At the core of our demand for a universal childcare campaign is a system built on racial and gender justice, affordable care for every family and every child, and thriving wages for providers. To achieve those components, policymakers must ensure that any national universal child care policy:

⭐ Guarantees safe and nurturing early care and education to every child, regardless of their family’s income, their zip code, or their background. Care should be free for most families, and no family should pay more than $10 a day for care.

⭐ Values care providers across all settings—from homes to centers to schools. Providers should be paid a wage that enables their own families to thrive, receive healthcare, paid leave, retirement and other benefits, and be compensated on par with educators in their state’s K-12 system.

⭐ Invests public resources to build an accessible, sustainable, and durable public system and care infrastructure that meets the diverse needs of children, families, and communities, including services to care for children with special needs. Public investments should cover the true cost of care that includes thriving wages and other compensation, promote the professional development of the care workforce, and finance program expansions and new facilities to meet families’ needs. Resources for participating programs must be predictable and administered through a manageable regulatory framework.

⭐ Protects against corporate profiteering, delivering quality care to families efficiently and ensuring that taxpayer dollars finance good jobs and engaging programming. The provision of care should prioritize fostering children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development, not generating earnings for private equity and other investors.

⭐ Engages parents and providers as essential partners in the design and administration of the public child care system. Stakeholders—particularly those with direct experience providing or accessing services —should define programmatic goals for their communities, and shape, monitor, and oversee governance of the system.