The Senator Fighting to Make Child Care Affordable in Miami

State Senator Alexis Calatayud is back on A Day in Miami — and this time she’s breaking down exactly what she’s accomplished for Miami families. She created Florida’s first down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers through Hometown Heroes, expanded child care eligibility for the first time in 25 years, and brought $24 million for veterans’ healthcare that the VA wasn’t covering — dental, vision, and behavioral health.

She also gets into the Kid Care children’s health insurance program at $50-$75 a month, the Continental Park rezoning fight, why the SMART plan is allowing multifamily development without transit being built, and the bill she stopped that would have eliminated the UDB entirely. Plus how she saved 12,000 HIV patients from losing medication in three weeks by working across party lines, and the story of a Democratic teacher who changed her mind after a doorstep conversation.

If you live in Miami and care about affordability — this senator has been fighting for you.

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Produced by: Ben Schwede
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0:00 Intro
1:50 Introducing the Guest
3:17 Cost of Childcare
5:31 School Readiness Program
6:25 Increasing Income Eligibility
7:24 How Business Owners Can Contribute to Employees’ Childcare Costs
8:42 VPK Program
9:36 Investing Money Into Childcare Where It Will Make the Most Impact
10:31 Children's Health Insurance
12:53 Kid Care Program
15:33 Are the Parties United on the Childcare Legislation?
16:18 Hometown Hero Program and Success Stories
19:12 Veterans Healthcare
21:42 Campaign Trail
22:29 Stories from Knocking Doors
25:27 Can Affordability Really Be Addressed?
26:24 Continental Park
29:42 Bus Lanes on US-1 and Broken Buses
32:13 Protecting Environment
34:20 Removing UDB Line?
37:50 The Importance of These Elections
40:44 Her Favorite Democrats to Work With
43:32 Top 3 Restaurants in Tallahassee
46:12 OutroOutro