Hello Neighbors,
Child Care Is Essential
Burien’s working families rely on child care to make their lives work. As a young parent, I had to juggle finding quality child care that my family could afford with my desire to spend more time with my children. As I think back, we were the lucky ones, my grandmother would often pick up my sons when I had to work late. I know many in our community do not have this kind of support. Finding quality daycare providers is important and a benefit all parents deserve! I am committed to creating this support for you.
Lack Of Access To Affordable Child Care
Impacts Our Economy
The cost of childcare has skyrocketed over the past few years, leaving many unable to afford this expense. For many families and individuals, this has meant leaving the job market to care for their children. My son's young family pays over $2,000/quarter for after school care. For comparison, a full price, in state year’s tuition at the UW costs about $12,000. How does a family save for college while paying 3/4 of the annual tuition each year as their child is growing up?
We need to increase the availability of affordable, quality child care in Burien. The investment we make for our children today will pay off as they become our leaders of tomorrow.
I Will Take Action!
As your council member, I will focus on finding ways to expand child care options in our city. Some things we can do at the city level to support families with children include:
creating a B&O tax exemption for childcare providers
decreasing parking requirements
reducing or waiving permitting fees
creating zoning that allows child care in residential and commercial zones - near where people live and work
promoting programs that emphasize participation vs competition
creating paid internships for high school students
supporting affordable housing - while I will always champion educators and child care providers receiving a living wage, the reality is they are often priced out of living in the communities where they work
By recognizing the relationship between city sponsored activities and child care, we can meet the needs of working families. We need to direct our parks staff to develop programs while also working to strengthen partnerships with our schools so that we can streamline after school and summer activities that help our residents meet their child care needs.
Affordable Child Care Is An Equity Issue
The availability of child care provides opportunity and access for women and marginalized communities to find high paying jobs with benefits. We need to incentivize creative solutions that allow more people to be in the workforce, earning wages that allow their families to thrive. Removing some of the barriers will lower the costs and allow people who want to work to reenter the workforce.
Please Help Me Get My Message Out To Voters
My team and I are out knocking on doors every day between now and November 7th. Please join us! I need your help to let voters know who I am and what I will do for Burien.
