Rhode Island: It’s Time for Child Care for All!

Rhode Island House of Representatives

It’s time for Rhode Island to guarantee quality, affordable child care for all in our state—and to support the workers and centers that take care of our young people every day.

Rhode Island’s current child care system can only support a small fraction of the seats needed for every family to access quality child care. The Child Care for All bill would:

  • Expand the number of families eligible for child care financial assistance
  • Cap child care costs per family at no more than 7% of household income
  • Raise wages for child care educators
  • Support child care providers
  • Establish an Office of Early Childhood to support an efficient statewide system
  • Create a public child care pilot option to support innovation and ensure affordability

There is perhaps no better investment in our future that the General Assembly could make than passing the Child Care for All Act; it would be a life-changing move for tens of thousands of children, families, workers, educators, and our entire state.

If you believe quality, affordable child care is essential to children, to families, to workers, and to our economy, please sign the petition and join our Child Care for All campaign today!

To: Rhode Island House of Representatives
From: [Your Name]

I ask you to support House Bill 6122, the Child Care for All Act, because quality, affordable child care is essential to children, to families, and to a thriving economy. Rhode Island must invest in our youngest learners by doing more to support early educators and make quality early learning and child care affordable for all families.

Child care provides our children a safe and nurturing environment to grow, learn and develop. Children who receive quality child care are more likely to have better physical, cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes, as they are exposed to a variety of experiences that promote their holistic development. Quality child care also leads to greater future earnings, employment, and safety for future generations. Children who have access to quality child care are much more likely to graduate high school and much less likely to enter the criminal justice system—making big investments in child care more than pays off.

However, Rhode Island’s current system is simply broken. Early educators make far too little, and child care providers struggle to hire and retain qualified staff, leading to far too few available seats. At the same time, even the seats that are available remain unaffordable for most families. This pushes parents, especially women, out of the workforce, increases poverty, and exacerbates the struggles of employers to hire workers and grow.

There is perhaps no better investment in our future that the General Assembly could make than passing the Child Care for All Act; it would be a life-changing move for tens of thousands of children, families, workers, educators, and our entire state. I urge you to support House Bill 6122.