FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2025
CONTACT: Daniela Perez, [email protected]
GEORGIA & NORTH CAROLINA – On Monday, May 12, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and We Dream in Black (WeDiB) joined hundreds of child care providers, parents, and advocates in Georgia and North Carolina for the National Day Without Child Care—a multi-state mobilization demanding a care economy rooted in racial and gender justice. Across both states, providers closed their centers and held rallies outside of centers to call attention to the deepening crisis happening in their states and in the country.
Actions underscored the deepening crisis in child care—driven by workforce shortages, unaffordable care, and the expiration of federal stabilization funds. With families on waitlists, centers closing classrooms, and providers leaving the workforce due to poverty wages, organizers called on lawmakers to invest in long-term solutions that value care and the people who provide it.
In North Carolina, rallies were held in Raleigh and Charlotte, where community members demanded urgent legislative action on the 2025 North Carolina Child Care Policy Agenda, including: A $220 million subsidy rate floor to stabilize provider income; $60 million to help early educators afford child care for their own families; sustainable public investment to address workforce retention, affordability, and equity.
“Our centers are closing not because we want to, but because we have to,” said Emma Biggs, NDWA member and a child care center director from Charlotte, NC. “If lawmakers don’t act, these closures will become permanent.”
In Georgia, NDWA’s We Dream in Black Georgia led a powerful march through downtown Atlanta, beginning with a learning session and rally at Liberty Plaza, followed by a community lunch and organizing space at Central Presbyterian Church. The demands were clear: Thriving wages for care workers, especially Black and immigrant women; affordable, accessible child care for all families; protection of Medicaid, SNAP, and rejection of harmful work reporting requirements; a child care system that centers racial and gender equity.
“Child care workers are role models—it’s time we treat them that way.” said Samantha Warren, We Dream in Black Leadership Committee, mother with childcare needs. “As a young mother, I was lucky to have support from childcare providers. But through my advocacy, I’ve seen that not every family gets that same help—and that care workers are underappreciated. These workers are more than teachers and counselors—they’re role models who celebrate milestones and create safe, nurturing spaces. Yet they’re underpaid, overworked, and overlooked. That needs to change. We must reject Medicaid cuts that threaten the quality of care for our kids. Investing in child care means investing in families, stronger communities, and a better future.”
The Day Without Child Care is a coordinated national effort bringing together providers, parents, and advocates in dozens of cities to demand a child care system that truly works — for everyone.
ICYMI:
The Progressive Magazine: The Child Care Crash
EdNC: Here’s why three child care providers chose to close their programs for a day
NC Health News: Child care advocates in NC look for ways to survive after loss of federal pandemic aid
WRAL News: Day without child care: Families, day care workers to rally for improvement in Raleigh
CBS 17: North Carolina Day Without Childcare
WFAE: Charlotte child care providers to close, hold rally for ‘Day Without Child Care’ initiative
WCNC: ‘Day Without Child Care’ sees NC centers closing in protest
95.5 WSB: “A Day Without Childcare” rally held to address rising costs in Georgia
11Alive: Childcare providers push for change
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