We Were Everywhere!

Linda Olivenbaum

We Were Everywhere!

The Public Policy Committee maintained a diverse presence at the CAEYC Annual Conference and Expo in Pasadena!

We hosted booths in the HUB and in the Center for Social Change. At both of these venues, we involved Conference attendees in finding who their legislators are and had pre-stamped post cards available so they could write a quick message to their State Assemblymember or State Senator. We had the talking points from Early Learning Advocacy Day (ELAD) available so that they could use one of those messages if they chose to let their legislator know that:

• the Governor’s budget proposal falls short of restoring any funding of the billions we have lost to cuts since the recession; and
• his restructuring proposals have too wide and sweeping consequences to include in the budget process but rather need a deliberative process in which the field has sufficient opportunities to be heard.

In addition, there was material available on state legislative and budget processes so attendees can become better acquainted with these crucially significant systems. Public Policy Committee members staffed these booths and held many lively and informative conversations with attendees who stopped by.

We also sponsored three well-attended policy-themed workshops. One was “Nothing to Fear! Becoming an Effective Advocate” facilitated by two members of the CAEYC Public Policy Committee. Another workshop featured two of our ELAD partners, Nina Buthee, Executive Director of the California Child Development Administrators Association (CCDAA) and Andrea Ball, Senior Policy Advisor from Early Edge California who joined CAEYC Public Policy Committee Vice Chair Joyce Stone to discuss “California Hot Topics! Panelists from State ECE Groups Discuss Current Issues Facing the Field.” Hot Topics included the state budget; the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant; the Commission on Teacher Credentialing work to revise the Child Development Permit; pending state legislation and much more!

A third workshop was “ECE Updates: What You Should Know About Recent Licensing Mandates – SB 792 and Health Resources” in which Wendi Cate, Director of Field Services of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Immunization Program joined Anna Levine, Senior Staff Attorney at the Child Care Law Center and Sandra Moe, President of the California Community College Early Childhood Educators (CCCECE) and Professor, Child Development/Education at Rio Hondo College to discuss the implications of SB 792 for directors, teachers, providers, students and faculty.

In addition, our Committee held its only in-person meeting of the year. We voted to sign on to an advocacy statement opposing features of the Governor’s budget proposal and to support a number of important bills now being considered in Sacramento—please see the Public Policy tab on the CAEYC website for specifics. Committee members and guests demonstrated their high degree of commitment to this work when the building in which we were meeting closed but we continued to meet outside!

Contact Us!

If you have any questions about the work of the CAEYC Public Policy Committee please contact Linda Olivenbaum, Chair or Joyce Stone, Co-Chair. We will work hard this year to let you know how you can participate in this important work. Our voices are crucial to making sure that the children and families in our communities receive the highest quality child development programs and other services they need. All of this begins with informed public policy decisions.

Linda Olivenbaum, Chair
CAEYC Public Policy Committee