Child care workers provide an essential service to our children, families, community and economy, but most child care workers live near or under the poverty line. Best Starts is investing in the child care workforce to change that.
The Best Starts Child Care Worker Wage Boost Pilot studies the benefit of government investment in workers to inform policies to deepen funding into the sector. To ensure these findings and stories are effectively communicated out to the broader public to support sustainable systems change, Best Starts sought a communications partner for the Pilot.
We are excited to announce that our new communications partner for the Pilot is We Are RALLY!
The work ahead
The Pilot launched applications and began issuing payments to workers early in 2025. Now more than 900 child care workers are enrolled in the Pilot and receiving quarterly wage boosts ($4,080 for full-time workers and $2,040 for part-time workers). Workers enrolled in the Pilot will receive these payments through 2027 and participate in surveys studying the impacts of these payments on their financial stability and well-being.
RALLY will be working alongside other Wage Boost partners to create accessible communications materials that can be broadly shared highlighting findings and stories from the Pilot.
“RALLY is thrilled to be selected as a partner supporting the Best Start for Kids Wage Boost Pilot. Storytelling can shape how people think and feel about social issues, and child care workers have powerful stories to tell about what their work means to them– and about how boosting their wages has made that work more sustainable,” said Amy Clark, Director, RALLY. “We’re excited to help tell those stories in our own back yard, and to build the narrative momentum to change how we invest in child care, in King County, in Washington State and nationwide.
RALLY joins a dynamic team of Pilot partners: The Imagine Institute designs and leads the project. AidKit Inc, administers the wage boost payments. Cardea and the Urban Institute evaluate the impact of the Pilot and report findings. Uncommon Bridges leads the workgroup, which provides community- and provider-led oversight of the Pilot and research.
