From Community Organizing to Movement Building: The Story Behind the District of Columbia’s Big Wins for Children & Families
This session was presented during BUILD 2022 National Conference.
Child care is both essential to our economy and the foundation of young children’s education and development. Despite its critical importance, child care educators, overwhelmingly women of color, are among the most undervalued employees, earning poverty wages. The District of Columbia is the first jurisdiction to equitably compensate the child care workforce by paying child care educators wages on par with public elementary educators, while also increasing housing assistance for children and families experiencing homelessness. This seminal victory was years in the making, and came about as a result of meticulous planning, skilled community organizing, and thoughtful cross-sector engagement and coalition-building, culminating in the enactment of legislation that fundamentally changes the financing structure of child care compensation. This session will take you behind the scenes with leaders who will share how they engaged child care educators and built an impressive coalition and movement that holds lessons for how it can be done in other states and communities, and that sets the stage for future policy wins for the District’s children and families.
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Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and their Families Webinar Series Report
Report May 26, 2023
This report summarizes the webinar series Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families. The five webinars were held monthly from January through May 2022 and were facilitated by Dr. Cynthia L. Tate, of BUILD.
Incorporating Home-Based Educator Wellness in Equitable Early Childhood Systems
Video May 2, 2023
In this session, Shayla Collins (UW Center for Child & Family Well-Being), Dr. Rena Hallam (Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood), and Dr. Laura Lessard (Childcare Wellbeing Initiative) shared Shining the Light on You, their innovative wellness program designed for family child care educators, and Pilar Torres (L.U.N.A.) discussed ways to embed HBCC wellness support into ECE systems for educators whose primary language is Spanish.
Story of the Granny Midwives
Video April 24, 2023
This video about the original midwives, is a reminder of the the systematic eradication of Black midwives, as well as the hope and promise of the work Black midwives and doulas are reclaiming.