Demonstrators call for affordable early education and child care at ‘Playdate Rally’ – Boston Globe
By Laura Crimaldi
Demonstrators gathered Saturday morning on Boston Common carrying babies, toddlers, and a question: Why is child care for the youngest among us so hard to find and afford?
Efrain Vazquez, a father from Holyoke, shared his story with the crowd as he held his 17-month-old son, Zion.
“We’re struggling trying to get day care for this young man,” he said. “We’re on the waiting list. We’ve been on the waiting list for a long time.”
Vazquez said in an interview that he and Zion’s mother take turns watching their son and juggling their work schedules while they wait for an opening at a child care program that they can afford…
Vazquez’s predicament was a familiar one among the demonstrators who participated in the rally organized by the Common Start Coalition, a network of groups that is pushing state lawmakers to adopt publicly funded, universal early-childhood education…
The coalition supports legislation unveiled last year that would publicly fund child care, boost teachers’ wages, and limit families’ child-care costs to 7 percent of household income. Families with children ages 5 and younger would see the most benefits. In Massachusetts, that’s about 425,000 children, according to the coalition.