WE DID IT! Oregon’s 2021 legislative session is officially over and we passed HB 3073 (Child Care for Oregon), our priority bill on child care. This is a historic and landmark victory and wouldn’t have been possible without YOU.
HB 3073 was a critical first step in building the type of system we really want to see: one that prioritizes the needs of BIPOC providers, families, and kids and ensures that every Oregon family has access to high quality, affordable, and culturally relevant child care, and that every child care provider is paid a wage that reflects the essential work they do.
HB 3073 will be signed into law by Governor Kate Brown in the fall of 2021 and begin to provide immediate and long-term relief to Oregon’s most vulnerable families in need of child care by:
- Establishing the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC) as an independent agency
- Incorporating and making reforms to Oregon’s public child care program, the Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) program
- Creating more financial stability for providers and parents—including low-income and single parent families, and BIPOC mothers and caregivers
Our movement can’t be stopped
Family Forward is proud to be a founding member of the Child Care for Oregon coalition that championed HB 3073 during the legislative session. The core of the bill, including all of the reforms to Oregon’s ERDC program, were generated by Oregon’s Joint Task Force on Access to Quality, Affordable Child Care, which was convened after we worked together to pass HB 2346 in the 2019 legislative session.
Hundreds of mothers, caregivers, and child care providers have come together to pass these bills and demand change. Together, we’re building the universal, publicly-funded child care system in Oregon that we want to see: one that is equitable, affordable, culturally-relevant, inclusive, developmentally-appropriate, safe, community-led, and which values caregivers and child care providers and pays them for the essential work they do.
Learn more and get involved: childcarefororegon.org