This year CUCI dove into child care co-op organizing! With partners Cincinnati Federation of Teachers and the Amos Project, we formed the People for Early Child (P4EC) coalition. P4EC brings together parents, educators, and early childhood business owners and directors to advocate for more equitable early childhood system. CUCI is working to bring two co-ops to life in this sector, which relies predominantly on women of color:
CareShare: a worker-owned cooperative child care business that uses innovative web-based matchmaking (designed by TechSolidarity out of Silicon Valley) to bring together parents and teachers to care for up to five children in a family home. Care Share provides personalized early education for more children, and ensures teachers are paid at least $15/hour with benefits.
Shared Services: brings together owners and directors of existing child care businesses in a cooperative to share best practices, and strengthen their businesses through access to substitute teachers, and increased buying power for insurance, food and supplies.
We ended the year showcasing the growing capacity of our organization and knowledge of the sector by publishing a 170-page report, Strategies Towards Wage Equity in Early Childhood, for Cincinnati Preschool Promise.
