34

what I think is also important are those public-private

43:37

partnerships and that for our families.

43:40

And so I think that there's a lot that we

43:42

can do from a policy standpoint

43:45

and from a convening standpoint. And

43:47

what I think is also important are those

43:50

public-private partnerships, and

43:52

that's another space that local policymakers

43:55

can help with.

43:57

Right. It's interesting to hear you

43:59

talk about

43:59

how we view

44:02

early education and childcare, and

44:04

how we view who we need to bring

44:07

together to support it, because historically,

44:10

we haven't prioritized people

44:12

when they become parents, and so then it

44:14

would make sense that we don't prioritize

44:17

the children. So I choose

44:19

to see this as a slow moving, but moving

44:21

in the right direction process. I'm

44:24

interested to hear how familiar

44:27

all of you are with the CHPS program, because

44:29

from where I sit in Washington, D.C., we

44:32

spoke early in this episode about new

44:35

construction being required

44:37

to have childcare on site, and

44:40

there is debate, now that we're at this very

44:42

micro level of discussion, about

44:45

should employers

44:47

be required to provide childcare

44:49

because then it puts the onus on parents,

44:51

oh, my childcare is tied to my job.

44:54

I happen to think, listen,

44:57

let's take what we can get. We don't

44:59

have it when we need it anywhere

45:01

else. So I understand

45:04

where the CHPS program, which is essentially

45:07

for listeners who are not familiar with it, if you seek

45:09

federal funding to open

45:11

a business and it's over a certain amount, you

45:13

are then required to provide childcare,

45:16

and part of it is designed to attract more women

45:18

back into the workforce at high paying

45:21

wages.

45:22

I mean, I couldn't believe what a plumber makes

45:25

in a first year, but it's a very good wage.

45:28

So I can get behind that. So I'm

45:31

curious, Sarah, let's start with you, because you've been

45:33

in this work for a long time. How

45:35

do you react to something like that, employer

45:37

tied childcare?

45:40

Yeah, I think,

45:42

yes, it's a great idea, because it helps,

45:44

but I also think we can construct it

45:46

in a way that makes it more flexible and

45:49

real for families, because not

45:52

every worker wants to have the childcare

45:54

at their workplace, because they have another

45:57

parent that's involved in this, and there's just so much

45:59

to childcare. But I think the idea that employers

46:02

need to provide that benefit for

46:05

their workers is the key. And

46:07

it could be through a local child

46:09

development center that they have a partnership with, that

46:12

they offer scholarships

46:14

or tuition or something that allows

46:16

the family to choose what makes sense for

46:19

them. I think that's really the key. And

46:21

I think it's not that part of a sell to businesses

46:24

when businesses understand

46:26

that childcare is their business and that

46:28

their most valuable asset are their workers.

46:31

And when they see the numbers that say that you're

46:34

losing a ton of money when

46:37

your workers can't come to work because they

46:39

don't have childcare or they change jobs.

46:42

I think in my conversations with business

46:44

leaders, they often don't know

46:46

that they are losing employees

46:49

over childcare issues because that's not what employees

46:52

tell them. And because especially

46:54

among women, we often don't talk about that. It's not

46:56

safe to talk about, oh, I've got childcare

46:58

issues and I'm not going to talk about that at work. I

47:01

might make work decisions based on that, but I'm not

47:03

telling you. And so I think that

47:06

understanding that it is everyone's business,

47:09

including businesses, and that we can

47:11

come up with solutions that work that don't

47:13

tie a business to the requirement

47:15

you have to have onsite childcare, but that

47:17

you have to think about this as an employee

47:19

benefit, I think is a great idea.

47:21

Right. Think about it as an employee business. You have

47:23

to make sure that every business knows

47:26

it is their business. Because

47:28

right now that's just, I mean, wouldn't it

47:30

be great? There's a lot of idealistic

47:33

things that we can talk about. And the

47:35

answer is yes, it would be great. One of the most helpful things

47:37

I heard early on in reporting out this issue

47:40

was that childcare, many

47:42

should think about it or you can think about

47:44

it as infrastructure,

47:46

that it's how we get to where we

47:48

need to go. And

47:51

then the next thought in my mind is choice.

47:54

What works for me might not work for you. And

47:57

so I'm curious, Natalie, you've been

47:59

a part of this.

47:59

created something that is highly helpful

48:02

for those who want choice. Like, this is when I need to

48:05

go, so I'm dropping off my child now.

48:07

Do

48:08

you have any stories that you can share about people

48:11

expressing gratitude for that? Especially the

48:13

nurse that can't come to work because she doesn't have childcare,

48:16

that's a beautiful solution.

48:18

Yeah, you know, we talk about like the,

48:21

particularly because we work largely

48:23

with families that are living in poverty, the absolute

48:27

lack of choices that the

48:29

women that we serve have. And

48:31

I think one of the,

48:33

you know, hardest explanations of it, but one

48:35

of the best ones is of a mom

48:37

who had just a ton of health

48:39

conditions. It was during

48:42

kind of the height of COVID when they weren't allowing any

48:44

children in the building. She had to get blood

48:46

work, so she left her young son

48:48

in the car and said, don't open the

48:50

door, I'll be back in 15 minutes. Well,

48:52

unfortunately, when they did her blood work, she

48:55

was so critically low on hemoglobin

48:57

that they had to rush her back for emergency blood

48:59

transfusions. And then someone had to go

49:01

out into the parking lot and find

49:03

that little boy. And of course they had to

49:05

open a CPS case because he was left in an unsafe

49:08

situation. And then once she

49:10

started, once

49:12

they heard about Annie's place and we connected

49:15

with her there, she started using it regularly.

49:17

Something I haven't mentioned, we actually have a full-time plate therapist

49:20

on staff so that we can provide

49:22

the emotional supports to children who

49:24

have a sick family member. He

49:27

started seeing our plate therapist, the

49:29

mom was getting her regular medical care.

49:32

And then the piece that, so our social

49:34

worker was able to close out the CPS case

49:37

because we got to an understanding that

49:39

the only reason she was

49:41

leaving her child in unsafe situations

49:44

was because she had no other choice for her health.

49:46

And so being able to say, that's never

49:48

gonna happen again, you

49:50

know, and now we have a place.

49:52

And then my favorite part of the story

49:54

is that we were seeing her three,

49:57

four times a week for months and

49:59

months and months. months and then we didn't

50:01

see her for a long time. And when she

50:03

came back, our front desk said, well, you

50:06

know, we've missed you. Where have you been? And she said,

50:08

well, I'm finally on top of

50:10

my health. So I'm not as sick anymore and

50:12

I don't have to go to the doctors often. And

50:14

that's the kind of impact that we're talking about on

50:17

the patient side. Right. And,

50:20

and then when we talk about the, um, on the employee

50:23

side, we have justice compelling

50:25

stories, right? It's about an employee

50:27

who is a foster parent. And

50:29

so

50:29

she continually and regularly

50:32

fosters children. But because of that,

50:34

it's hard because if they don't have a daycare,

50:36

that's just the same age of the children all the time,

50:39

right? And so she's able to use

50:41

our drop-in program to say, Hey, I

50:43

have kids right now that are five

50:45

and could you watch them this way? And so I think, um,

50:48

the choice piece is really important

50:51

and the understanding that there are different

50:53

needs in different communities. So what

50:55

we do specifically is in the healthcare field,

50:57

which has a lot of intricacies, but I

50:59

think

50:59

that the key that you take

51:02

from that is, okay, if we figured out how to do

51:04

this in the healthcare field, what does

51:06

that look like for teachers? What

51:08

does that look like for city workers?

51:11

Right. And that's a lot of the piece that, you know,

51:13

we have been working with early matters Dallas on is connecting

51:15

to go, Hey, okay. So our model is not for

51:17

your company, but come and learn

51:19

about it

51:20

so that we can show you how you

51:22

can do it in your space. Right. Well,

51:25

I want to thank you all so much. We're at the end of

51:27

our time. Um, I look at you all and

51:29

I think that you bring something unique and

51:31

different to this conversation. And I

51:34

see you all needing each other, but doing

51:36

the work in your respective communities to push

51:39

something we all need forward.

51:42

And I, you know, I throw my hands up in

51:44

the air because I felt like, well, I guess we're just going to have

51:46

to do this ourselves and we're

51:48

doing it. You know, we are doing it. So

51:50

I'm leaving at my heart is

51:52

full knowing that.

51:54

Good people like you with such

51:56

deep expertise and care are doing the work.

51:59

So thank.

51:59

Thank you for joining us. That is it for our show.

52:02

This has been amazing. I want

52:04

to thank our partners over at Neighborhood Villages

52:06

and of course thank those at Early

52:08

Matters Texas for their support of this event

52:11

and their support of all that you do. Thank

52:13

you to Austin City Council member Vanessa

52:15

Fuentes, Natalie Boyle, founder

52:17

and CEO of Mommy's in Need. Thank

52:19

you. And Dr. Sarah Beret,

52:22

CEO of Pre-K for San

52:24

Antonio. Thank you all for joining us. And

52:26

thank you to all of our listeners for listening

52:28

to this episode of No One Is Coming

52:29

To Save Us. Guess what? Somebody is coming to save

52:32

us. You're listening to them. We'll see you all next

52:34

week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

52:36

you. Thanks.

52:52

No One Is Coming To Save Us is a lemonada

52:54

original produced with Neighborhood Villages.

52:57

The show is produced by Kyle Sheeley and

52:59

Martine Macias. Our

53:01

audio engineer is Noah Smith. Music

53:04

is by Hannes Brown. Our VP

53:06

of weekly content is Steve Nelson. Our

53:09

executive producers are Stephanie Whittles-Wax

53:11

and Jessica Cordova-Cramer along

53:14

with me, Gloria Riviera. If

53:16

you like the show and you believe what we are doing

53:19

is important, please help others

53:21

find us by leaving us a

53:22

rating and writing us a review and most

53:24

importantly by telling your friends.

53:27

Follow No One Is Coming To Save Us wherever

53:29

you get your podcasts or listen ad free

53:32

on Amazon Music with your Prime membership.

53:34

Thanks for listening and we'll be back next

53:37

week. Until then, hang in there.

53:39

You can do this.

53:45

Does keeping up with the news cycle feel like a daunting

53:47

task? Join me, Vee Spear

53:50

on Vee Interesting from Lemonada Media

53:52

with fascinating guests like Mercury

53:54

Stardust, Taylor Lorenz and

53:56

Hank Green. We'll break down what you

53:59

need to know to be the

53:59

most interesting person in any room.

54:02

We'll find the stories that give us a reason for optimism

54:05

among all the doom scrolling headlines.

54:08

I want us to be smart together.

54:10

The Interesting has new episodes out every

54:13

Friday on Amazon Music, Apple,

54:15

Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

54:18

Last Day from Lemon Automedia explores the

54:20

moments that change us. Those times where you

54:22

look back and say, whoa, one day

54:25

I was myself and the next I wasn't.

54:28

I'm Stephanie Whittleswax and I have seen time

54:30

and time again how sharing these stories can change

54:32

lives. So do you have a moment

54:34

in your life that changed you fundamentally

54:36

and forever? What happened? How

54:38

did you move through it? And how did you eventually

54:40

start again? If you'd like to share your story,

54:43

go to bit.ly slash lastdaystories,

54:45

bit.ly slash lastdaystories.

54:48

We

54:48

can't wait to hear from you.