I want there to be a place in the world where people can engage in one another’s differences in a way that is redemptive, full of hope and possibility.
– bell hooks (1952-2021), American author, educator

Jessica Grose wrote an opinion column for the New York Times called, “The Child Care Crisis Has Been ‘Urgent’ Since ’86. Just Ask Cosmo.” She crafted her piece after she found a 1986 Cosmopolitan magazine and discovered a story in it called, “The Urgent Crisis in Day Care,” which she found “infuriatingly similar to articles I feel like I write every few months.” Here’s one paragraph from the 1986 article: “Though we live in an avowedly profamily society, one that touts the values of family life above all others, our politicians have done very little to provide this essential family service. In fact, of all the world’s industrialized nations, we’re the most backward in terms of government-provided child care.”

Exchange Press is joining The CAYL Institute to find out more about what is actually happening in the ECE field right now. Each month between February and July 2024, we’re asking Strategies for Equity in Action questions about issues that matter to you. When you share your experiences and strategies for courageous and collaborative action, we collect and compile your responses anonymously to share as a resource, with actionable steps.

Please take a moment to complete this month’s questions about family child care (which everyone can answer, whether or not you work in family childcare).

And in case you’re needing some hope about the positive aspects of our field, the Exchange Essentials, “Fostering Organizational Culture,” includes inspiring articles such as:

• A Story of Reimagining: Creating A Beloved Community by Rukia Monique Rogers
• Cultivating Joy by Mary Pipher
• And many more.

Rogers writes that “each day entering my building, I see I have a chance to create a more equitable society, one manifestation of beloved community.”

And here’s Pipher’s encouragement to savor our lives and work, despite the challenges: “If we are alive today, it is because 30,000 generations of resilient ancestors managed to survive long enough to bear children and keep those children alive until they, too, could have children. Every one of us can thank all of those mothers and fathers for giving us the gift of life. The odds against any one of us being alive are astronomical. We are so lucky to be one leaf on the great tree of life. So let us all appreciate to the fullest our good green moments on this earth.”