Childcare & Early Education

January 9, 2010

'I ask why they don't have any energy, and they say they haven't had enough to eat,' Jackson said. 'Then I talk to their mothers and they tell me there's no food in the house. It breaks my heart every day,' says program director Rita Jackson." Washington Post 1 in 4 children in our nation are on...

Sarah Francis

December 3, 2009

To start, I am a 25 year old mommy of three, all under the age of 6!! As most parents do I think my little ones are amazing and I wanted to be as active as I could in their educations and lives. I got started in Head Start a year ago and with my oldest son and quickly got involved in the Policy...

Cecily Dilworth

Childcare & Early Education

November 24, 2009

As a new mom, I quickly learned what a cry of hunger sounds like. I was amazed by how quickly that cry drove me to action -- no mom can ignore that sound. Unfortunately, in today's economy, more and more families don't have the resources to answer those cries. In fact, a recent USDA study found...

Sarah Francis

Childcare & Early Education

November 24, 2009

Too often lost in the debate over health care reform is the importance of preventive measures such as exercise and healthy eating to ensure that a doctor's visit is less likely to be needed in the first place. This is especially true for children whose early brain development and future health...

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Childcare & Early Education

November 18, 2009

Almost every parent has a story about trying to find childcare or the mad dash to pick your child up on time. But this one really takes the cake: Sgt. Kimberly D. Munley, mother of two, and a first responder at the scene of the shooting at Fort Hood last week, was shot three times while trying to...

Sarah Francis

Childcare & Early Education

November 10, 2009

As a mother, I have felt the burden and struggle of raising a family, pursuing a career and making ends meet for a very long time. I am not alone. As a nation we must step down off our “family values” soapbox; listen to mothers; and get real about creating and enforcing sustainable and effective policies that support the importance of the family unit. Then and only then will true enlightenment be attained.

Pamela Murphy

Paid Family Leave Childcare & Early Education Open Flexible Work

October 30, 2009

I’ve been on a one-woman campaign to resurrect the phrase, paycheck job , used by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique forty years ago. Friedan was referring, of course, to jobs outside the home for which people receive money. She recognized that the unpaid job of caring for children and home was...

Nanette Fondas

Paid Family Leave Childcare & Early Education

October 30, 2009

Why is it so hard to tell our bosses we have to leave for family reasons? What if all the dads where we worked did it more often? Leaders like Valerie Jarrett show that being committed to your kids and your job are not mutually exclusive -- and employers win when they recognize that. Maria Shriver's report A Women's Nation offers fresh ideas for opening up more common-sense conversation - like adopting UK "right to request" rules that allow parents to get some control over their hours and still produce great results for their employers.

Sharon Meers

Paid Family Leave Childcare & Early Education

October 30, 2009

I was at the Working Mother Work Life Congress this week, which showcases the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers and also provides workshops and discussions for people who work in the field unfortunately called “work life.” Companies were asking: What should we do to retain new moms, and to...

Morra Aarons-Mele

Childcare & Early Education

October 23, 2009

Earlier this week, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid was photographed wearing his MomsRising pacifier pin—evidence of exactly how powerful moms can be. When enough women come together and make their collective voices heard, politicians will listen. With so much at stake for women, families and...

Ashlee Tran