The first stage of our project, #PrioritizeChildCare, was spent researching the complexity, context, and history of the child care crisis in the United States. Based on our research and reaching out to related organizations helped us build a problem tree that connects the root causes to the institutionalized structures, practices, and policies as they manifest in daily lives of parents and children. The documentary film series The Raising of America speaks to the child care crisis as the intersection of class, race, and gender disparities. In addition, it addressed the epigenetic effects of the lack of societal investments in child care, such as the translation of early life conditions into long-lasting changes in gene expression that underpin brain function. While deciding upon methodologies rooted in critical pedagogical practices stemming from Paulo Friere, we reached out to dozens of organizations and community networks to establish a participatory action research group. However, this desire was not realized due to time constraints posed by working within a two semester-long academic context.

 

We funneled our resources into raising awareness about the child care crisis. Energized by the data supporting the social, economic, and family need of subsidized child care programs, we started a social media campaign to share our findings. We launched Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages as malleable platforms to connect with other networks, share information about child care issues as human rights issues, and archive our work. We recognize that the internet and social media are not accessible to all, yet social media is a tool for development and strategic planning. A shared image or video can plant a seed in one's mind about creative alternatives to individualized struggles such child care.

 

Inspired by the Children’s Right’s Movement, we wanted to use imagery that was inviting and accessible to families and children. To visualize the campaign at a grassroots level, we designed a logo in the form of a crayon reading the words: #PrioritizeChildCare. We printed this logo onto hundreds of stickers and disseminated them around Manhattan and Brooklyn. We embraced the nonhierarchical platform of hashtag campaigns such as #OccupyWallStreet and #BlackLivesMatter that allow for a spreading of participation that is not limited to the organizational confines of formal leadership or a steering committee. #PrioritizeChildCare functions as an intra-media link as well as a campaign title that is open to use by all interested persons.

 

Building upon the imagery of a crayon, we used the theme of children’s play to build a series of interactive games to engage adults and children alike in a public conversation about child care in our workshops Day of Play (in a state of crisis) and Finger-Painting A Crisis: Conversations on Child Care. Children's perspectives are often left out of the conversation as child care is typically discussed as a problem for the parents, not an issue that gravely impacts a child's well-being. The activities are designed to help participants embrace their inner child in order to imagine how the child care crisis negatively affects a child's cognitive development. The activities were first employed during Day of Play at Rename&Reclaim and Free University - NYC’s Liberation Lab on April 30th, 2016, we facilitated a dialogue through a hand-made game of Twister, coloring sheets, and collective finger-painting. Art components, such as activist coloring-fact sheets and hand-wrapped crayons, were takeaway items that shared statistics about the child care issue in the United States. Participants engaged in conversation inspired by the facts on the sheets while coloring. The spots on the Twister mat were filled with the same striking facts pulled from our research for both the participants to read while playing the game and for curious passersby to read. Some of the most fruitful dialogue occurred over the collective finger-painting activity.  Participants were prompted to visualize their care experiences from either being cared for or caring for others.  The generous sharing of personal stories connected our individual struggles to the societal crisis at hand.  For example, one of the painters reflected on how she felt blessed that her mother had a job in education that provided child care.

 

The following weeks were spent planning for and installing an exhibition of our graduate program on artistic activism. Dissatisfied with the representational nature of most activist art shows, we transformed the gallery into an interactive and casual living room space to stimulate conversations about the projects’ topics. To document this we posed questions on the gallery walls and painted a response space in chalkboard paint. By the end of the exhibition’s opening, the entire chalkboard was full of feedback and discussion. Another component of the exhibition was a series of teach-ins aiming to open up the exclusive academic realm of New York University to the public. Held on June 2nd, 2016 our teach-in Finger-Painting a Crisis: Conversations on Child Care featured a screening of an excerpt from The Raising of America, a roundtable discussion, and another collective finger-painting. Three themes discussed were:

 

1. Reflection on personal child care experiences, both from childhood and parental perspective.

2. Examine the current state of child care in the United States.  

Who has access to care services?

3. Next steps — current organizing and policy efforts, alternative solutions.

 

While the teach-in was able to raise consciousness around an often ignored topic, the conversation was responsive to, yet limited by, the experiences of those present. Privileged members of the NYU community are now equipped with a greater knowledge and understanding of the child care crisis, which will carry into their social circles. The teach-in far from satisfied our desire to engage in participatory action research, yet allowed for a space to consolidate our research efforts and discuss future paths of action.

 

Public policy exists to support subsidized child care programs, yet these programs are starved of funding thus contributing to the status quo and dearth of accessibility by poor families. By creating resources that challenge the dominant narrative, digitally documenting this work supports the growth and continuing of conversations that seek to generate alternative care structures. We hope this website presents our research and process in a way that makes visible the hidden connections between policy, root causes, and social problems that manifest in our daily struggles.  Moving forward, #PrioritizeChildCare will live on through its web presence and will be used as a tool. We chose to document our work as a website to live as a repository of experience and research, platform for discussion, and network for ongoing activism.