Child care — infrastructure we can’t afford to ignore

👋 As a mom who juggles board meetings and bedtime stories, policy memos and playground runs — like so many working parents — I’ve struggled to balance career and caregiving. And I know how precarious that balance can be without reliable child care.

At the Burke Foundation, we’ve spent years supporting the health of families in their children’s earliest years — piloting and scaling such innovations as Family Connects NJ, HealthySteps, and Centering, reaching thousands of New Jersey families. Our grantees’ accomplishments confirm what decades of research already tell us: Invest early, and the returns — for children, parents, and society — are extraordinary.

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Fighting for families ?

👋 The hatred and anger that often dominate discourse these days erode people’s belief in the possibility of progress. It’s easy to feel discouraged when high-decibel conflict drowns out the voice of cooperation.

But dedicated community activists, advocates, and local policymakers are persistently working together across the country to increase economic security and improve families’ health and well-being. We see the power of change in such efforts as expanding paid leave to care for loved ones, making quality child care more available and more affordable, and launching life-saving maternal health initiatives for every new mom.

Shared values drive this progress: the belief that every child has the right to grow up healthy, happy, and well cared for.

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