I am asking you to please maintain the $24 million that the Senate Finance Committee restored for the Child Care Assistance Program in HB1. We cannot afford to lose any more child care seats. Removing these funds would result in at least 2,000 children losing access to child care that their families rely on to go to school or work. People are leaving their jobs because they cannot get child care, even after months or sometimes years on waiting lists. Today there are already 6,500 children who qualify for child care assistance waiting indefinitely for funds to be available. Losing these seats would add nearly 2,000 more children to the waiting list, which could mean over a thousand parents would be at risk of leaving the workforce to care for their children. Child care breakdowns already cost Louisiana $1.3 billion a year—how much productivity will be lost when thousands of seats are eliminated? How can we expect young families to stay in or move to Louisiana if there is not enough available care for their children?

I am asking you to please maintain the $24 million that the Senate Finance Committee restored for the Child Care Assistance Program in HB1. We cannot afford to lose any more child care seats. Removing these funds would result in at least 2,000 children losing access to child care that their families rely on to go to school or work. People are leaving their jobs because they cannot get child care, even after months or sometimes years on waiting lists. Today there are already 6,500 children who qualify for child care assistance waiting indefinitely for funds to be available. Losing these seats would add nearly 2,000 more children to the waiting list, which could mean over a thousand parents would be at risk of leaving the workforce to care for their children. Child care breakdowns already cost Louisiana $1.3 billion a year—how much productivity will be lost when thousands of seats are eliminated? How can we expect young families to stay in or move to Louisiana if there is not enough available care for their children?

I am asking you to please maintain the $24 million that the Senate Finance Committee restored for the Child Care Assistance Program in HB1. We cannot afford to lose any more child care seats. Removing these funds would result in at least 2,000 children losing access to child care that their families rely on to go to school or work. People are leaving their jobs because they cannot get child care, even after months or sometimes years on waiting lists. Today there are already 6,500 children who qualify for child care assistance waiting indefinitely for funds to be available. Losing these seats would add nearly 2,000 more children to the waiting list, which could mean over a thousand parents would be at risk of leaving the workforce to care for their children. Child care breakdowns already cost Louisiana $1.3 billion a year—how much productivity will be lost when thousands of seats are eliminated? How can we expect young families to stay in or move to Louisiana if there is not enough available care for their children?

I am asking you to please maintain the $24 million that the Senate Finance Committee restored for the Child Care Assistance Program in HB1. We cannot afford to lose any more child care seats. Removing these funds would result in at least 2,000 children losing access to child care that their families rely on to go to school or work. People are leaving their jobs because they cannot get child care, even after months or sometimes years on waiting lists. Today there are already 6,500 children who qualify for child care assistance waiting indefinitely for funds to be available. Losing these seats would add nearly 2,000 more children to the waiting list, which could mean over a thousand parents would be at risk of leaving the workforce to care for their children. Child care breakdowns already cost Louisiana $1.3 billion a year—how much productivity will be lost when thousands of seats are eliminated? How can we expect young families to stay in or move to Louisiana if there is not enough available care for their children?