What's Good with Childcare

[00:00:02] What's Good Ohio, I'm your host James Hayes and this is the Whats Good Ohio podcast where

[00:00:20] we talk to the activists, organizers, visionaries and good troublemakers coming together to make

[00:00:25] our state better for everyone. No exceptions. I'm joined as always by Sarah Rodenberg for

[00:00:30] Policy Matters. What's good Sarah? Hey James, how is it going? It is good here. I am actually

[00:00:38] usually recording from my house but today I'm downtown in the office because I was just over at

[00:00:43] the state house. Our climate and sustainability researcher was giving testimony, basically

[00:00:49] pro-community solar. HB197 is getting testimony today which of course they also like put off

[00:00:58] the one piece of legislation that had like 15 different people giving proponent testimony

[00:01:04] until the last 20 minutes. But yeah, so got to sit in a very uncomfortable seat for two

[00:01:10] hours and listen to people talk about power and utilities. What's going on over at Ohio

[00:01:18] Voice? Sounds riveting. I was a page for a number of years so I used to have to sit

[00:01:23] in some of those hearings with no interest at all for being there. So I feel your pain

[00:01:28] for sitting there for two hours and things are Ohio Voice are good. Actually tomorrow

[00:01:32] we have a gathering, a big gathering. Every year we do at least two of these sort of bigger

[00:01:39] convenings with a number of our partners or we're doing this in partnership with America

[00:01:43] Votes. Our partners on the C4 table so it's going to be a fun gathering and I said

[00:01:49] a bunch of like last minute logistical things I got to do to get ready to pick up some

[00:01:54] snacks make sure you know the coffee will be good and every you know a lot of little

[00:02:00] eyes to dot and tease to cross before tomorrow but I think everything was going to go well

[00:02:06] and looking forward to be at the Audubon Center which is a beautiful you know spot in

[00:02:12] the South side of Columbus. A lot of outdoor space hopefully that'll be sunnier than it is

[00:02:16] today. I think it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow and yeah looking forward to it.

[00:02:21] I will be there to drink your coffee and eat your snacks.

[00:02:25] That's right looking forward to seeing you in person and yeah so I guess we'll go ahead

[00:02:29] and jump into the conversation.

[00:02:45] Today we're joined by Tammy Loonan and Therese Thompson from the Care Economy

[00:02:49] Organizing Project at the Ohio Organizing Collaborators. Welcome Tammy and Therese.

[00:02:54] Thank you thanks for having us. Thank you. We're so excited to have you on and to

[00:02:59] learn more about the work y'all been doing organizing around child care. As our listeners

[00:03:05] know I have an almost four year old and so child care is a constant conversation.

[00:03:11] We're very fortunate with our situation but I know it's such a strain on so many families

[00:03:17] and then there's also the child care workers themselves are so often not being paid at all

[00:03:22] and being paid very little so but before we dive deeper into the conversation I was wondering

[00:03:27] y'all can tell us a little bit about yourselves where you're from and how you got into organizing.

[00:03:33] How did you get into this work to begin with? Y'all pass over you Therese.

[00:03:37] Thank you so I can't say that I know a lot of families that resonate with your story.

[00:03:42] My story's a little bit different. My name is Therese Thompson and I am a family child care

[00:03:47] provider in Franklin County Columbus Ohio and I am with the Care Economy Organizing Project

[00:03:55] as a leader and I got involved with this work because of stories like you have mentioned.

[00:04:02] My story goes back oh so many years and I could talk for about hours but I'll just bring it to

[00:04:09] the president on what is going on. I am a provider, I'm also a mother of six, I'm a grandmother of

[00:04:16] seven and in this work as things were shifting with COVID I started noticing that things weren't

[00:04:24] shifting in the favors of the families nor the favors of the providers and so I started

[00:04:30] really just trying to deep dive into what's happening and who's talking about it and

[00:04:36] what can we do to get involved. And so I happened to get connected to a call stating this state of

[00:04:45] black child care in Ohio that sparked curiosity for me and so from that curiosity I began my

[00:04:52] journey down this pathway of trying to change what child care looks like in Ohio. May 2021 I connected

[00:05:00] with the CEO project which is under the high organizing collaborative and then there from

[00:05:06] there is pretty much history. I want to be connected in the process of making sure that

[00:05:13] the decisions that are happening in our state for our most vulnerable communities,

[00:05:19] voices are being elevated even when they can't say what they need and how they need to receive it.

[00:05:26] Beautiful, yeah thank you that's really powerful everything you just said you said you have seven

[00:05:31] grandchildren? Yes there are seven of them my oldest is he'll be nine this year the youngest

[00:05:38] is two months old so when I started the work I set a goal for myself for my youngest hit school

[00:05:45] I'm going to move to something different but then the grandchildren came along and

[00:05:50] I wanted to give them the same support and opportunity that I had created for my own children

[00:05:54] so I'm still in I'm still in the work and so therefore I'm carrying forward in the fight.

[00:06:01] Thank you, thank me how about you can tell us a little about yourself I mean I remember

[00:06:07] meeting you for the first time like a decade ago we were just laughing about that how we're

[00:06:12] getting old now but um you can share with our listeners a little bit about yourself and how you

[00:06:16] got to this point. Sure sure so first off my name is Tammy Loonan and I'm the Care Economy

[00:06:23] Organizing Director at the OOC. I'm also a first-generation immigrant I am a daughter and

[00:06:29] granddaughter of care workers and educators the experiences of my mother and my grandmother

[00:06:36] when they immigrated to the United States are not very different from what families are

[00:06:41] experiencing today some really grounded in the understanding of what women like my mother

[00:06:48] and grandmother needed which was like a voice at the table right I'm organizing women who are

[00:06:55] providers teachers and parents so that they're able to lead and transform in the child care

[00:07:00] ecosystem in Ohio. The work that we do as CEO project kind of assures that black women who

[00:07:06] make up 40% of the care economy are creating the circumstances that will allow them as well as

[00:07:13] the families that they serve to thrive for myself it's been like this kind of full circle journey

[00:07:18] what I would say home with the OOC because years ago you know we started I started organizing

[00:07:24] with Molly and Prentice um and I was a young organizer a really grounded and rooted in what

[00:07:31] we needed for black liberation but as I really started to get deeper into organizing work I really

[00:07:40] understood the two things that really helped lift folks our education and economic stability

[00:07:49] right those are the ways that people actually get to thriving and so our project is really

[00:07:55] founded on that principle it's an economic justice project but when we go deeper into child care

[00:08:01] I was just reading the statistic three and five black boys will spend time in jail or prison

[00:08:08] and there's a direct correlation to whether or not these kids have access to early childhood

[00:08:13] education because what happens is all education you know from birth to up to third grade is

[00:08:19] centered around teaching kids how to read right there's those early developmental goals and then

[00:08:26] are you on track to read by third grade and if you're not on track to read by third grade

[00:08:30] what we've seen is you know based on the crisis our public schools are also in

[00:08:35] right if kids are not in some type of early learning program they're not going to be on

[00:08:39] track to read by third grade right and then the kids get sorted and in a way that does

[00:08:44] not allow them to thrive right and then all education after third grade is centered around

[00:08:50] like comprehension right you have to be able to read in order to learn and that's where we're

[00:08:55] losing a lot of our kids in this system and a lot of them don't have access to it you know there

[00:09:01] are hundreds of thousands of children that are grown up in poverty in the state of Ohio

[00:09:07] no matter what zip code you live in you deserve access to high quality education

[00:09:13] as an early learner and and into you know your school age years as well so we're really

[00:09:20] founded on that principle on that belief is very dear to my heart when my mom was an immigrant

[00:09:26] and she immigrated to the United States she struggled to find childcare and my grandmother

[00:09:33] was a teacher you know she had went to she they immigrated over to the United States at the

[00:09:37] same time though my grandmother like worked herself through through college she became a

[00:09:42] tenured public school teacher and the way that my mom was able to get into the workforce was

[00:09:48] because my grandmother negotiated so she could bring me to the center that she worked at

[00:09:54] you know that's how that's how my mom was able to get into the workforce and that's the barriers

[00:09:58] that we're seeing that are preventing people from being active members of the workforce and it

[00:10:03] doesn't really matter where you are on the income spectrum this access to childcare issue is something

[00:10:09] that's affecting everyone not just folks in poverty so I'm really here to lift that up lift up the

[00:10:15] voices of the women that have been doing this sacred work I really appreciate how how you

[00:10:21] brought so many different connections into the conversation because it this is you know

[00:10:27] this is so foundational to our whole economy you know how do we you know raise the next generation

[00:10:34] of people who are going to learn and work and be productive citizens starts at birth

[00:10:41] and our society in general we don't respect the work that goes into raising the next

[00:10:48] generation whether it's teachers childcare providers whether it's literally just you know

[00:10:54] families should get get paid leave to be home with their own kids and I have to go right people

[00:10:59] don't have to go right back to work after they give birth but anyway Sarah I saw I jumped in

[00:11:03] as you were about to the damage got me going no I was pretty much that is on track to what I was

[00:11:08] gonna say too like just getting more into the details as we've already mentioned Ohio's

[00:11:13] childcare system has been failing to meet the needs of literally every participant in it right

[00:11:18] like the parents the providers the workplaces that need their employees to also have quality

[00:11:26] childcare to send their kids to could you just talk a little bit about how the state has gotten

[00:11:31] to this point in the last few years I know like the covid pandemic I feel like has brought out a

[00:11:39] lot of things but a lot of these issues existed prior to that too so could you just talk a little

[00:11:44] bit about the landscape of childcare in the state and such yeah yeah I'd love to so I think the first

[00:11:51] thing that you notice once you start to dig into childcare in the state of Ohio is that it's happening

[00:11:57] different everywhere there are different programs in Columbus you know once you go from county to

[00:12:03] county there are different programs there are different investments there are different things

[00:12:08] that allow some folks to be stable some folks to be unstable right so I think that's the first

[00:12:13] thing is that we need the actual system that works and when I say works I mean just a face line of like

[00:12:20] what does it cost to provide this care right we are missing a cost of care analysis for what

[00:12:27] it actually costs to care for a child you know birth to five and then beyond right we don't

[00:12:33] actually have that as a basis for this particular childcare system I think what are the other

[00:12:39] things that I think that is is kind of keeping us in this you know like we're coming up with all

[00:12:45] of these solutions that are band-aid solutions right they don't actually fix the deeper problem

[00:12:52] right is that childcare has just not been invested in in a real way and that's because

[00:12:56] we don't have the real analysis to say what it is that we should be investing in I think

[00:13:02] when you look at Ohio compared to what's happening nationally in states that you know mirror

[00:13:11] in size of Ohio so I'm talking about states like Pennsylvania, New York, California who when the

[00:13:17] federal funds come in Ohio gets like a significant portion of funds you know based on the size

[00:13:23] based on the amount of families and poverty that's on par with a lot of those states but

[00:13:27] when you start to dig into our policies and you start to dig into how we actually fund childcare

[00:13:34] I think that's where we start to see like the cracks in the system and then I think layered

[00:13:40] on top of that is I think widely especially here in Ohio child care seen as a welfare support

[00:13:48] but it's actually critical to having a thriving economy right and we have to

[00:13:53] we have to release that frame we have to envision something new because it's not a welfare support

[00:14:00] there are people that you know that they always give this example my best friend and her partner

[00:14:07] when they had two kids under five they paid more money for childcare than they pay for the

[00:14:12] mortgage for two kids in childcare they were and they essentially had they were two income

[00:14:18] household and one income literally just went to pay for childcare and then and that doesn't

[00:14:24] incentivize anybody to work really you know she could have stayed home and just care for the

[00:14:29] kids herself right and been home with her kids so I think those are the things that those are

[00:14:34] the things that we have to start thinking about around like how we got into this crisis is about

[00:14:38] the lens in which we look at childcare and it's no longer something that we can continue

[00:14:45] to look at as a welfare support it is critical to having a thriving economy

[00:14:50] absolutely and Therese is someone who's like been in that provider space for a while what changes

[00:14:55] have you noticed in like whether it be your day-to-day or like a further zoom out of just

[00:15:01] you know how you feel about the work you're doing and all of that yeah I'd have to agree with

[00:15:06] Tammy as far as was she elevated about the welfare service we don't open our programs up

[00:15:13] to be a social service for our for our families we open our programs because as you've said on this call

[00:15:21] that their learning starts at birth and so in order for them to be successful when they enter into

[00:15:27] school we have to nurture that nurture that development from the day they hit our program

[00:15:31] we want them in our programs as soon as they're old enough to join us and to have us

[00:15:39] teeter on both sides of education and social services when it comes to credentialing we have

[00:15:46] to have like these teacher level credentials but we're not being supported in teacher level

[00:15:52] credentials because we're licensed under a social social service aspect it's

[00:15:59] it's defeative honestly it's defeative it's why am I going to school and I'm getting all

[00:16:04] of this higher education and I'm getting into debt just to turn around and have a legislation tell me

[00:16:11] how I'm delivering the service because I'm not an educator I'm a social service component that's

[00:16:18] not what the services are supposed to be meant for our families primarily need child care so they

[00:16:24] can go to work they want their children in a safe environment while they're at work but they

[00:16:29] also want their children to be developing and learning so when they get to school they are ready

[00:16:36] to enter into school they're not needing additional support services once they hit kindergarten because

[00:16:43] there's five years that were missed that could have been identified and these children could

[00:16:46] have got the support services way before they hit school when they when we say we're the workforce

[00:16:52] behind the workforce we're more than just the workforce behind the workforce we make it

[00:16:56] so that the K through 12 system can efficiently do their jobs but we need support with that and that

[00:17:03] support comes through funding yeah damn straight yeah no it's really uh it's just telling you know

[00:17:08] like a lot of times we're coming up on another budget season this next year you know what I say

[00:17:12] like budgets are moral documents it shows where your values are you know you put your money

[00:17:17] where your mouth is you know so to speak and it's so clear that we are as a country we just do

[00:17:22] not value families you know we have all these people talk about family values or you know it's

[00:17:27] all about families but like we don't support families we don't support people to you know do any aspect

[00:17:33] of this whether it's to go to school to become an educator and whether it's to you know just

[00:17:37] you know and to have to have children it's it's so expensive and then we see it you know

[00:17:43] fewer and fewer people are you know are making that decision you know to have kids it's gonna

[00:17:47] you know it has real impacts on us and it lacks so many you know people into economic challenges for

[00:17:53] so long during his state of the state address governor de wine unveiled some new plans to extend

[00:18:00] publicly funded child care to more Ohio families so you know they were coming up with another

[00:18:04] budget you know in this last state of the state there was an overture made to doing

[00:18:09] some more likely as a result of a lot of the organizing work that folks like y'all have been

[00:18:13] doing around the stuff could you talk about what these changes mean and is there anything

[00:18:18] really meaningful coming I think before I start my thoughts on that I want to say

[00:18:23] I believe that governor de wine wants to make Ohio the best place for kids I think

[00:18:30] it his last budget there were a lot of good things in there that ultimately just didn't

[00:18:34] make it through however I do think that we need more when you think about the increased

[00:18:41] eligibility for those families that is only going to impact about 8000 families there are

[00:18:47] over 800000 kids in the state of Ohio half of those kids are in poverty and we only support

[00:18:55] about 160 000 of those kids through publicly funded child care right and there's so many

[00:19:00] families that need access to those resources I think it helps us to try to be able to

[00:19:06] fight for this in the budget you know I think so and that way I want to talk about it as a positive

[00:19:11] thing because then we can make the case for why we need this but we've already been asking for that

[00:19:16] 200% if you look at the numbers if you look at all the states I'm going to say Ohio is in the

[00:19:21] bottom 10 and eligibility rights so that means that even though we're on par with other

[00:19:28] states like California New York and there's all of these other places that have done all this

[00:19:32] remarkable stuff for child care we're only making families up to 145% of the federal

[00:19:40] poverty level eligible for publicly funded child care right and that just doesn't meet the need

[00:19:46] there have been plenty of reports that have come out that shows how you know increased

[00:19:53] eligibility rates actually incentivizes people to get off the system because there are a lot

[00:19:58] of women and I talk to them all the time they are passing up raises at their jobs because if they get

[00:20:03] a 50 cent raise or a dollar raise they're going to lose their benefits they're going to fall off

[00:20:08] the benefits cliff some people are like quitting their jobs because of that so we're in a much

[00:20:14] bigger crisis and while I think it's a great start to make those 8,000 families eligible

[00:20:21] is it's just not nearly enough for where we currently are it's just not enough

[00:20:26] it's a good start

[00:20:43] yeah hopefully entering into that budget season rumble next year will get a lot more than just

[00:20:49] something for 8,000 kids right one thing that really sticks out to me about child care and tammy

[00:20:57] you very much went into this in your intro is just how it is the epitome of you know these issues

[00:21:03] are all connected right because we have it being a workers right issue the average wage for a child

[00:21:09] care worker is $13.15 in Ohio despite like you were saying to us all of the training and all of

[00:21:17] the continued learning too that a lot of providers go to but then you also have the angle of

[00:21:23] it being a significantly racial issue especially considering you know we had black women caring for

[00:21:31] our children you know it's all so incredibly connected and I was just hoping that you could

[00:21:36] go a little bit more into all of the different ways that this leads into our communities our

[00:21:43] society and you know you kind of talked about how we need to reframe it from being

[00:21:48] a welfare thing that is provided but also just all of the other ways that it enriches communities

[00:21:55] to have a robust child care system so care work whether it's paid or unpaid

[00:22:03] is the basis for all other work to take place and you know for generations women have been

[00:22:10] all women have been you know carrying that load there are racial disparities that show

[00:22:17] 40% of the care workers are women of color but historically all women do care work whether you're

[00:22:23] carrying and then like I want to pan out a little bit and like talk about just in Ohio right so Ohio is

[00:22:31] an aging you know we're an aging state so people are thinking about care on both spectrums right

[00:22:38] a lot of us are caring for our parents I know I have parents with a bevy of health issues

[00:22:46] so we're caring for our parents we're caring for our kids grandkids like Terrence said

[00:22:51] so that's like the first layer of it right you're carrying across generations and then people still

[00:22:56] have to work you know they still have to they still have to take care of themselves right

[00:23:01] they still have to eat and I think what we're seeing when we when we think about the care economy

[00:23:09] a lot of the money that comes into the state is coming in for some type of care whether it's child

[00:23:13] care health care mental health care right a lot of the money that comes into the state is coming

[00:23:18] in for some type of care and that goes back into all of these different buckets of work that I

[00:23:24] would say even we try to you know we try to lift up as much as we can across the safety net

[00:23:29] right because the families aren't stable then they can put their kids in child care you know if they

[00:23:34] aren't stable they can't afford copays they can't afford to pay for it and then what we see from that

[00:23:40] is like either those kids are not in some type of early learning program they're staying home

[00:23:45] alone no they're they're going over to a cousin's house and we don't know what's happening right

[00:23:51] we would much rather those kids being in some safe environment where they're being cared for

[00:23:55] and so there are all of these different ways that people start to slip through the cracks

[00:23:59] in kid and it's not really just people as kids they begin to slip through the cracks parents are at

[00:24:04] the at the grocery store you know trying to figure out if they're gonna you know am I gonna

[00:24:09] are we gonna have food this week or am I gonna pay my daycare copay right am I gonna pay this

[00:24:14] copay am I gonna like and when people are making those kind of decisions you know what they're

[00:24:19] you know they're gonna take care of their basic needs first can I even get to my job

[00:24:24] can I pay for gas and let's not even talk about rent or like housing and like what housing looks

[00:24:31] like in the state of Ohio currently like people are spending so much of their income just to house

[00:24:37] themselves right and so that's there are all of these places that folks are facing some type

[00:24:43] of insecurity right which makes it impossible for people to like have that continuity occurred it

[00:24:49] means you know these kids are going from centers to centers from homes to this place right and I think

[00:24:56] that is the broader issue that we want to speak to is that we don't want to leave anybody behind

[00:25:01] and what we're seeing is like in our communities if you want to this is what the mayor

[00:25:07] mayor members from Dayton said we had like a canvas lunch he came out to our canvas launch and

[00:25:13] one of the things that he said in that conversation was like if you want to have good citizens

[00:25:18] you have to we have to raise them right and part of that starts with kids having access

[00:25:24] to high quality early childhood education right and us actually talking about it that way instead

[00:25:30] of talking about it as like daycare this high quality education there's a whole reframing

[00:25:36] and rebranding around care that needs to happen especially in the state when

[00:25:42] we're all providing some type of care whether we know it or not like we're all a part of that

[00:25:47] care economy whether you're going to pay for it or not but we want to make sure that the folks

[00:25:51] that are in it are stable they're able to thrive they're able to take care of their families

[00:25:57] that's beautiful that's beautiful and it's so crucial that thinking in a capitalist society

[00:26:02] like we have the value of work is tied to how much you get paid to do it

[00:26:07] you know and one of the things that stood out to me in like the you know this whole pandemic era

[00:26:13] particularly in the height you know the pandemic is when people were forced to stay home

[00:26:18] that were emerged actually there's people who are essential they can't stay home if they stay

[00:26:24] home the whole society collapses these are the essential workers and so often those workers

[00:26:29] were not paid as well as the people who were staying at home and could take sabbaticals or

[00:26:35] you know have paid time off and so this irony of our society you know like what do we really value

[00:26:42] and are we valuing the things that are actually going to help us thrive and it seems like no

[00:26:49] and you know but y'all are on the front lines of addressing that I wanted to share with y'all

[00:26:54] this this thing you as you were talking reminded me of this this thing I read a long time ago

[00:26:58] about this woman named Selma James it's my favorite thing to read on this kind of subject of

[00:27:03] like what she is called sex race and class and she had helped she was with the founder of the

[00:27:08] international wages for housework campaign back in the 70s and helped organize the global women's

[00:27:16] strike and so you know and I know that y'all are planning an action coming up that is called

[00:27:23] a day without childcare coming up at the state house so it just kind of reminded me of this

[00:27:27] idea of like withholding this labor you know like what happens when we when the people who do this

[00:27:34] don't do it anymore well things will fall apart so I was wondering you could just tell us a little

[00:27:38] bit more about this action you have coming up the day without childcare yeah absolutely I'll

[00:27:44] talk about it a little bit and then I'll let Terez weigh in but yes day without childcare

[00:27:50] it's a part of a national movement to really amplify the voices of care workers across the

[00:27:58] country right if you pan back to the pandemic everyone kind of realized how critical like

[00:28:04] the care industry is right we're fighting for all of these different things there were some

[00:28:09] historic care funding that came from the federal government to help you know stabilize

[00:28:15] the care industry a little bit during that time and we haven't really seen the states do too much

[00:28:22] more outside of you know what's come down federally in addition to like though that federal

[00:28:29] you know investment there was an effort to make sure that we're you know funding our economy

[00:28:36] right we had our infrastructure bill you do infrastructure to create more jobs you have

[00:28:43] to make sure that the sector that's going to allow people to get out to work is also stable

[00:28:48] and so you know there was a a build back better build that died that essentially didn't didn't

[00:28:54] make it through um that would have provided some I think like transformational investment into

[00:29:00] childcare that would have helped us like start to envision what childcare could actually look

[00:29:06] like what it should look like in this state and so we want to continue to lift that up

[00:29:10] through our day without childcare it's really us saying like hey we have to we have to make sure

[00:29:18] that childcare is equitable right that it's an equitable system that it works for everyone

[00:29:24] we have to make sure that the folks that do this invaluable work that they are also thriving

[00:29:31] right that's so that they are making living wages or driving wages that actually allow them like

[00:29:37] I said to take care of their own families and then we want it to be affordable you know childcare

[00:29:42] needs to be affordable for all families so those are like the three things that three pillars

[00:29:47] is that like you know we're demanding for this public investment right this public

[00:29:52] investment on a federal level there are things that can happen on the local level

[00:29:56] in the state level they can also help us prioritize Ohio's future um no matter where

[00:30:04] you are in the care economy you're a part of raising Ohio's future right no matter where you are

[00:30:12] situated in the care economy so we want to make sure that we're lifting that up when you think about

[00:30:19] previous movements like the first organized movement was the washerwoman strike

[00:30:24] that happened in Georgia many years ago and that was essentially like the same fight right

[00:30:31] as folks that were doing domestic domestic care work they were laundry washes as before

[00:30:36] washing machines when we were washing our clothes by hand right and that was the first movement

[00:30:43] right so it's in that same vein is that providers are closing down and it's not closing down

[00:30:51] just to close down just to have a day right they're closing down to say

[00:30:54] we are valuable and we need the state the federal government the local the local government to invest

[00:31:01] in our centers invest in our families invest in our businesses right so that's what it is for me

[00:31:07] is really is a call to a call to arms for care workers and parents to be in solidarity

[00:31:15] to talk about the crisis that child care is in especially here in the state of Ohio

[00:31:20] then i definitely want to pass it to tori as to add in her thoughts

[00:31:25] absolutely i support um everything tammy just said and one of the biggest messages that she's

[00:31:30] pushing across is that it is we are showing up as solidarity so we've got parents coming we've got

[00:31:38] home-based providers coming we've got centers coming we are letting you know that we are

[00:31:44] spreading the word in Ohio that we're not going to operate within the divisive system that you

[00:31:50] have created for us we all do care work and our care work is what keeps Ohio up and functioning

[00:31:59] and we're no longer going to continue to show up in this work without receiving our equity and pay

[00:32:07] y'all mentioned about essential programs i was essential program during COVID it was very

[00:32:14] honestly scary to be operating in that role because i'm a home-based program every time i

[00:32:19] open my doors for a family to come through i put my family at risk of catching an illness that we

[00:32:26] had no real clue on and they could have passed away from it but i did that as my community

[00:32:32] worked i am a community-based program i am here for my community my families needed to be able

[00:32:39] to keep food on their tables keep their roof over their heads keep clothes on their children's

[00:32:46] backs and so i signed up as an essential program we are here for the work and we're coming to the

[00:32:52] state house to let you know we're not going to continue to get railroad over anymore that's

[00:32:59] such a good point too is this false reality that they've created that is its parents versus

[00:33:06] the providers right like there's been this scarcity of resources that we just need to invest more

[00:33:14] in that is such an excellent point and that everyone is coming together to show up and say

[00:33:22] hey like we need more we need help here right that's wonderful yeah that is going to be

[00:33:29] May 13th at the state house for anyone listening i know we have this coming out just before the

[00:33:35] that day is happening so it's Monday May 13th at the state house at what time do we have

[00:33:41] that let me so yes we'll start gathering at the state house around 11 a.m for folks that are

[00:33:49] registered they will get like more of the logistics but we'll start gathering at the state house around

[00:33:56] 10 30 11 so looking forward to folks right now we have about 300 providers and parents signed

[00:34:03] up to join us at the state house there's still time to join us and get on the bus and

[00:34:09] you know show up at the state house for our families and for the folks that are raising Ohio's future

[00:34:15] that's awesome i know i'll be there so see you there final question is what else can we do to

[00:34:22] support the work that you are all doing where can we follow where can we send money all of that good

[00:34:29] stuff i can't answer about where you can send money but we can follow up on that

[00:34:35] because i have no clue but if you would like to follow us and stay up to date you can look for us

[00:34:42] online we're on instagram under ceo project ohio our website is also ceo project ohio.org

[00:34:53] ceo project ohio.org um you can get all of the sign-ons to follow us to get on our mailing

[00:35:00] and to join us for day without child care like i said we want to see as many people

[00:35:05] as possible at the state house to lift up this critical issue perfect thank you both so much

[00:35:11] for joining us and sharing your wisdom and your experience and just making so many brilliant

[00:35:17] points and connections uh there's so many other issues i wish you all the best uh with the

[00:35:23] action coming up i'll try to make it as well you know be there in person and because yeah

[00:35:28] it's such an important uh such an important issue that i know intimately well much more

[00:35:34] about these days than i did a few years ago yep so i yeah but again thank you so much for for joining

[00:35:40] us it's been a great really really great conversation and looking forward to seeing

[00:35:44] y'all out in the field thank you all thank you so much for having us absolutely thank you

[00:35:58] as always visit what's good ohio.com for show notes and links and subscribe to

[00:36:02] What's Good Ohio wherever you get your podcasts we'll see you next time to keep talking about

[00:36:07] what's good here in Ohio