[![Empowering community and labor organizations that protect and promote the interests of working families.](https://www.massclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/tumblr_ngntwcbkow1qeoy8vo1_1280-1.png) ![Empowering community and labor organizations that protect and promote the interests of working families.](https://www.massclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/tumblr_ngntwcbkow1qeoy8vo3_1280-white-copy.png)](https://www.massclu.org/)

## **About Care That Works**

## The Care That Works coalition is a multiracial, feminist, working-class coalition of unions and community groups organizing paid and unpaid child caregivers: parents, relatives and friends, domestic workers, family child care providers, and center-based workers. Our goal is to reimagine, realign, and grow our care ecosystem as a public good, ensuring that all care jobs are good jobs and that all forms of care are accessible and abundant for every community.

## **The Impact of Care That Works**

## **Fighting for Friend, Family, and Neighbor Care**

With major workforce development needs in construction, health care, transportation, and other essential industries, the ongoing child care crisis is holding Massachusetts back. Low-income parents and parents of color seeking better career opportunities are often unable to find child care that fits their schedules, especially care that is close to home and open for early or late shifts.

**Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN)** providers, typically grandmothers, are license-exempt and can register for state payment through the child care voucher. However, the state voucher pays a maximum of $24 per day for one child in FFN child care. When families need FFN child care in combination with a formal child care program, the voucher is not always flexible enough to pay for both.

Families and providers united in Care That Works are fighting to:

1. Raise FFN providers’ pay to the state minimum wage to give parents more child care options while stabilizing the providers they know and trust.
2. Fix the child care voucher system so parents can use the full ten-hour daily value across both formal and FFN care, ensuring child care works for real-life schedules.
3. Promote quality-supportive policies, programs, and practices for FFN child care by establishing a state FFN Advisory Council.

We currently have a statewide bill pending, [H.452](https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H542) and [S.341](https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/S341), sponsored by Representative Marjorie Decker and Senator Sal DiDomenico. This bill would increase state support for FFN child care so families and caregivers who have historically been excluded can access care, resources, and opportunities to thrive.

## **Nonstandard Hour Pilot**

Our innovative child care pilot matched working-class families with affordable child care services provided by unionized child care providers, making care available during nonstandard hours when parents need it most. While the pilot is no longer accepting new families, we are using our lessons learned to develop a strategy to advance nonstandard-hour child care in Boston and beyond.

## **Caregivers’ Leadership and Empowerment Training**

The Caregivers’ Leadership and Empowerment Training is designed to build the power, confidence, and knowledge of caregivers across Massachusetts, with a focus on FFN caregivers. The training supports caregivers in understanding how the child care system and policy processes work and how caregivers’ lived experiences can influence systems change. It strengthens both individual leadership capacity and collective power, preparing participants to advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities.

The program centers on four core learning areas: leadership development, community organizing, policy and advocacy, and climate and environmental justice. Participants gain practical skills that can be applied immediately, including understanding how legislation moves, learning organizing tools such as power mapping and coalition-building, and building confidence to engage decision-makers. The training also supports caregivers interested in pursuing FFN certification, offering guidance on eligibility, background checks, navigating Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) requirements, and concrete steps toward certification.

[**For more information or to partner with CLU to deliver this training, email us at [email protected].**](mailto:[email protected])

## **Take Action for Better Care**

Make your voice heard and expand child care options for working parents. Sign this petition to support our efforts to increase FFN provider pay to the state minimum wage and make child care vouchers more flexible for parents who choose FFN care.

[**TAKE ACTION**](https://www.massclu.org/take-action/#Take-Action-CTW)

## **Research**

## **Recent News**

## **Victories**

#### Nonstandard Hour Child Care Pilot

Our Care That Works pilot project has matched dozens of working-class families with affordable child care services provided by unionized child care providers. With support from the City of Boston, Boston Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital, our pilot focused on making care available during nonstandard hours, allowing parents to access early-morning training and jobs in the unionized building trades and other nonstandard-hour jobs.

#### Kiddies Corner Grand Opening

We helped launch Kiddies Corner, a child care center in Mattapan, on November 20, 2023. Kiddies Corner owner Anne Osula, a union member and Black entrepreneur, opened the center to bring relief to local working families who need [child care during nonstandard hours](https://www.baystatebanner.com/2023/12/06/mattapan-child-care-center-serves-parents-who-work-off-hours/). Supported by grants from Boston Medical Center and the City of Boston, the center serves families in Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury.

#### FFN Policy Win

We won legislation requiring the EEC to submit a report on FFN child care to the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives. The directive, included as part of the 2024 Economic Development Bill, specifically required consultation with Care That Works partners, ensuring caregivers and families help shape state policy.

#### Executive Order Boosts Child Care Funding

Our research helped inspire Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to strengthen Boston’s zoning code to raise new funding for child care. Drawing on the report created by Tufts University and Care That Works, the [Mayor’s Executive Order](https://www.bostonplans.org/news-calendar/news-updates/2022/07/26/mayor-wu-issues-executive-order-to-strengthen-chil) requires downtown developers to either provide a child care space on-site or pay $100 per square foot of building space if they choose not to.

## **Our Partners**

![CLU logo](https://www.massclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/tumblr_ngntwcbkow1qeoy8vo3_1280-white-copy-200x150.png)

CONTACT

- 8 Beacon Street, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02108
- [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

![617 Union Emblem](https://www.massclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/617_bug_white-02-1024x375.png)

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