Posted on October 29, 2026
On October 22, ACNJ, NJAEYC, and the StartStrongNJ affordable child care campaign rallied for families and our economy!
Families, providers, educators, and advocates from across New Jersey came together to rally for real solutions that make child care affordable for families and stronger support for the providers who make it possible.
After the rally, the Assembly Education Committee, the Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee, and the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee held a joint committee hearing on affordable child care. Parents, providers, and advocates shared powerful testimonies highlighting the child care accessibility and affordability crisis, and some offered solutions.
New Jersey families can't wait another day. We raised our voices and demanded solutions.
NJ PBS | October 26, 2026
“The state of New Jersey is asking the people with the least to do the most.”
Trina, executive director of New Jersey Communities United
“Nearly an entire second household's worth of expenses just so they could go to work. The financial burden [of child care] cost them something significant as well... Today, home prices and interest rates have climbed and they're still renting. They now pay more in rent than a mortgage would have cost them had they been able to buy a house when the market was favorable. Childcare didn't just cost them $44,000 a year. It cost them the opportunity to become homeowners and begin building equity for their family's future.”
Jackie Mack's testimony, read by Cindy Shields
“Affordable childcare must be sustainable childcare. We cannot continue to ask families to pay more, educators to accept less and owners to take home nothing.”
Amanda Cardone, owner and founder of Tiny Little Pieces Learning Center
