A Stronger Future Starts with Quality Child Care

Advocacy drives change by amplifying the voices of parents and providers, shaping policies that strengthen child care for all.

Founded on Advocacy for Families

Since 1976, Child Action has helped shape child care policy and strengthen family support across Sacramento County. We connect families to affordable, quality care and stand beside the early educators who make that care possible. Every child deserves a strong start. Effective child care policy ensures families can access the care they need to thrive.

Quality Child Care Strengthens Families and Our Community

Child care policy isn’t just about programs or funding—it’s about building strong families and thriving communities. Quality care fuels the workforce, supports parents’ stability, and gives children the foundation they need to succeed.

Affordable, high-quality care helps:

• Parents enter and stay in the workforce or pursue education with peace of mind
• Children grow and thrive in safe, nurturing environments
• Communities become stronger, healthier, and more resilient

When systems work well, families experience less stress, children thrive, and communities prosper. That’s why effective child care policy benefits everyone.

At Child Action, we see every day how early care and education transform lives. Investing in it isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s how we build a stronger Sacramento County for all families.

Public Policy Platform

Child Action advocates for policies, legislation, and budgetary proposals informed by the families we serve and supportive of our diverse community of early educators.

We actively pursue and support policy initiatives that promote social justice, equity, and strength-based, trauma-responsive programs.

We also call for the maintenance and expansion of child care funding at all levels of government and oppose any reductions that put access to affordable, high-quality early care and education at risk.

To advance these priorities, we champion:

• Fair Pay for Providers – advocate for child care providers to be paid the true cost of care.  
• Fair Agency Funding – pursue CAI’s receipt of funding that comprehensively covers the actual cost of rendering our service.  
• Protect Families’ Access to Child Care – advocate for the preservation of all child care slots—both those currently funded and those promised by the Administration. Prioritize protections for our most vulnerable families, particularly those supported through the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for foster children.
• Parent Choice for Child Care – advocate for the inclusion of all community and home-based care settings within California’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten system. 
• Family Friendly Services – promote the streamlining of family and provider
• Workforce Recruitment – advocate for increased training and educational opportunities to serve both the current ECE workforce and potential recruits to expand access to high quality childcare for families.  
• Regional Approach to Child Care – pursue and lead regional partnerships in the early care and education space, cultivating a roadmap for increasing access to quality ECE programs.
• Whole-Family Approach – advocate for interoperability between family-serving programs.

Coalitions We Support

Child Action partners in several coalitions to strengthen early learning and care in Sacramento County, recognizing the power of collaboration to drive change. One example is LIFT Up Sacramento, a coalition where community leaders come together to expand access to affordable, equitable early education and uplift the child care workforce.

Policy In Action

Testimonies from families, providers, and advocates help shape child care policy. In this recent budget hearing, speakers urged lawmakers to fix California’s reimbursement system, stressing that low pay limits access and harms the workforce.

How We Make It Happen

Behind every story of impact are programs designed to make child care more accessible and sustainable. We connect families with child care subsidies so parents can work or go to school, guide providers through training and licensing support, and offer health and safety resources that keep children thriving. These efforts strengthen families, uplift providers, and build a stronger community for all.