Last week I had the immense privilege of being in Washington, D.C. for the first ever Child Care Innovation Summit hosted by Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, alongside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation teams. A huge thank you to these teams for including me and NationSwell, and so many of our incredible peers who are tirelessly working on this issue. I leave feeling inspired, and with continued momentum to roll up our sleeves and solve the enormous childcare crisis we are faced with – especially for low and middle-income families working on the front lines – but also for every family in the U.S. who spends precious time doing emotional & financial childcare calculus. A few of the key points I’m taking away: 🤝 Collaboration is crucial – we need everyone at the table to design solutions: from policymakers, to state and local governments, businesses, families, and most importantly child care providers. 🚗 Childcare is foundational and critical infrastructure. It provides overarching benefits to our economy and is a positive externality that society benefits from. If we are willing to fix roads that we drive to work, we must be wiling to fix our childcare infrastructure. (C. Kirabo Jackson, Executive Office of the President) 👩👧👧 Women are 8x more likely to have a disruption in their work over the course of their career because of childcare. (Heather Conroy, Executive Vice President, SEIU) 🧘♀️ The wellbeing of our caregivers is inextricably linked to solving our childcare crisis. (Susan Gale Perry, CEO, Child Care Aware of America) 💻 There are 58M people in America today who are not on a W2. It’s one of the fastest growing parts of the US economy. We have no safety net for them around accessibility and affordability of childcare. (Josh Silverman, CEO, Etsy) 🐻 No one wants to accept a position in a child care desert. We need a mixed delivery system for child care where workers can choose the care that best fits their family’s needs. (Candice R. Vickers MEd, MSSE, Executive Director, Family Forward Oregon) There were many bright spots and new mechanisms shared that folks are working on: a payroll tax in Vermont to cover childcare expenses (Act 76), the Tri-Share model, New Mexico guaranteeing childcare as a universal right, the Investing in Childcare for America Partnership, House Bill 4098 guaranteeing childcare near CHIPS facilities, and SO much more. I’m grateful to be in this #ChildCare work with the most generous and caring colleagues and innovators out there: Aaron Merchen, Caitlin Low, Cheryl Oldham, Liat Krawczyk, Jilly Gokalgandhi, Lisa Hamilton, Ai-jen Poo, Molly Day, Reshma Saujani, Atossa Movahedi, Nicole Riehl, Stephanie Itelman, Courtney Falato, Pierre Batton, Mel Faxon, Siran Cao, Bobby Isaacson, Jessica Chang, Olivia Rosenthal, Danelle McCusker Rees, Nando Cesarone, Jennifer Stybel, Patrice Martin, Marissa Comart (she/her), Carmi Medoff, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner + many more.
-
-
-
-
-
+5
Also, a huge shout-out to our incredible partners who have been on this journey with us: Quanic Fullard, Patrice McConnell Cromwell, Shayna Hetzel, Jilly Gokalgandhi, Manami S., Kelly Gannon & Beth Bengtson who have been hugely influential in our work on this issue.
So cool Allie Mahler! You and Sydney Bennett should talk!
This is amazing, Allie.
Love to see it! 🙌
So great to see you there, Allie! Looking forward to continued collaboration and thank you for your work to lift up this issue and solutions!
Great work, Allie. I have long been inspired by Ai-jen Poo's vision for the care we all deserve - at all stages of life!
Incredible!
So great seeing you Allie Mahler as always!!
Love these insights and takeaways — thank you for sharing Allie Mahler. I just continue to be inspired by you and this work!
Senior Director @ NationSwell | Strategy, People & Culture
1wAnd a special shout-out to my incredible NationSwell colleagues working on this alongside me: Austen McEnaney, Brooke Josebachvili, Syd Goin, Amy Lee, Titilayo Golden, Greg Behrman, Chloe Lew, Andrea Tan and Jacob Lepiarz.