Family Friendly Wisconsin: Care on the Ballot: Stories from voters across battleground states emphasize support for candidates who prioritize care issues & family budgets

MADISON, Wis. – Ahead of the first presidential debate of the 2024 cycle, the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC (CFFE PAC) released a storybook today featuring voters in Wisconsin and other battleground states that demonstrates the support voters are pledging to candidates who prioritize care and family budgets.

In Wisconsin, CFFE PAC will run a multi million-dollar electoral program]. Over the next few months, we will be talking to voters about how Democrats like Senator Tammy Baldwin and President Joe Biden are committed to lowering costs for families by fighting for issues like affordable child care and elder care, lower cost prescription drugs, and access to paid family and medical leave.

The story of Brenda Moore Fritz, a child care provider in Mt. Horeb, demonstrates the need to lower costs for working families, especially with the historic underinvestment in child care.

When Brenda Moore Fritz opened Academy of Little Vikings over a decade ago, her community needed additional child care options, and through a collaboration with the school district, she helped establish the four-year-old kindergarten program. Owning and running a child care center is fraught with challenges. Yet, during the pandemic, funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) led to the creation of Child Care Counts in Wisconsin, which gave Brenda some hope. This funding allowed Brenda to provide her staff with monthly bonuses – $500 for full-time employees, and $250 for part-time employees – which helped Brenda retain talented staff without increasing costs for families…

…Unfortunately, the financial support Brenda receives has already shrunk due to the expiration for federal ARPA funding, and it is set to expire next year. The monthly bonuses have already been cut in half, and Brenda knows it will only become more difficult to retain teachers. Furthermore, Brenda’s center has a waitlist of over 100 children, and though she wants to expand, without additional funding it is too risky of a decision. This election year, Brenda is excited to support President Joe Biden and Senator Tammy Baldwin as they have a proven track record of advocating for investments in child care.

“Stories like Brenda’s are all too familiar to working families across the Badger State. Despite the critical role that child care plays in our economy and society, a historic underinvestment in child care has left providers working for little to no wages, and families squeezed by rising costs,” said Brita Olsen, Wisconsin State Director of CFFE PAC. “That is why we are proud to support Democrats like Senator Baldwin and President Biden. They will fight to prioritize lowering the costs of child care and other issues that make it easier to raise a family while making a living.”

Read more about Brenda’s story and the stories of other working families here.