Take Action for Quality Child Care and Early Learning

Providing quality experiences for young children is demanding work. Advocating for those opportunities for all children is easier. Sometimes, it’s as simple as telling your story. And everyone—parent, teacher, provider, administrator, employer—everyone has a story to tell.

Action for Children celebrated Advocacy Week March 6-10! Check out the featured #AdvocacyWeek content and photo gallery below!

Action for Children at the Ohio Statehouse

Who’s excited and full of smiles for Advocacy Day? This Action for Children team!
Getting the morning started with breakfast and keynote speeches!
Members of Action for Children staff had the opportunity to meet with Senator Hearcel F. Craig of Ohio’s 15th District about the impact of Ohio’s budget on the futures of young children.
Sarah, Natalie, Annette and Kat are in the (Ohio State) HOUSE!
Action for Children’s CEO, Eric Karolak, had the chance to catch up with Patricia Duckworth from Brightside Academy Ohio! Advocating for our youngest learns alongside child care professionals is the best feeling in the world.
Action for Children’s Step Up To Quality Coordinator, Brittany Jackson teamed up with Parent Advocate Holly Unger, Japera Benson from Ohio’s Children Alliance, Kristina Scott of United Way of Cincinnati, and Chara Fisher Jackson of Cincinnati Preschool Promise to meet with Representative Jessica Miranda.
Eric and Kathleen teamed up with another local advocate to speak with Senator Andy Brenner about the child care workforce behind Ohio’s workforce.
Brittany and Annette from AFC’s Step Up To Quality Team had a wonderful time advocating together for young children in a different way at the Ohio Statehouse!
We had a special guest at Advocacy Day! Frankart Film came along with us to speak up for young children and help tell the story of Action for Children’s legacy of advocacy. Stay tuned! You might just see some clips for our final 50th Anniversary celebration in June!

At Action for Children we provide resources to help you take action for child care and early education finance reform, quality early learning environments, positive parenting, family child care provider supports, and worthy wages for the early childhood workforce. We support a comprehensive and coordinated early learning system that is aligned with local, state and national efforts.

And we need you to make the promise of early childhood become a reality! We invite you to take action—stay informed about the issues and let your voice be heard. Sign up to receive our newsletter and action alerts.

How we have taken ACTION:

CHIPS and Child Care in America’s Silicon Heartland – Comprehensive report and Executive Summary on options that organizations like Intel and others have to support child care in the Columbus region. April 11, 2023.
Testimony on Pay Equity Solutions Legislation – Action for Children CEO, Eric Karolak, presents testimony on the importance of pay equity solutions in unbuild systems of inequity. Read the written statement here. February 21, 2023.
Child Care Crisis Report Update: Reckoning, Not Recovery – Using findings from our Central Ohio Child Care Provider Survey, Action for Children’s report update reveals how the child care industry is facing a reckoning, rather than a recovery. November 29, 2022.
Action for Children’s Statement on the Dobbs Decision. June 27, 2022.
Child Care Crisis Report Update: Taking a Toll – Using findings from our Central Ohio Child Care Provider Survey, Action for Children’s report update reveals how COVID-19 is affecting child care and taking a toll on parents and providers alike. November 29, 2021.
Statement on Ohio’s 2022-2023 Biennial Budget – Action for Children’s statement on the State budget. June 30, 2021
A Measure of Justice: Message from CEO Eric Karolak – A response to Derek Chauvin’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd and AFC’s commitment to anti-racism. April 20, 2021.
Child Care Crisis Report Update: Open Does Not Mean Okay – Using findings from our Central Ohio Child Care Provider Survey, Action for Children’s report update reveals how child care providers are faring after a year of pandemic. March 29, 2021.
Statement on the 2021 American Rescue Plan – Action for Children’s statement on the American Rescue Plan. March 12, 2021
HB110 Budget Testimony – Action for Children CEO, Eric Karolak, presents testimony on the biennial budget bill. March 3, 2021.
COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Message to Providers and Parents – Alerting child care providers and parents to advocacy efforts to include child care workers in priority vaccine access. February 1, 2021
Child Care Crisis Report: Make or Break Moment – Action for Children’s report uses findings from our Central Ohio Child Care Provider Survey to highlight the crisis facing child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. December 9, 2020.
Action for Children’s COVID-19 Response Timeline – Action for Children’s Response timeline to the COVID-19 pandemic. October 2020.
A Special Day of Celebration: Juneteenth Community Message. – An invitation to the central Ohio community to join in meaningful ways to celebrate Juneteenth. June 19, 2020.
#ChildCareIsEssential Alert – Asking Congress to support the Child Care Is Essential Act to provide $50 billion in funding for child care providers. June 16, 2020.
Heartbroken, Outraged, But Not Alone: A Message from CEO Eric Karolak – A response to the murder of George Floyd and the impact on Black and Brown communities. June 3, 2020.
PANDEMIC CHILD CARE: LESSONS FROM CENTRAL OHIO – Our brief outlines the challenges of offering care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlights areas of concern ahead and sheds light on the importance of child care for our economic recovery. May 28, 2020
Child Care Roundtable with Congressman Steve Stivers and Senator Stephanie Kunze (15:24) – CEO Eric Karolak presents the challenges many child care providers faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
#FundChildCare Alert – Asking Congress to provide dedicated, flexible funding in its next relief package in response to the COVID-19 crisis. May 13, 2020.
Action for Children’s Comments on Mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection. November 15, 2019.
Statement on Ohio’s FY 2018-2019 Budget. July 1, 2017.
Video of CEO, Eric Karolak, testified against cuts to child care and for investments in early learning in HB 49, Ohio’s SFY 2018-2019 biennial budget bill, before the Ohio Senate Finance Committee. June 13, 2017. (watch from the 8:00 mark)
Bipartisan Congressional Women’s Caucus taps CEO Eric Karolak for first briefing on early childhood of the 115th U.S. Congress. May 9, 2017.

Our Advocacy Team members help lead or contribute to statewide advocacy efforts including:

We also are active in advocacy networks at the national level including:

We will continue to post information here intended to keep you in the know about changes occurring in early childhood and advocacy efforts. For more information and to get involved, please contact us.