With three kids, Ardeneshia Williams is always on the go, and childcare is essential for her.
“Without child care, I wouldn’t know where to start my day,” Williams said. “It’s vital to have it because I’m able to get what I need done and know that they’re in a safe environment and actually learning.”
Williams was one parent at Highland’s Wicker Memorial Park on Monday to acknowledge the fifth annual Day Without Childcare, Community Change Action’s annual providers’ and parents’ strike for universal childcare.
Lisa’s Safe Haven Childcare, which has eight locations throughout Northwest Indiana, hosted Monday’s event while its workers were on strike. Parents, children and providers attended, and state Reps. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, and Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, shared the need for universal childcare in Indiana.
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In addition to its speakers, the event had food available and activities for children.
“Providers are recognizing that it’s beyond our businesses, and we have to start to advocate, which is why I’m glad a few of our family members came out,” said Erika Watkins, COO for Lisa’s Safe Haven Childcare. “Without childcare, you can’t work. Without childcare, our economy suffers, and so we need them to continue to be a voice with us.”
Williams believes it’s important to celebrate childcare workers nationwide, she said.
“As parents, we’re the first teachers, but they’re the second teachers,” Williams said. “The people who work with kids, they have a special place in my heart because it takes a lot of patience, especially when it’s not your blood child.”
Hatcher said preschool isn’t fully funded in Indiana, which doesn’t create the same opportunities for all children.
“Every three- and four-year-old should be able to go to preschool, whether they can afford it or not,” Hatcher said. “In Indianapolis, while we’re in the legislative session, we’ll fight to make sure preschool is available for every kid.”
Hatcher also wants to work to ensure kindergarten is a requirement for all Indiana students.
Harris also said childcare is a priority for him to advocate for during the legislative session, and he wants to see all levels of government prioritize it more. According to the Indiana Department of Correction website, the state will invest $1.2 billion to build a new Westville correctional facility, which Harris said he would prefer to go towards childcare statewide.
“How much good could that $1.2 billion do for childcare?” Harris said. “Childcare is important. So instead of putting that money to house people … who go down the wrong path, why don’t we put that money into things that are productive for our young people so they stay on the right path?”
Better childcare statewide would mean more parents could go to work, which would also help improve the state economy, Harris said.
It gives Watkins hope that Harris and Hatcher said they’ll fight for childcare at the statehouse.
“As many people close their doors, some have given up, but some of them have turned into advocates like me, and we’re fighting,” Watkins said. “It feels good when you hear representatives say that no matter what, they’re going to keep fighting for childcare because there’s value in childcare.”
One of Lisa’s Safe Haven Childcare’s teachers, Le-Asya Carrington, also said it’s encouraging to hear that Harris and Hatcher want to fight for childcare at the legislative level.
“It lets me know that I can still do what I do and not be discouraged because there are people who care,” Carrington said. “I keep going because there are representatives that do understand and do care, and they’re going to fight for it.”
Carrington works with a group of 20 students between the ages of three and five years old. She’s always worked with children, Carrington said, and she loves watching students learn new skills.
Carrington wants others to understand the importance of childcare and that jobs like hers are valuable and worth protecting.
“We’re not babysitters,” she said. “We’re the start of your child’s education, and it goes from when they’re an infant, and it follows them all the way into adulthood.”