Starting early morning and stretching into the evening, hundreds of child care home providers and centers held neighborhood marches and rallies as part of the Walk Out for Kids day of action to deliver a strong message to the Governor and state lawmakers: save child care for this fiscal year, and the next.

The crisis—the result of the Governor’s and state legislature’s inaction on the $300 million hole in the Child Care Assistance Program budget for the current fiscal year and the Governor’s proposed draconian cuts for Fiscal Year 2016—has already caused some centers and providers to stop providing care and many parents to lose child care. In some instances, parents have also lost their jobs.

In response to the growing crisis, thousands of child care providers, parents, children and supporters held hundreds of actions throughout the state in a loosely-coordinated Walk Out for Kids day of action. Action locations included multiple spots in Chicago and stretched across the state, with marches and rallies taking place in Peoria, Springfield, East St. Louis, and Decatur, among other locales.

Though in different corners of the state and composed of diverse groups of parents, children and supporters, each Walk Out had a common message—calling upon the Governor and state lawmakers to both fill the current $300 million budget hole in the Child Care Assistance Program and to prevent the additional suffering that would be inflicted by the Governor’s proposed cuts to the program for the next fiscal year.

Over 100,000 families and 160,000 children depend upon the Child Care Assistance Program, and are at risk of losing access to affordable child care because of both the current budget hole and the Governor’s proposed draconian cuts for Fiscal Year 2016.