The Elephant in the Room

Anxiety. We’re all feeling it. For some it’s starting to ebb, for others it’s starting to gush. It’s hard to know how this caustic election will impact children. What we do know is they’ll look to the adults in their lives for reassurance that their safety and wellbeing remains our top priority. For PCCY, our efforts continue, especially when an opportunity presents itself.      

As in every election, the candidates and the media were fixated  on the issues that divided the nation and there was a clear reticence to consider the existence of common ground. Usually the elephant in the room is a negative but we’re calling it out this week.

The elephant in the room is pre-k. You may have blinked and missed it but it was one of the only issues that both campaigns seemed to find agreement on. 

Hillary Clinton has been an advocate for children for most of her career and her campaign materials and speeches made many references to her priorities, which included a plan for universal pre-k and a living wage for early childcare educators.

President-elect Donald Trump also included investments in early child care as part of his platform when he stumped in Aston, PA with his daughter Ivanka, mother of three young children. Trump said he was in favor of making child care costs tax deductible and included that lower income families would be eligible for rebates. 

We would have appreciated some details but the lack of any present something of an opportunity. As with any new administration, a Trump White House is likely scrolling through broadly appealing policies to champion so they can show they’re wasting no time working on solutions. In pre-k, they could hit the motherlode.

Earlier this year, First Five Years Fund’s national poll thrilled pre-k backers because it showed just how many of us there are. 78% of Trump supporters and 98% of Clinton supporters across the country want the federal government to make quality pre-k more accessible and affordable to low- and middle-income families.

While competing fears may divide us, surely our shared hopes for quality pre-k make for an obvious political win, especially for a President-elect who endeavors to serve all Americans. As the incoming administration sets their agenda, pre-k advocates, like PCCY, will make every effort to ensure pre-k is on the table.

Of course, the work doesn’t end there. Pre-k is vital to the success of children, especially those who live in poverty. But as our Left Out series of reports points out, children in the Philadelphia region face serious challenges in health and education as well. It’s the mandate of PCCY to be the strongest voice possible to affect the changes that will make a difference in the lives of children. Locally, statewide and nationally, we remain committed to our mission.