Please Contact your Legislator NOW to prevent 44% Cuts to Core CCR&R Services

Hello CCR Supporters:

I wouldn't ask you this if it wasn't important. Please exert your influence by contacting your legislator NOW to support child care resource and referral services. The Governor's proposed budget cuts funding for our Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) system by 44%. This level of funding cuts would decimate our parents/family child care information and referral system and decreases supports to child care professionals and programs, possibly leaving entire regions of the state un-served. This is especially difficult at a time when our calls from TANF parents (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) asking for child care assistance has increased by 50% this month.

Many assume that CCR&R will receive backfill funding from the federal stimulus package. However, the Governor's office has indicated that they are unsure yet how they will use those funds. Please contact your legislators NOW and request that they fund Child Care Resources and Referral Services in the House and Senate budgets.

This is the only way to ensure that the critical infrastructure for child care and early learning in our state is not dismantled even more. If we keep chipping away at ECEAP (preschool for low income children); health, CCR&R and other essentail family services, all of the gains we have made in our state will be lost.

Legislators listen and talley the responses so please reach out! Phone calls get the most attention (it literally takes 2 minutes) and emails work, too.

Cuts would mean that:

1. Parents/Caregivers calling for child care referrals might lose access to existing parent information and referral counselors who help them navigate the confusing subsidy system and fine tune their search for programs that meets the unique needs of children and families. (e.g. odd hour care, special needs, language, therapeutic child care referrals, etc.)

2. Without child care parents can't get back to work and children may be left in unregulated child care settings.

3. Child Care and Early Learning Professionals might lose access to the supports they receive to help them in starting up their business, setting up their classroom environments, accessing affordable professional development training and consultation, coaching - including referrals and pre-licensing visit walk-through consultations.

4. Communities would lose much of the collaborative support and in-kind work that CCR&R contributes to existing and emerging commmunity collaborative efforts on behalf of children and families. More small businesses (child care centers/family child care homes) might continue to go out of business without CCR&R support and thus reduce child care supply.

I understand that in these difficult times asking you to make one more call or send one more email can seem like a lot. We really need to support one another in these efforts and I hope that I can count on your efforts. Thank you.

Deann Burtch Puffert
CEO
Child Care Resources