Families across L.A. are struggling with the rising cost of childcare and how to access support programs. Meanwhile, childcare providers are grappling with their own challenges, including low wages and staff shortages. In this bonus episode, host Gloria Riviera talks about how leaders in L.A. can invest in a more unified, affordable, and culturally affirming system of childcare. She is joined by Debra Colman, the Director of the L.A. County Office for the Advancement of Early Care and Education, and Vickie Ramos Harris, the Vice President of Policy and Programs at Catalyst California.

This episode is presented by the Stein Early Childhood Development Fund at the California Community Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. 

Special thanks to our partners who have made this season possible! 

This series is produced with Neighborhood Villages. Neighborhood Villages is a Massachusetts-based systems change non-profit. It envisions a transformed, equitable early childhood education system that lifts up educators and sets every child and family up to thrive. In pursuit of this vision, Neighborhood Villages designs, evaluates, and scales innovative solutions to the biggest challenges faced by early childhood education providers and the children and families who rely on them, and drives policy reform through advocacy, education, and research. Visit www.neighborhoodvillages.org to learn more. 

This season was made possible with generous support from Imaginable Futures, a global philanthropic investment firm working with partners to build more healthy and equitable systems, so that everyone has the opportunity to learn and realize the future they imagine. Learn more at www.imaginablefutures.com.

This series is presented by The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.

This series is presented by the Bainum Family Foundation. Through their WeVision EarlyEd initiative, they are elevating the voices of families and early childhood professionals, their “proximity experts,” to generate equitable and practical solutions to make the ideal vision of child care in America real. You can learn more at wevisionearlyed.org. 

This season is presented by The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, an organization working to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage throughout the world. Learn more at hiltonfoundation.org. 

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To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.