This challenge aims to increase our legal understanding of the historical roots of racist and inequitable policy in child care and to reveal more ways we can fight for change.
Here’s how it works:
Choose a date to begin the challenge! Each day, click on the content that addresses inequalities faced by children under the age of 5 (around 45 minutes of content per day).
We hope that you will feel inspired to fight for change, and join the movement for equity and racial justice in child care.
Day 1: Equity Starts Early by CLASP
Day 2: Undervalued: A Brief History of Women’s Care Work and Child Care Policy in the United States by National Women’s Law Center. Read pages 9-15
Day 3: Raising Our Nation by Ms Foundation. Read Preface, Intro pages i-v, and pages 11-18
This report provides a comprehensive look at our country’s childcare landscape, including its underlying gender- and-race-based inequities.
Day 4: Bryan Stevenson on what Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race by Bryan Stevenson interviewed by James McWilliams. Bias Isn’t Just a Police Problem, It’s a Preschool Problem by NPR. This video presents a 2016 study which found that pre-K teachers, white and black alike, spend more time watching black boys — expecting trouble.
Day 5: 13th Documentary by Ava DuVernay
Director Ava DuVernay’s examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
Day 6: Point of Entry: The Preschool to Prison Pipeline by Maryam Adamu & Lauren Hogan
How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed to Be Innocent by Adrienne Green
Day 7: Child Care Aware Webinar # 3 Racial Justice, Equity and the Role of Child Care by Keisha Nzewi
A conversation on fixing the child care system to ensure equal access to both tools and opportunities.
Day 8: How Child Care Disruptions Hurt Parents of Color Most by Cristina Novoa. This article highlights how parents of color are more likely to suffer from job disruptions due to lack of child care. Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise | The Myth of the Welfare Queen by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This video spends time debunking the welfare queen narrative inflicted on Americans by Ronald Reagan.
Day 9: Meet Natasha: A Family Child Care Provider by No Small Matter. This short video spotlights the everyday life of a provider and their valuable role in society. Mandarin-Speaking Nanny Revolution Grips America Highlights by Laurie Chen, This article highlights the valuable role child care providers and nannies play in the development and education of the young children they take care of.
Day 10: LATINA NANNIES / ANGLO FAMILIES: The INTIMATE EXPERIMENT: What Happens When Two Cultures Meet at the Playpen and the Cradle? by Mary Jo McConahay, This report takes a comprehensive look at the dynamics and power imbalances between Latina nannies and the families for which they provide child care.
Day 11: Racial Wage Gaps in Early Education Employment by Lea J.E. Austin, Bethany Edwards, Raul Chavez, and Marcy Whitebook
This report presents a study which highlights the current racial wage gap in America.
Day 12: Project Implicit, Implicit Association Test by Harvard
Challenge yourself to take implicit bias tests on topics such as Race, Skin Tone, and Weapons-Race.
Day 13: Segregated from the Start by the Urban Institute
This report dives into the inequities faced by children at the start of their education.
Day 14: Children Are Not Colorblind: How Young Children Learn Race by Erin N. Winkler, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
This report addresses how children come to their own conclusions about race and the importance of adults teaching their children how to be anti-racist at a young age.
Day 15: For California Child Care Workers, Inequality is Baked in by Mariana Dale
This article dives into the current child care system and its impact on providers.
Day 16: Black Women’s Labor Market History reveals deep-seated race and gender discrimination by Nina Banks
This report dives into the legacy of racism and discrimination in America and its impacts on Black Women in the workforce.
Day 17: Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood by Rebecca Epstein, Jamilia J. Blake, Thalia González
This report represents a key step in addressing the disparate treatment of Black girls in public systems.
Day 18: Out of the Shadows by Lauren Hilgers
The following NYT article dives into the uncertainties and inequities Women of Color face in order to provide essential work for American families.
Day 19: Centering Blackness – Reimagining Our Work by Kristie Norwood, My Truth in Child Care Exchange
Reflections on why we must raise Blackness in every conversation and every platform.
Day 20: Child Care Aware Webinar # 1 Racial Justice, Equity and the Role of Child Care by Aisha Ray
Learn how we create an equitable system to support providers, children and families.
Day 21: An Anti Racist Approach to Supporting Child Care Through COVID-19 and Beyond by CLASP
CLASP dives into the current COVID-19 pandemic and further addresses its impact on the child care industry as well as how we can support it moving forward.
