Organizing the Childcare Workforce
Across California there are several efforts underway to organize the child care workforce. They range in scope from unionizing efforts to grassroots worker organizations. Find out more about city/county and statewide organizing efforts.

The Corps brings together teachers and family child care providers -- many of whom are participants in CARES, members of provider associations, and/or represented by unions or other organizations -- to speak with a united voice on behalf the California child care workforce.

City and County Organizing Efforts

Campaign for Health Benefits for Child Care Providers (a project of the Work and Family Coalition of the Labor Project for Working Families)
In Alameda County, the Work and Family Coalition is working with parents, child care providers and union members to win health benefits for the county's child care providers. The Campaign for Health Benefits for Child Care providers also works with other organizations on statewide healthcare policy and other issues that affect child care workers. For more information contact Jenya Cassidy at jcassidy@uclink.berkeley.edu or 510-642-5498.

Coleman Advocates
Coleman Advocates works on a variety of levels to improve the working conditions and compensation of child care workers in the San Francisco Bay area and throughout the state. In the Bay area, it convenes the Child Care Organizing Roundtable, a network of workers, labor leaders and community members, and supports salary increases, stipends, health care and other basic benefits for the child care workforce. Coleman Advocates also offers technical assistance to child care workers and advocates addressing these issues throughout the state and country. For more information visit Coleman's website, or contact Joe Wilson at jwilson@colemanadvocates.org or 415-239-0161.

Family Child Care Association of San Francisco
The Family Child Care Association of San Francisco is a membership organization that represents and supports a network of licensed providers who live and work in every area of San Francisco and who serve a diverse group of young children and families. The Association helps maintain a high degree of professionalism in the care and education of young children and promotes Family Child Care as a vital and necessary service to the community. It is working with the larger child care community and labor to improve the quality and stability of the child care workforce. For more information visit the Family Child Care Association's website, or contact Rosie Kennedy at rosiekenn@aol.com or 415-333-7618.

San Francisco Providers Association
This is a membership organization of child care teachers, providers and administrators working to promote quality care and to secure more resources for the local child care field. For more information contact Stephanie Ong at sfkidsfirst@yahoo.com or 415-346-2677.

Statewide Organizing Efforts

California Child Care Providers for Action, an affiliate of California ACORN
In Los Angeles, Sacramento and Alameda Counties, ACORN is organizing associations of family child care providers. ACORN's California Child Care Providers for Action is currently conducting the statewide "Say Yes to Children" campaign, which involves family child care providers in activities addressing the Governor's budget proposal. ACORN invites family child care providers from throughout the state to contact them for assistance in local actions. For more information contact John Jackson at caacornccro@acorn.org or 213-747-4211; those in Sacramento County only should contact Susan Hopkins at caacornsacc@acorn.org or 916-455-1795.

California Federation of Teachers
The California Federation of Teachers (CFT), a statewide affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, represents education workers in Head Start centers, Children’s Centers, and private child care facilities in California. The CFT has recently announced its concerted organizing drive for center-based childcare workers throughout the state. The CFT is also active at the state level in advocating for early childhood education funding and programs. Early childhood programs are a natural fit for the CFT, which also represents education workers in K-12, community colleges, and teacher preparation programs at the university level. For more information visit CFT’s website or contact Mary Valentine at 818-843-8226.

The VOICE Coalition (Voices Organized to Improve Child Care and Early Education)
Coordinated by the Work and Family Coalition of the Labor Project for Working Families, the statewide VOICE Coalition is a coalition of child care advocates, unions, child care worker organizations and other groups that have come together to improve the quality of child care programs and jobs, as well as parents' access to affordable child care. It serves to educate labor leaders on the child care system and identify possible state policies and organizing strategies that could increase child care compensation and support the unionization of child care providers. For more information contact Jenya Cassidy at jcassidy@uclink.berkeley.edu or 510-642-5498.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) / Head Start
SEIU has undertaken efforts to unionize teachers and assistants in Head Start programs throughout California. Head Start workers seeking more information should contact Josie Camacho at camachoj@seiu.org or 510-568-2500. Those who would like information about SEIU's policy activities in California should contact Michelle Castro at mcastro@seiucal.org or 961-442-3838.

United Child Care Union
AFSCME is organizing center-based and home-based child care workers into the United Child Care Union throughout California. Founded by child care workers, the United Child Care Union brings together workers and employers to improve wages, benefits and professional development opportunities. For more information contact Denise Dowell at uccunion@earthlink.net or (toll-free) 866-236-4444, or Rosie Kennedy at rosiekenn@aol.com or 415-333-7618.