MATTAPAN CHILD CARE CENTER SERVES PARENTS WHO WORK OFF HOURS Kiddies Corner aims to address child care ‘desert’ Alexyss Lopez Mattapan has long been a childcare desert, where there are many more young children than there are child care centers to serve them. For union parents who work the overnight shift or the evening hours, finding affordable and reliable child care is especially tough. Now, Kiddies Corner, a new child care center in Mattapan, hopes to change that narrative. The center, which opened last month, is run by a union member and designed specifically for parents who are union mem ..read more

“Families face tough times as child tax credit ends” (Page A1, Jan. 24) exposes the heartbreaking reality of working-class families with young kids. Families depend on multiple forms of child care to get by, and 1 in 4 families used the federal advance Child Tax Credit payments to pay for child care expenses. Our child care system needs systemic change, but right now families need immediate relief to offset the high cost of raising kids, including child care. Local leaders should step up and utilize American Rescue Plan funding to establish a Massachusetts child tax credit to al ..read more

Dear Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick, and members of the Joint Committee on Education, We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to support H.456 An Act to expand access to family, friend, and neighbor-provided childcare, introduced by Representative Marjorie Decker and the Care That Works coalition. This legislation is urgently needed for low-income families across Massachusetts that do not have access to formal child care programs or have child care needs that formal programs cannot currently accommodate–parents with nonstandard schedules, with specific language and cultural needs, with childre ..read more

Michael P. Norton Oct 17, 2023 Massachusetts can unlock a source of needed child care, especially in low-income communities, by increasing the subsidies the state provides to license-exempt family, friend and neighbor (FFN) providers, according to a new report. The report by Care That Works, a campaign driven by community organizations and labor unions, found that low wages are one reason that only about 1 percent of those with subsidized children – representing 580 children – use public vouchers to reimburse FFN care, and less than 0.2 percent of the state’s $778 million child care subsidy bu ..read more

BOSTON — A new pilot program is providing childcare options to parents, who don’t work the traditional 9-to-5 job. The program is being partially funded by $100 million in state grants. Naomi Hastings worked a long day before picking up her 3-year-old daughter Frankie Friday afternoon. She needs a day care that can start before 6 a.m., as she is a carpenter for Local 328 in Boston and her job site starts early. “It’s great to have a home-based day care that have start times as early as 5 a.m., so people can get to their job sites on time,” she said. Helen Barrios is with Care That Works ..read more

Caring for children is an essential job that deserves fair compensation. As a care provider in the family, friends, and neighbor (FFN) network, it’s important to ensure that you are getting paid fairly for the important work you do.  If you’re a care provider in the FFN network, we encourage you to download the calculator spreadsheet and input your information to determine your daily and hourly rates. If you find that the rates generated by the calculator are below minimum wage, we encourage you to speak up and advocate for fair compensation. Together, we can work towards ensuring that ..read more

Our team is expanding! This month, Care That Works and Building Pathways welcomed Helen Barrios, the new Care That Works Program Coordinator. Helen Barrios is a first-generation Guatemalan with a passion for community work. She brings her background in the building trades, as well as her extensive experience with young children as a Kindergarten Teacher, Nanny, and Au Pair, to our team. As our new Care That Works Program Coordinator, Helen will help us expand outreach to increase the number of families and providers offering early morning child care, a lack of which can often be a barrier to ..read more

Today Mayor Michelle Wu and the Mayor’s Office of Early Childhood announced the recipients of grants totaling $5,600,000 from the Essential Worker and Stimulus and Stability Funds. These grants are part of Boston’s equitable and sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic specifically through supporting child care centers and essential workers who work non-traditional hours. These programs are funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). “Investing in a robust and accessible childcare system is an investment in our collective future,” said Mayor Michelle Wu ..read more

On Tuesday, July 26, the Care That Works Coalition joined the Office of Early Childhood Education and Mayor Michelle Wu as she signed an executive order to increase the opportunity to raise funding for child care through Boston’s zoning code for large development projects. Care That Works is excited to see our coalition’s research put into action, especially thanks to the Tufts University team that completed a report on the zoning code provision that was just strengthened. This funding is a win for working parents and child care workers in the City. We are inspired and committed to working wit ..read more

Child care is an essential need for parents in the workforce: People can’t work if they don’t have the security that their families are being cared for. Due to generations of underinvestment in the care economy, many families faced difficulties accessing and affording child care even prior to the pandemic. Then, the COVID-19 crisis underscored just how threadbare our care infrastructure is. The U.S. economy has relied on women, particularly women of color, to care for our children to keep our economy going. But despite how essential they are, child care workers earn some of the lowes ..read more