Anita Vichini — Anita Vichini, a licensed child care provider from rural Tuolumne County and a member of CCPU’s bargaining team, explains the true cost of care by detailing her business finances. She describes how her enrollment drops when school starts, causing a monthly loss of about $2,049.42 as children move into UPK and after-school care. She then walks through her monthly expenses, noting that they total about $12,082 and that she was only ahead by $194 for the month. To make up for income gaps and replace equipment, she works weekends and teaches CPR classes to other providers, businesses, and the community.
Bill Essayli — Assembly Member Pellerin was invited to say a few words.
Gail Pellerin — Assembly Member Pellerin spoke in support of affordable child care and said the issue remains unresolved despite years of effort.
Wendy Carrillo — The speaker referenced a line attributed to Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo.
Jennifer Troia — Jennifer Troia was introduced as the Director of the California Department of Social Services and then began her testimony, identifying herself and starting to discuss CDSS child care programs and unmet demand.
Laura Pryor — Laura Pryor was introduced as Research Director at the California Budget and Policy Center and listed as a panelist.
Laura Pryor — Introduced herself as the research director at the California Budget and Policy Center and began her presentation on child care access and affordability.
Laura Pryor — Referenced as having previously described the scale of need.
Alexa Frankenberg — Alexa Frankenberg was introduced as Executive Director of the Child Care Providers and listed as a panelist.
Alexa Frankenberg — Introduced herself as executive director of Child Care Providers United and began her testimony.
Child Care Providers United — The executive director of Child Care Providers United introduces the organization as representing 70,000 family child care providers in California, thanks the committee and Assembly for prioritizing the issue, and explains that CCPU has reached a tentative agreement with the state. The witness describes the agreement as a collective victory that, upon ratification, will be the union’s third contract with the state and will preserve hard-won benefits, increase current rates, provide one-time stabilization payments, and include other significant improvements for providers.
Heather Hadwick — Mentioned as a great leader in her district.
Heather Hadwick — The chair appears to be addressing Assembly Member Hadwick in the room; the transcript likely contains a misrecognition in the closing line.
Anita — Anita is repeatedly cited as having described the real-world impact of the cost of care, including the financial strain on providers and the related issue of staff pay. The speaker uses Anita’s earlier testimony as support for the broader argument that these are practical, not theoretical, challenges in the care system.
Mir — Referenced as someone the audience will hear from.
Director Toya — Referenced as having mentioned the tentative agreement.
Quinn — Used as an example of families served by home-based child care providers.
Quinn — Referenced as having spoken earlier about parental choice and family needs.
FFM provider — A bargaining team member and FFM provider was hospitalized but has since been released.
FFM providers — The speaker says FFM providers have no paid time off and face impossible choices when ill.
Kate Sanchez — The chair noted Assembly Member Lachey-Sharp Collins as present, and the member then spoke to ask a question and share a personal experience about home-based child care.
Aisha — Aisha is praised as a stay-at-home mom and encouraged that she will be hired anywhere.
Ashley Hoffman — Ashley Hoffman, Senior Policy Advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, is introduced and begins her testimony. She notes that she has slides and a member survey to support her remarks, then formally starts speaking on behalf of the Chamber about employer solutions related to child care access.
Sarah Bone — Introduced as Vice President and Director of the Public Policy Institute of California Economic Policy Center.
Sarah Bone — Sarah Bone, vice president at PPIC and director of the Economic Policy Center, testified that child care costs impose a major economic burden on California families, with many parents worrying about expenses daily and some families pushed into poverty when they must pay out of pocket. She cited research suggesting poverty among families with preschoolers would be substantially lower with subsidized care. She then shifted to the labor-market effects of child care access, noting a large work gap between fathers and mothers of young children and estimating that if mothers of young children worked at the same rate as mothers of older children, more than 80,000 additional women would be in the workforce each year. Bone connected these findings to national research and a focus-group example showing that many mothers cannot work full time because child care would consume the extra income. She explained that reduced labor-force participation harms mothers’ earnings over time, contributes to the gender wage gap, and is worsened by inflexible job structures. Drawing on pandemic-era trends, she argued that remote-work flexibility helped mothers balance care and work, and recommended working with employers to expand flexible jobs. She concluded that California’s shrinking workforce makes it especially important to remove barriers in both the child care and job markets so parents have more choices and the state’s economy is strengthened.
child care providers — Some survey respondents were child care providers who offered employee discounts.
San Diego YMCA — The San Diego YMCA was described as a child care resource and referral agency for San Diego County that serves as a no-cost partner to employers. It helps administer employer child care contributions by working directly with employees and providers to cover child care costs, and it also supports small-business providers in growing their operations.
Stephanie Nguyen — The chair acknowledged Assembly Member Stephanie Nguyen as present.
Christopher Ward — The chair acknowledged Assembly Member Ward as present.
Heather Hadwick — Heather Hadwick is mentioned in the context of sharing a rural-community background with the speaker, with the discussion reinforcing that both have similar rural roots.
Jennifer Greppie — Introduced as Director of Parent Policy with Parent Voices California.
La Keisha Doyle — Introduced as a CalWORKs participant.
Black Californians United for Early Child Care and Education — An organization associated with one of the panelists, described as 'co-founder and woman in charge.'
Frisha Moore — Introduced as program director at Moore Learning Preschool.
Frisha Moore — Frisha Moore, owner of More Learning Preschool in Oak Grove and a representative of the California Child Care Center Alliance, testified about the financial strain on child care centers caused by free TK and inadequate reimbursement. She explained that her center has shrunk from 25 staff and over 90 students to 11 staff and 87 children across two sites, with about a third of students on subsidy. She said preschool enrollment has dropped as families choose free TK, which destabilizes center budgets because preschool tuition helps subsidize the higher cost of infant care. Moore detailed the gap between current infant tuition, subsidy reimbursement, and the true cost of care, noting that families face large co-pays and that she often offers scholarships to keep them enrolled despite worsening her bottom line. She described being personally liable for rent and COVID-related debt, operating in the negative, cutting every possible expense, and taking on multiple roles to keep the center running. She also highlighted the staffing crisis, with teachers leaving for higher-paying jobs and administrators covering classrooms daily. Moore broadened the issue to the statewide level, saying families are traveling farther, relying on unlicensed care, and leaving jobs as infant care disappears. She closed by urging rate reform tied to the true cost of care, mixed-delivery funding that supports community-based providers alongside TK, and workforce investments in wages, benefits, and retention, warning that child care is the workforce behind the workforce and that centers will continue to close without change.
Mirian Al Gorey — Introduced as program director at Little Blossoms Child Care.
Jennifer Greppe — Introduces herself and describes her work addressing barriers to early learning access.
Parent Voices California — Jennifer Greppe identifies herself as Director of Parent Policy with this organization.
Keisha and Zawi — Introduces herself as co-founder and woman in charge of Black Californians United for Early Care and Education.
Luz Rivas — Referenced by the speaker as having previously mentioned the role of Black caregivers.
Luz Rivas — Luz Rivas is referenced as having made child care affordability the central affordability conversation, highlighting her leadership on the issue.
Lakeisha Doyle — Lakeisha Doyle delivered a personal statement about child care, introducing herself as a mother and early child care educator and explaining how her own experiences shaped her views. She described being a single mother, the need to work and provide for her child, and the importance of quality child care because children generally cannot accompany parents to work. She also discussed safety concerns, the high cost of quality care, and how those costs can be burdensome even for two-parent households, including times when she had to pay out of pocket and when child care costs were nearly equal to a salary. She concluded by emphasizing that while quality child care is essential, it is also expensive.
Amy Walker — Frisha Moore said Amy Walker had to close one of her centers, losing 43 spots and 12 jobs, and is looking for work to keep remaining staff paid.
Mirren Al Goree — Mirren Al Goree, a family child care provider from San Diego County and member of UGW CCPU’s bargaining team, described how her involvement in provider organizing began in childhood through her mother’s activism. She explained that family child care providers spent nearly two decades organizing through meetings, rallies, petitions, and perseverance to win the right to form a union and bargain collectively. She credited thousands of women, especially women of color, for building the movement and noted key victories such as increased subsidized care rates, health care, a training fund, and a first-of-its-kind retirement fund. She emphasized that these gains required extensive unpaid labor in bargaining and organizing while providers continued educating and nurturing children and advocating for the importance of their work.
LaShae Sharp-Collins — Addressed as 'Assembly Member Sharp-Collins' in the discussion.
Stephanie Nguyen — The speaker refers to Assembly Member Nguyen as willing to take public comment.
Madeline Foreman — Introduced as speaking on behalf of Early Childhood Educators through Every Child California.
Barbara Schmitz — Introduced as speaking on behalf of First 5 California.
Mari Suswaduno — Introduced as a staff attorney at the Child Care Law Center.