Marquez spends day with child care provider

BELLFLOWER - Downey City Councilman Luis Marquez, a candidate for the State Assembly's 50th District, "walked a day in the shoes" of family child care provider Tonia McMillian last week.Marquez was taking part in the Service Employees International Union's program "to ensure that candidates for elected office experience firsthand what life is like for working families," the union said in a statement. Marquez joined McMillian during her job as a child care provider at her home in Bellflower, where he helped make lunch, played with the children and read them books. Eight of the children McMillian cares for are subsidized by the state and are funded by programs currently slated to be cut. McMillian and other providers testified against the proposed cuts to child care funding last week at an Assembly budget committee hearing in Sacramento. "I'm glad that Councilman Marquez got to walk a day in my shoes," McMillian said. "Providers like me work hard every day to keep Californians working and it's important that he sees that firsthand. We need elected officials to fight for working people and their children during a budget crisis, not to slash important programs for short-term gains." The SEIU said it was "inviting all candidates" to participate in the "walk a day in their shoes" program.

********** Published: February 19, 2010 - Volume 8 - Issue 44