Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policy-maker, an activist, and a survivor. On November 6, 2018, Ayanna was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ayanna believes that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power, and that a diversity of voices in the political process is essential to crafting more effective public policy.
Access to affordable early education is essential to empowering children to achieve in school, and it supports working families who otherwise struggle to find affordable child care options. Too many families in Massachusetts and beyond work non-traditional hours, participate in the gig economy, and lack access to childcare services. Ayanna supports universal, high-quality early education that will give all children a head start and ensure equal access for all families.
Currently, funding for early education is not enough to ensure that center- and home-based providers can pay their workers a living wage while still keeping costs affordable for families, even with available subsidies. We must ensure that public investments in early education reflect the demonstrated importance of early learning to a child’s future success.