{"id":136823,"date":"2024-10-30T19:10:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T23:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136823"},"modified":"2024-10-30T19:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T23:10:52","slug":"eleven-lehigh-valley-candidates-prioritize-child-care-child-care-voter-campaign-calls-on-others-to-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136823","title":{"rendered":"ELEVEN LEHIGH VALLEY CANDIDATES PRIORITIZE CHILD CARE; CHILD CARE VOTER CAMPAIGN CALLS ON OTHERS TO STEP UP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eleven Lehigh Valley Candidates Complete Child Care Survey, Take Strong Positions on Child Care and Early Learning Issues in Pennsylvania<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(October 30, 2024)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Public support for investing in policies that fix the child care crisis in Pennsylvania is a consensus issue among the 118 candidates statewide that responded to the Child Care Voter candidate survey, including 11 candidates in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

An overwhelming amount of support demonstrated by survey respondents shows child care voters are an important subset of the electorate, yet two-thirds of Pennsylvania candidates passed on an opportunity to stand up for kids and employers as election day nears.<\/p>\n

Child Care has taken center stage in the presidential election, because families are frustrated by long wait lists and a spike in costs.\u00a0Vice President Harris staked out her ground on this issue early in the race, setting a cap on what families pay at seven percent.\u00a0States play a central role in funding and administering the child care funding and licensure systems, which is why Child Care Voters sought to get federal and state candidates on the record about how they will solve the child care challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cPennsylvania voters believe that the public sector is not doing enough to support families and fix the child care crisis in Pennsylvania \u2013 and it\u2019s hurting the economy,\u201d said Whitney Brown, Civic Engagement Coordinator at Child Care Voters. \u201cWith 11 local candidate surveys showing access to affordable child care as an important issue – which affects families and employers statewide \u2013 we are calling on all candidates to complete the Child Care Voter survey, so voters know where they stand on this important public policy issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Child Care Voters, a project of the Children First Action Fund, contacted all Pennsylvania candidates running for state House and Senate seats as well as Congressional candidates to establish their position on policies that address the challenges to accessing high quality child care. More than 97 percent of General Assembly candidates and 92 percent of federal candidates answered \u201cyes\u201d to all survey questions, while 70 percent of Pennsylvania candidates did not value the issue enough to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are encouraging voters to explore candidate responses and call on their local candidates to establish their commitment to ending the child care crisis in the Commonwealth by responding ahead of Election Day,\u201d continued Brown. \u201cCandidates are either not tuned in to the real struggles facing Pennsylvania families and businesses caused by reduced access to high quality child care \u2013 or they just don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survey focuses on common sense policies that advance the goal of ending the child care crisis in Pennsylvania. Candidates were asked a range of questions, including:<\/p>\n