BlogWard 7Testimony of Sylvia Crews, Owner of LTH Child Care

April 10, 2023

Greetings Councilmembers and Staff,

My name is Sylvia Crews, and I own. LTH Child Care is a top-rated care program in the 7th Ward District. We offer families a place to send their children to learn what they need to succeed – educationally, emotionally, and physically. We believe that all children deserve a chance to succeed.

As a Childcare owner, I serve a community that depends on funds from TANF and other social services to help families with daily living. Hence, I am against the mayor’s the proposed budget cuts to TANF, the Pay Equity fund, and American Rescue Plan to Back-2-Work Child Care grants. These cuts will harm families that are the most vulnerable. If implemented, I believe this proposal will harm DC families, specifically those in its poorest neighborhoods.

Families relying on TANF are often dealing with life circumstances that seem insurmountable. These families may have experienced the loss of a job, illness, injury, or behavioral health problem. Many parents struggle with poverty, homelessness, and a lack of reliable transportation. 

Birth to Three services is a critical resource for these families. These services assist parents with meeting the basic needs of their children, such as nutrition, safety, and nurturing. They also provide support for parents as they deal with life challenges. 

Finally, regarding the pay equity fund, caring for children is challenging for families, and they rely on child programs such as LTH to provide adequate Childcare. It requires a lot of patience, energy, and skills. The job of caring for children is even more challenging if the person who is doing it needs to be paid fairly. Pay equity is necessary for Childcare businesses to make sure that programs like mines remain available and accessible in the district communities.

First, pay equity is needed in Child Care businesses to ensure that the people who care for our children are paid fairly. This is extremely important because childcare workers work long hours for little pay. They do this because they love the children in their care. They deserve to get paid fairly for the work they do. 

Second, pay equity is needed in childcare businesses to ensure that people caring for other children have enough income to support their families. When childcare workers are paid fairly, they can afford to care for their families. This gives them more time to spend managing the children in their care. 

Finally, pay equity is needed in childcare businesses to ensure that people who care for children have kept their skills up to date. If childcare workers are not paid fairly, they may lose the desire to work hard. They may lose the desire to stay up to date on their skills. This makes them less able to care for the children in their care. 

The mayor’s plan, if implemented, will only add stress and tension to an already stressed system. It will encourage extreme poverty and homelessness. Families will lose the tools they relied on to help sustain their way of life.  

In conclusion, I oppose the mayor’s proposal to cut funding necessary for social programs like TANF, Birth to Three, and the Pay Equity fund. We need to do all we can to help the district’s families and Child care industry, not strip or cut programs.

Under 3 DC

Under 3 DC, a broad based coalition in the District of Columbia, harnesses the voices and power of parents with young children, early educators, advocates, and health professionals to create transformative social change. The Coalition’s efforts center on the people experiencing racial and economic injustice every day. It shines a spotlight on the need for more public investments to support families with infants and toddlers. Together, we can set the city on a path to creating and sustaining a high quality, equitable early childhood system.

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