The livestream below will begin at the time of the event.

GenForward and Next100 partnered to generate new survey data on the topic of child care. Results demonstrate resoundingly that across race, gender, and partisan identities- child care is a priority.

Join us on Thursday, July 23 at 9:30 AM EST for the virtual roll-out of new survey data about the next generations’ attitudes toward child care and early learning. 

Child care has always quietly been the backbone of our communities and economy, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic has exposed just how critical access to child care is for the functioning of our country. As we consider policies that can get the economy running again and reexamine how our federal, state, and local budgets reflect our priorities, we must build a strong child care infrastructure that can support our families and the economy for generations to come. 

Please register to obtain the Zoom link.

Featuring:

  • U.S. Representative Katherine Clark (MA-5)
  • Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, founder, GenForward
  • Levi Bohanan, policy entrepreneur, Next100
  • Moderator: Diana Limongi, mom, activist, and host of Parenting and Politics podcast 

Presented by Next100 and GenForward.

Speaker Bios

Congresswoman Katherine Clark proudly serves the Fifth District of Massachusetts. She was first elected in a special election in December of 2013. 

Katherine’s career in public service is driven by her commitment to helping children and families succeed. She is a vocal advocate for ending wage discrimination, protecting women’s health care, access to affordable, high-quality child care, paid family leave, safer schools, and other reforms to address the challenges women and families face. She believes that Congress must work to end the glaring disconnect between the needs of families at home and priorities in Washington.

In Congress, she brings her experience as a state senator, state representative, general counsel for the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services, and policy chief for the state attorney general.

Dr. Cathy J. Cohen is the founder of GenForward the David and Mary Winton Green Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. She formerly served in numerous administrative positions, including chair of the Department of Political Science, director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture and deputy provost for Graduate Education at the University of Chicago. Cohen is the author of two books, The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (University of Chicago Press) and Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics (Oxford University Press).  She is also co-editor of the anthology Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader (NYU Press) with Kathleen Jones and Joan Tronto. Her articles have been published in numerous journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, NOMOS, GLQ, Social Text, and the DuBois Review. Cohen created and oversees two major research and public-facing projects: the GenForward Survey and the Black Youth Project. She is the recipient of numerous awards, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-editor with Frederick Harris of a book series at Oxford University Press entitled “Transgressing Boundaries: Studies in Black Politics and Black Communities.”

Levi Bohanan is a policy entrepreneur at Next100 and an advocate for progressive child care policy and high-quality early education. His work at Next100 focuses on expanding access to high-quality child care and early childhood development opportunities for low- and middle-income families.

Previously, Levi served at the U.S. Department of Education as a political appointee in the Obama administration under Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King, Jr. While there, Levi drew on his personal experience with homelessness in his teens to help inform new federal guidelines for supporting homeless students. Since the end of the Obama administration, Levi has worked with various education nonprofits based in New York and nationwide on strategic advocacy efforts and policy development.

Prior to joining the Department of Education, Levi worked at the U.S. House of Representatives and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Levi received his BA in political science from Texas A&M University and his MA in education policy analysis at the Teachers College at Columbia University.

Diana Limongi is a nonprofit professional, blogger, activist, podcaster and Latina mom from NYC. Her podcast, Parenting and Politics, seeks to inform, inspire and empower parents to take action and make a difference. On her blog ‪Ladydeelg.com she writes about motherhood, life in NYC and raising bilingual and multicultural kids. As a nonprofit professional and activist, Diana works with organizations that help mothers, children and families. She has worked with the Aspen Institute, Global Kids, MomsRising and she was a UN Shot@Life Champion. Diana sits on the Board of Multicultural Kid Blogs, an online community for raising world citizens and Serious Fun Afterschool Program. She has an MA in Migration Studies and an MPA in Nonprofit Management. Diana is fluent in Spanish and French. She lives in Queens, NY with her husband and two children. You can follow her on Twitter: @dianalimongi