United Women in Faith Email 3/17/25 -Urgent Action Needed – Families Forward

Families Forward has been supported by Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) funding for many years. This support has enabled us to pay our childcare staff a livable wage.

Offering a livable wage is not only good for our childcare staff but also enables us to maintain adequate staffing levels and support retention, which provides stability to the families in our center.

HF623/SF445 is fast moving legislation that will regionalize ECI areas from the current 34 areas into just 7 districts. This will reduce any ability for local decision-making.

Even more harmful to communities, it is proposed the “early childhood continuum of care” will be funded with $11.3 million of ECI current $27.8 million allocation. Funding this new initiative with ECI funds will take support away from childcare, the childcare workforce, and the children and families that Families Forward serves.

Help us keep our much-needed childcare funding. Call or email your legislator to tell them you do not support this action! 

It only takes a few minutes, but your impact will last much longer.

First, locate your legislator by typing your address into this link.

Second, call or email them to let them know you do NOT support HF623/SF445 funding the “early childhood continuum of care”. Feel free to utilize the template provided below.

We thank you for your continued support.

Suzanne Zutter

Executive Director

Families Forward

Dear Senator _________ or Representative ______________,

Personalize here with something about yourself. Ex: I have volunteered for Families Forward for ____ years. Since ______, I have been supporting Families Forward Child Development Center in Des Moines.

Our nonprofit childcare center has been supported by Early Childhood Iowa funding for many years. This support enables us to pay our childcare staff a livable wage, leading to employee retention and stability for our families.

Funding HF623/SF445 with current Early Childhood Iowa dollars will be detrimental to our program. Please do not take away ECI dollars to fund the new initiative “early childhood continuum of care.” Doing this will harm our childcare center, its staff, and the children we care for.

Thank you for serving our district, our state, and the families and children of Iowa.

Your name