On Monday, February 9, MDAEYC joined eight partner organizations for the annual Evening in Annapolis for Child Care—and more than 200 advocates from across Maryland showed up to make their voices heard.
In small groups, we visited lawmakers to talk about what’s really happening in our programs—the families who rely on Child Care Scholarships to keep working, the educators in child care programs who work hard caring for children, and the program directors who struggle to pay their staff enough to keep them from leaving this underpaid field. We didn’t just talk policy; we shared real stories from real classrooms, real family child care homes, real children.
Our MDAEYC Board Secretary, Jana Boddy, represented our association alongside fellow educators who brought depth and diversity to our message—from nature-based educators to center directors to family child care providers. We were proud to stand with colleagues from the Maryland State Child Care Association, Maryland State Family Child Care Association, Latino Childcare Association of Maryland, United Way of Central Maryland, SEIU Local 500, Maryland Family Network, Children’s Opportunity Alliance, and Fund for Educational Excellence. Together, we filled two buses from Montgomery County alone, with many advocates returning each year because they’ve seen firsthand that this work matters.
What made Monday night so powerful was hearing from the educators who are often doing the work but don’t always have a seat at the table where decisions are made. Many of the voices in those legislative offices were from women who care for children every day—family child care providers running businesses from their homes, immigrant educators serving their communities, professionals of color who understand firsthand the barriers families face. These are the experts. They know what children need, what families are struggling with, and what it takes to provide quality care. And when they speak, legislators listen in ways that policy briefs and data alone cannot achieve.
As one legislator reminded us, early childhood isn’t just an education issue or a workforce issue—it’s both. When child care works, Maryland works. And when early childhood educators come together to share their experiences, policymakers get the education they need to make informed decisions about our state’s youngest learners.
This is the power of our collective voice. This is why we show up—and why we’re committed to ensuring that every educator who wants to speak up has the support and platform to do so.
