A Golden State For Care
Let’s build a stronger, more vibrant California where all of us succeed together, where businesses grow, and families thrive and can afford 0-3 child care.
Supply
Supply
Access For Every Family
The Goal:
Every family can afford child care, starting with those facing the greatest barriers to access.
We Support Solutions Like:
- Reduced family cost burdens so care is affordable and continuous—especially for those with the greatest need.
- Flexible care options for families so they can make the best choices for their children and minimize the impact on employers.
- A whole-family approach that provides support and resources immediately postpartum and throughout care transitions from ages 0 to 3.
Support
Support
A Sustainable Provider Workforce
The Goal:
Child care is a viable and valued profession.
We Support Solutions Like:
- Compensation that reflects the true cost and value of 0-3 care, from ensuring fair wages to securing benefits that signal our commitment to the providers raising the next generation of Californians.
- Professional development and career pathways that provide educators with ongoing education, training, and growth opportunities that set our children up for success.
- Lessened administrative burden on providers so that more time and resources go to providing care to children 0-3.
Sustain
Sustain
A Sustainable Sources of Funding
The Goal:
Dedicated and sustainable funding streams for the 0-3 early care and education system.
We Support Solutions Like:
- Funding efforts that achieve California’s “cost of care” rate reform, which keeps programs open without undercutting provider pay.
- A funding stream that is sustainable, reliable and continuous through transitions in leadership.
- Utilizing and leveraging all funding streams, including federal funding streams, to strengthen long-term funding stability.
- Ensuring child care is designated as essential infrastructure in local and state disaster plans, ensuring recovery funding is available without delay during emergencies.
Simplify
Simplify
A Streamlined System For All
The Goal:
Simplify the 0-3 early care and education system so it is easy to access by families and providers alike.
We Support Solutions Like:
- Streamlined eligibility and enrollment so families know their options, experience fewer bureaucratic hoops, and have seamless transitions across ages.
- Support navigating options during the prenatal period and postpartum, allowing families to have enough time to find care options that work for them.
- Aligning existing systems and expanding proven child care models so that the system is more comprehensive, efficient, and resilient for families and providers.
Not Every Californian is a Parent, but Every Californian is Affected by Child Care.
The state’s affordability crisis is forcing families to make choices between food and shelter or the cost of care—or to leave the workforce altogether. We see it as young couples choose to leave California to have children or abstain from having them at all.
Child care affects all of us, and most of all, it sets children up for success for the rest of their lives, improving their growth and development.
California can have it all: Strong families. Thriving children. Supported providers. Growing businesses. A Golden State For Care. We invite you to explore what that looks like in practice, and help us show our state’s leader that this is the priority for us all.
Executive Director, Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles
Who We Are
A Golden State For Kids brings together child advocacy organizations, families, providers, and businesses to build demand for accessible child care. We work together and with partners to improve child care throughout the state, from access to quality.
Our Partners
Our Funders
A Golden State for Kids is generously funded by the Stein Early Childhood Development Fund and supported by the California Community Foundation.
Media
Explore our resources to learn how you can be a part of the solution.
