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A major part of Moms First’s mission involves building partnerships with businesses to help make workplaces work better for moms and families. That’s why we formed the National Business Coalition for Child Care (NBCC) — the first and largest national network of businesses fighting for child care — which has grown to include more than 200 companies.

Yesterday, we spent the day on Capitol Hill, having those business leaders talk directly to more than 20 lawmakers, split evenly among Democrats and Republicans — all to make the case that child care is an economic imperative.

We came armed with influential voices, stats, case studies, and the backing of a movement of moms that no one wants to mess with. This week’s edition of The First Word goes deep on what we said (and heard) in that room. Let’s dive in.

 
 
From the Boardroom to the Hill: Why Business Leaders Are Backing Moms

You might be thinking: why should I care that a bunch of companies and lawmakers got together in D.C.? Because this is what building power on behalf of moms looks like:

Our grassroots movement is on a mission to change the narrative, because moms aren’t asking for favors — we’re demanding policy change and support that we deserve. That’s why it’s so important to bring together business execs who can speak from experience and deliver the message that child care isn’t a personal issue — it’s an economic one.

Together, we made the case: Businesses are stepping up to address the child care crisis. It’s time for the government to follow suit.

Let’s face facts: Policymakers listen to leaders in the private sector before they listen to anyone else. They’re the ones employing their constituents, fueling economic growth in their communities.

Yesterday, we brought leaders representing 50 businesses — from UPS to Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, the National Women’s Soccer League, Etsy, and more. It’s powerful to have those leaders look lawmakers in the eye and share first-hand experience that child care is a key to success in hiring, employee retention, productivity, and economic growth.

It helps even more to have the data to prove it. I talked a lot yesterday about the report we released last year that shows that every dollar a company invests in child care benefits yields more than $4 in return. Most C-suite execs I know would do anything for that kind of ROI.

The business case for child care is so strong that the NBCC is growing faster than ever, rapidly expanding the number of Americans whose employers are actively helping solve their personal child care dilemmas.

But businesses can’t fix a national child care crisis alone. Our coalition partners have made it clear: the only way to solve the child care crisis is through public investment. That could take a number of forms: tax credits for families, employer incentives, grants to boost child care educators’ pay, and block grants to states to make child care affordable and accessible for all families, not just those with access to company-funded care.

Everyone knows that America’s families aren’t doing so hot right now. When the Surgeon General has to issue an advisory to declare that parental stress is an urgent public health issue, things aren’t OK. Brookings found that 43% of families can’t afford the essentials right now — I’m talking about things like housing, food for their kids, the basics. 

Child care pushes too many families past a breaking point. It costs more than rent in every state in the nation, and 55% of parents have gone into debt to afford child care. And even when they can afford it, one study found that 51% of families live in “child care deserts” — meaning they don’t even have access to quality programs.

When you look at the data, you can come away with only one conclusion: Child care is the linchpin of our economic security. Without child care, working families can’t work. And when working families don’t work, our businesses and economy don’t work, either. The whole damn thing falls apart.

For the first time, we can quantify that unraveling. A brand-new First Five Years Fund study found that the national economy loses $122 billion — that’s billion with a B! — every single year due to the inaccessibility and unaffordability of child care in this country. For context, $122 billion is basically the entire GDP of Ecuador. 

A lot of people talk about this issue in terms of doing what’s right for families, and that’s a huge part of it, to be sure. But what we know now — and what I just told that room full of people who have the power to change things — is that fixing child care is also about doing what’s smart for our country’s economy.

I am sick of hearing stories from parents sitting at their kitchen tables planning out their monthly budgets and realizing the numbers just don’t add up. I’m sick of the United States being held up as an example of what failure looks like — of our leaders being unable to see the bigger picture of how a policy that helps people get by can also provide strength and stability for our entire country.

Hill Day was a turning point — we build power and we make progress partly by being vocal and visible in rooms like that, with charts and speeches. But that is only part of the equation — we need to build power in our own communities, at our own workplaces.

This is how we build power and scale impact. It’s how we change big, entrenched power structures. And trust me — we’re just getting started.

 
I woke up this morning feeling like, finally, we have a little momentum on our side. Let’s not let it slip away. Here are two things you can do right now:

  • Share our landmark child care report with your workplace or HR leader and talk to your employer about how child care benefits pay for themselves.
  • Help us grow the National Business Coalition for Child Care. If you know a business that should join in, shoot us an email us at hello@momsfirst.us and we can do the legwork to get them on board.

 
Building Workplaces That Work for Women

This week, I want to lift up the work of Danaya Wilson, an award-winning CEO and author who’s spent her career pushing for ethical leadership and real change inside the workplace. Her new book, Changemakers Wanted: Your Blueprint for Lasting Impact and Ethical Change, is for every woman who’s ever looked around a boardroom and thought, we can do better than this. It’s honest, actionable, and full of hard-won lessons about how to lead with integrity while fighting for things like equitable pay and inclusive cultures. For all the moms out there trying to build workplaces where we can actually thrive — Danaya’s one to watch.

Are you a mom on a mission to change the future of motherhood? Let us know what you’re up to — email firstword@momsfirst.us. 

 
Check out what people are saying about Moms First in the news:

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of The First Word. If this message resonated with you, forward it to a friend, a colleague, or your HR team. We’re building power from the playground to the boardroom — and the more voices we bring in, the louder we get.

 
Let’s keep leading change,
Reshma Saujani