The Brief

As a parent, for me, one of the most continuously mind-boggling aspects of raising young children is how expensive child care is. When I learned that child care providers barely make enough to make ends meet, it kind of made my brain break. It was enough to make me want to yell, “But, WHY?”

You may feel the same way about this. Or there may be another aspect about how our society is set up for raising kids that confuses you or makes you want to lay flat on the floor. There are a lot of things you don’t know you don’t know until you have children or start working with them.

So what can you do to make things better for families with kids under 5?

This guide is for people who want to channel that yelling-into-a-pillow energy into doing something to fix things year-round, particularly by sharing your story or learning to navigate power to change policy — that’s advocacy. We’ve talked with LOTS of people who have made a difference — parents, early childhood advocates, and policymakers. Now we’re sharing back some of the basic first steps you can take if you’re interested in changing local or statewide laws.

Maria Antoinetta Jandres, left, at Stand for Children Day on May 8, 2024.

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Courtesy Parent Voices

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Does my voice even matter?

Yes.

Parents we spoke to talked about a whole range of benefits that they gained from becoming their child’s first advocate. They came away with insider knowledge about issues facing their kids, they built community, and they felt like they were part of something bigger. And, importantly, many shared how joining forces with others helped them achieve things they thought were not possible.

“You do it because it works,” said Mary Ignatius, director of Parent Voices. “Most policy change happens because somebody spoke up about it.”

Parent Maria Antoinetta Jandres still remembers one of the first times she shared her story in front of the San Francisco mayor and Board of Supervisors. “I was super nervous. I didn’t even know what to do or what to say,” she said.

Now, after working to make multiple early childhood policy changes through statewide advocacy organization Parent Voices, she feels a different level of confidence.

“The supervisors need to listen to us,” she said. “Because we are the ones paying for their salary. Now when I go there, I’m like, well, this is what you guys should be working on because you work for us. It’s not the other way around.”

Jandres stumbled upon Parent Voices during a time where she was looking for child care for her young son while experiencing homelessness. She went to the organization looking for a child care spot, but through getting involved, she came out with deep knowledge about the inner workings of the early childhood system and, essentially, a master’s degree in how change works.

She was part of a San Francisco campaign that created a tax to fund child care for middle-class (and upper-middle-class) families and set a minimum wage of $28 for early education teachers. In 2023, she was also part of a campaign that eliminated monthly payments (“family fees”) for low-income families who receive child care subsidies.

Parent Iesha Foster in Sacramento to advocate for expanding child care funding in the 2024 budget.

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Isaac Cox

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Crystal Stairs

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What do parents bring to the table?

Justin Blakely, who leads L.A. County advocacy program Community Voices, part of Crystal Stairs, remembers vividly how one legislator shared that every day he has 15 to 20 meetings, mostly with professional lobbyists or advocates.

He said that’s why when a representative hears from a community member, particularly one who lives in his district, it makes a difference. Hearing a community member’s experience illustrates the real impact of policies out in the world. They put a name and a face to an issue, moving an issue beyond just another data point.

Parent Iesha Foster, parent of nine, first connected with Head Start’s Policy Council and eventually, Community Voices, when her older children were small. A lack of child care had caused her to turn down extra hours at work, and eventually lose her job. The experience made her want to fight for child care, she said.

“Without childcare, you can't go to work,” she said. “Without work, you can't pay your rent, you can't pay your bills.”

Foster traveled with Blakely to Sacramento in 2023 with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce to advocate for child care. During a meeting with Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D), chair of the Assembly Education Committee, she told her personal story and shared how hard it is for parents to go to work without child care.

Others in the room had also shared their concerns, but Blakely said that when Foster spoke, her story captivated the full attention of everyone in the room. Muratsuchi kept referring back to her throughout the meeting.

“He just was so passionate in his voice and in his words,” Foster said. “He really listened. And you could tell that he really cared.”

Parent Voices director Ignatius said to remember that you don’t need to speak a particular language or have a degree in anything to make your opinions and experience known.

“Trust that you know what you know and that you have expertise and experiences to offer,” she said. “Being a parent qualifies you for so much.”

A voter places his ballot in a mail-in ballot drop box outside of an L.A. library ahead of Election Day in October 2020.

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Mario Tama

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An official ballot envelope for the 2024 primary election in Los Angeles.

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Small ways to make change, beyond voting.

There are many ways to get involved. The first that comes to mind is voting, which helps make sure your representatives actually represent you and that you have a say in which ballot initiatives go into effect. (In fact, LAist has a whole guide about this.)

Patrick MacFarlane, government relations manager of Child Care Resource Center said that one thing that’s important to keep in mind is this: “Voting is a small part of civic participation. You have to be mobilized in every season, not just in election season.”

Here are just a few ways to do that, year-round:

• Get involved in your child’s school.
• Volunteer for an organization you care about.
• Donate to the cause of your choice. 
• Plaster your street with campaign signs. 
• Start a boycott. 
• Make political art. 
• Start your own organization.

The list goes on.

And of course, parents can become advocates, sharing their stories and informing the process of creating and passing laws in California. Let’s dive in.

Find your people

Start with a quick Google search of what you care about.

It’s an easy way to find out if anyone has proposed or advocated for a bill related to this issue.

“You're almost certain to find a group of people who feel really passionately about that issue,” said Sarah Diaz, policy and media coordinator with the California WIC Association. “They’ve spent a lot of energy on it already and maybe they’re reintroducing it or bringing it back again.”

From there, you can reach out to either the legislators who proposed the bill or the community groups (often listed as co-sponsors on a bill) working on the issue.

This is exactly what Diaz did. One issue she cares about as a parent is schools getting funding. She didn’t think it made sense to link school attendance to funding. In her mind, this creates an incentive for sick kids to go to school instead of staying at home to recover.

In her personal time, she reached out to her representative to ask if they were working on this issue. That’s how she found that there was a bill up for consideration about the issue last year and submitted comments and letters. The bill is currently headed for a floor vote and will likely head to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk for a signature.

Parent Maria Antoinetta Jandres speaks into a mic to give public testimony.

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Find your representatives. And talk to them.

It may at first seem strange to talk to your elected officials, but as Jandres pointed out, they do work for YOU. As your representative, it’s literally their job to listen to you.

First, find your local representatives on Shape your L.A., a tool by the L.A. Times.

Some ways to get your representative’s attention:

1. Tag them on social media.
2. Email or write them letters. When writing, be brief and clear. If you live in their district, tell them. Here are some tips and a template from First 5 Contra Costa County. 
3. Call them. Calling is a great option because the person has to listen. They can’t skim over your words like they might be able to with something written. Here’s a draft script from Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, which also includes instructions if you’re using a text-to-speech device.
4. Visit them. If they are a state representative, find them at their Sacramento office or at their field office, close to where you live. (Tip: Summer is a great time to visit state representatives at their field offices, during the legislative recess.) You can walk into their office or call in advance to set up a meeting.
5. Find them at public meetings.
6. Contact your local media outlet. Your local representative probably reads the news. Read, watch, and listen to what journalists in your area are saying about the issues you care about. Reach out — perhaps to your friendly public media station — to share ideas you think they should cover. Here’s a cheat sheet for how to talk to a journalist.

Ignatius said that having a conversation with an elected official through social media is an easy way to start and it can be effective. Elected officials are often active through social channels, or have staffers monitoring them.

“They will flag it for their member and say, ‘Hey, you know, I just saw this thing. This sounds super compelling,’” she said.

Even better: go up and talk to them. 

Patrick MacFarlane, government relations manager of Child Care Resource Center said: “I would go up to my assembly member and say, ‘This is what I'm interested in. Where do you stand on this issue?’”

He added that it helps to share solutions when you share your story. Oftentimes, they may be familiar with the problem, but don’t know how to fix it.

Don’t be bummed if you can only meet with your representative’s staff members. Talking with staffers can often be just as productive as talking directly with your representative, many of the experts we spoke to said. After all, they are the ones who are advising the representative and helping them prioritize issues.

What changes have people already made in early childhood policy?

It can be helpful to understand what issues people have already worked on to figure out what’s possible and where you want to make an impact.

Some big things that have changed in early childhood over the past few years, including:

• Low-income families no longer have to pay out-of-pocket “family fees” for subsidized child care.
• California workers now have more sick leave (five days).
• California’s family leave program expanded so people receive a higher % of their paycheck.
• Medi-Cal now pays for doulas.
• Hospitals and maternal care facilities must undergo anti-bias training.
• California expanded transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds. 
• Child care providers unionized.

Many issues continue to affect families with young children, and people are actively working on changing them:

• High cost of child care 
• Lack of subsidized child care slots
• Child care providers — mostly women of color — not getting paid enough
• Poor birth outcomes for Black moms and babies
• Preschool segregation
• Lack of early screening for developmental delays

This list is just the beginning. Do a quick search on the issue you care about to help you find the people working on it. If no one is working on it, it’s still not impossible; it just hasn’t been done yet.

Medi-Cal now covers doulas due to the advocacy of birthworkers and parents across the state. Doula and Birthworkers of Color Collective member Andrea Howard serves Medi-Cal clients.

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California child care providers were able to unionize in 2019 after a years-long campaign of parents and child care providers sharing their stories. Waverly Stone, right, is a family child care provider in Rialto. Shanae Pharaoh, left, sends her two children to Stone's childcare.

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Be persistent. Enjoy the ride.

Working on changing local and statewide policies takes time. It’s important to buckle up for the long haul, and to be persistent.

When things do start to change, it can be really satisfying.

Parent Iesha Foster said what keeps her motivated to continue the work is being able to share what she has learned with others. She said that she often finds herself giving advice, resources, and information to other parents and even teachers. By getting involved, she’s been able to become the resource for other parents that she wishes she had early on.

“I like to be the voice for the ones who don't know about it,” Foster said. “I can actually help someone that didn't know, so they can have a better understanding.”

This guide was informed by the Hey bb review committee: September Hill, nonprofit advocacy consultant and Ofelia Carrillo, former communications specialist at SEIU-Local 99 / Child Care Providers United.

Something unusual is happening with only a few days remaining before the U.S. men's national team opens its World Cup campaign against Paraguay: Tickets for the match are not sold out.

Although numbers fluctuate regularly, FIFA's ticketing website still shows 132 tickets left to sell for a game that's set to take place in Los Angeles on Friday. Meanwhile, resale platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek — and FIFA's own marketplace — also show thousands of tickets on sale.

The number is even higher for Canada's opening match against Bosnia Herzegovina in Toronto on the same day, with 226 tickets left in FIFA's website and a high number of tickets available in resale markets.

That's unusual for high-profile events such as the opening matches of the World Cup — traditionally among the hardest to get tickets in the tournament. This year will feature three hosts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — but so far only Mexico's opening match against South Africa on Thursday looks to be virtually sold out.

Ticketing experts widely agree on the reason: the prices. FIFA dramatically jacked them up for the tournament — especially for high profile games. The most expensive regular seats for the U.S. opener against Paraguay are priced at $2,735 — more than the final cost for the 2022 World Cup final — while the cheapest are $1,120.

Even President Trump said he wouldn't pay those prices.

"I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you," Trump told the New York Post in a recent interview.

The other two remaining games for the U.S. national have far fewer tickets available, given that prices are well below the ones for the opening match.

Prices have also fallen sharply

There are not only plenty of tickets left to sell — a number of them are also available below FIFA's face value. According to Ticketdata, which tracks prices across the resale platforms, the cheapest pair of tickets for the opening match for the U.S. and Canada was $951 as of Monday morning, while in FIFA's resale platform, tickets were available for as low as $690.

Other games across the 104-match tournament also still have many tickets left to sell — despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino's claim that every match is "already sold out." That's especially the case for lesser well known teams such as the Jordan against Algeria match, which still had hundreds of unsold seats in the FIFA's web site.

Demand for high-profile tickets such as Argentina and Portugal was far higher, however, with many of those games looking largely sold out.

Will the opening matches sell out?

Whether eventually the U.S. and Canada opening matches will sell out is hard to answer. Throughout the sales process, FIFA has closely guarded how many tickets it has actually sold and how many are left to sell, making it virtually impossible to gauge.

In addition, like other teams, FIFA could also sell tickets in other platforms including third-party ones such as SeatGeek, which can further obscure how many tickets are left to sell.

FIFA and organizers, however, are hoping for a surge in excitement that leads to a last-minute rush of sales for the opening matches as well as for those such as Jordan against Algeria that look far from being sold out.

Ben Shields, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says perceptions so far of the tournament have been shaped by how expensive tickets and travel has been for a tournament taking place across an entire continent.

That, he says, "does not seem to sit well with many."

But that could change.

"The hope or bet — for FIFA is that once the matches start — and the greatest players in the world compete for the most prestigious prize of them all, the sport as business lens will fade into the background and the World Cup will be seen and experienced as the enduring global institution that it is," Shields says. "We shall see."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Orange County’s top elected leaders on Tuesday are set to discuss what to do with $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme.

Do is now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions in tax dollars meant to feed needy seniors and people with disabilities in his district.

As part of the plea deal, Do acknowledged taking more than $800,000 in bribes through his two daughters, including a down payment on the house his youngest daughter Rhiannon Do later forfeited to resolve the criminal case. The scheme was first uncovered by LAist.

Federal officials recovered money from seized bank accounts and two properties connected to Do’s scheme — including the Tustin house his daughter bought.

The county Board of Supervisors is expected to publicly discuss plans for the recovered funds as they make decisions on the overall county budget at their meeting Tuesday. Public comment will also be taken.

What to do with the money?

Ahead of Tuesday’s discussion, Do’s successor said the funds should support residents of his former district who were deprived by Do and his alleged co-conspirators.

“For the past five years, every other district in Orange County has benefitted from the same community funds to support their cities, nonprofits, civic projects which strengthens their communities,” Supervisor Janet Nguyen wrote in a mass email to constituents last week. “However, our district went without because Do stole what belonged to our residents.”

“This money was stolen from the First District, and it must come back to the First District,” Nguyen added.

Nguyen was Do’s mentor and former boss more than a decade ago, before the two had a bitter falling out by 2016.

She encouraged residents of her district to send letters to the board and to speak during public comments.

Several county supervisors told LAist they supported a similar approach, one in which the recovered money goes to support the original intended recipients: seniors and people with disabilities in Do’s former district. Some supervisors have since advocated a broader view of how they’d want to use the money, noting that it was meant to address disruptions caused by the pandemic. Now that years have passed since the initial COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, some supervisors argue community needs have changed.

“We are so many years on, and the problems that money originally was to address (mostly Covid impacts) are now behind us, that I think we should have a discussion about how and where to spend it,” Supervisor Don Wagner told LAist via text message in March. “The budget is so tight and the needs so great across the county.”

Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said he’d work toward a fair distribution of the funds to best serve residents, with a focus on current needs.

“We will definitely consider what areas of the County were harmed by Do’s scheme, but we must also remember that the funds were intended for relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a threat we are no longer facing,” he said in March. “We also need to consider addressing the current needs of residents with any dollars returned to the county.”

Millions more haven’t been recovered, at least yet

The amount of taxpayer money recovered so far is less than half of the $7.9 million Andrew Do admitted was diverted from specific meal contracts.

In a lawsuit seeking to recover funds, the county alleges the total amount lost in the scheme was even larger: $13.25 million. The county’s suit — scheduled for trial in November 2027 — covers all of the money Do gave to two nonprofits accused in the scheme, Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization.

That leaves more than $4 million — and possibly much more — not yet recovered.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted they have an ongoing criminal case against Do’s alleged co-conspirator Peter Pham.

“Assuming we obtain a conviction in that matter, we would expect to seek restitution,” the spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, said.

Pham left the country on a flight to Taiwan in late 2024 and remains a fugitive, according to McEvoy. The case against him also includes charges against another alleged co-conspirator, Thanh Huong Nguyen, who led the Hand to Hand nonprofit.

Fans of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team swelled the stadium at the Great Park in Irvine on Monday to watch players practice for the first time since arriving at the training facility they’ll call home for the first round of the 2026 World Cup.

“Seeing them play right now… it was really cool to see how they play and how they practice,” said Mila Ran, who came with her mother from nearby Mission Viejo.

“This whole time she’s saying, 'I want to go shoot, I want to go play,'” said Mila’s mother, Farah Ran.

They were among about 6,000 people who won free entry to the practice in a lottery that received more than 30,000 entries, according to Irvine officials.

Fans got to the venue early.

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The team’s biggest stars — Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and others — showed off their ball handling skills, honed over years of play on U.S. youth fields and overseas in professional leagues. Fans yelled, waved U.S. flags, held up homemade signs, and did the wave several times.

The U.S. Men's National Team at their only open-to-the-public practice session in Irvine.

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After the roughly 45-minute practice, some players walked to the sidelines to take selfies with fans and sign autographs.

The players know it’s going to take more than this, however, to live up to expectations during the World Cup.

US men's national team player Tim Ream signs an autograph for a fan.

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“To be in a position to train in front of these people today… is such a unique opportunity and one that none of us take for granted,” said backup goalie Matt Freese before the practice. “We’re working as hard as we can, as focused as we can to leave the next generation inspired."

The U.S. men’s team and their training staff will use the Great Park facility over the next several weeks as the team plays Paraguay on Friday, Australia on June 19, and Turkey on June 25 in group play at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Jury selection began Monday for the trial of the man accused of igniting a fire that led to the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is charged with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of setting timber afire. He could face up to 45 years in federal prison.

How we got here

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht set brush alight near a popular hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains on New Year’s Day, starting the Lachman Fire. Firefighters initially thought they put out the fire, but it remained smouldering underground for several days. High winds then brought the embers to the surface, sparking the Palisades Fire, which burned more than 23,000 acres.

What prosecutors say

In a court filing in April, prosecutors allege Rinderknecht displayed “extreme anger, indignation, and frustration” because he had to spend New Year's Eve alone. After driving around for Uber, Rinderknecht hiked up a popular trail and set chaparral alight in a clearing, according to prosecutors.

“He then started calling 911 multiple times, hiked down the hill, and fled the area in his car before firefighters arrived. Defendant returned to the area after he saw fire trucks arriving and then took videos of the firefighting efforts,” prosecutors wrote.

The filing also states that Rinderknecht threatened to burn down his sister’s home.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Rinderknecht started the smaller blaze knowing it could turn into a bigger inferno.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Hwang has previously expressed the government’s position could confuse jurors.

What the defense says

Defense attorney Steve Haney previously told reporters that prosecutors were trying to blame Rinderknecht for a fire that started days before the Palisades Fire.

"Well what about what happened between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7?" he asked. "Jonathan wasn't out there with a fire hose putting that fire out at the Lachman location, the Fire Department was. So why are they blaming him for whatever the Fire Department didn't do?"