Quality, Affordable Child Care Strengthens the Workforce of Today and Tomorrow!
HB598 / SB677 will ensure Tennessee finally charts a course for quality, affordable child care for working families!
Tennessee has forfeited more than $250 million in federal child care assistance funds in recent years. It’s time to make sure we’re putting those funds to use to fix our state’s child care crisis! Our 2019 report, “Want to Grow Tennessee’s Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis,” delivered unprecedented insight into the adverse economic impacts of Tennessee’s child care system dysfunction. The consequences: $1.34 billion annually in lost earnings and revenue.
Tennessee parents who encounter child care problems are hit hard – losing an estimated $850 million in earnings each year. An overwhelming 98 percent of Tennessee parents of children under age 5 said that inadequate child care hurt their work productivity or limited career opportunities. Specifically: 39 percent turned down a new job offer or promotion, 35 percent had pay or hours reduced or changed employment status to part-time, 33 percent turned down education or training, and 32 percent had to quit a job, or were fired or demoted.
Access, affordability and quality are the primary factors that drag down the system.
Senator Becky Massey (R – Knoxville) and Representative Patsy Hazlewood (R – Signal Mountain) are sponsoring important legislation that would charge a specially appointed task force of Tennesseans with creating an innovative, strategic action plan for improving child care and better utilizing available resources.
Send your legislators a message: Vote “yes” on HB598 / SB677 >>
Dear ____,
I’m writing to urge you to support HB598 (Hazlewood) / SB677 (Massey) which will establish a specially-appointed team of Tennesseans who will chart a course for high-quality, affordable child care that can better support working families. An overwhelming 98 percent of Tennessee parents of children under age 5 say that inadequate child care has hurt their work productivity or limited career opportunities. Meanwhile, the state has forfeited more than $250 million in federal child care assistance funds over recent years. It’s time for Tennessee to address this critical issue that so significantly impacts our workforce of today and workforce of tomorrow.
By supporting this legislation, you are supporting Tennessee’s hard working families and growing our workforce of tomorrow. Please VOTE YES!
Thank you for your consideration and for your service to the state of Tennessee.
