​The Alabama Movement for Child Care (TAMCC) was formed in 2020 in response to systemic inequities in our underfunded and under-resourced child care system which were only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Child care in Alabama is in a state of crisis

Child care is neither affordable for families nor financially sustainable for providers and workers. Even when families can manage to pay for care, they often cannot access it when and where they need it. Despite the high costs faced by families, these funds aren’t enough to cover the true costs of providing high-quality care and education for our children. Due to insufficient funding, the child care system relies heavily on the work of low-income and black women whose underpaid labor is used to subsidize the industry.

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Our leaders are failing us

Federal funding via the American Rescue Plan Act was intended to stabilize the childcare sector, rebuild a stronger system, and address childcare providers' financial burdens during and after the pandemic. However, Alabama’s implementation of these funds has failed to achieve these goals and has placed additional financial burdens on childcare providers. And unlike many other states, Alabama does not allow providers discretion to use grant funds within federal program flexibilities in order to address provider-specific needs.

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Change is up to us

State leaders have failed to effectively address the challenges facing our child care system; but through our collective power as providers, parents, families, and advocates, we can bring about change. Now is a critical time for the health and survival of our child care system. If we are to establish a new system that treats child care as an essential service, vital to the wellbeing of our society and economy, it will be up to us as a community to take action and achieve true systemic change.​