“We’re all affected by the barriers to affordable, quality child care,” Arthur Buckland, the interim director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, said earlier this month at a panel discussion on child care policy.

The event was a great overview of the current state of early education and care in Massachusetts, with insights on policy, advocacy, parents’ needs, and business benefits.

“The panel explored efforts to strengthen access to affordable care at the local and state level, how the lack of child care impacts the Commonwealth’s workforce, economy, and family security, and the importance of building a talent pipeline,” the institute says on its website.

The moderator of the panel was Lauren Birchfield Kennedy, co-founder of Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit organization that works “to improve access to affordable, high-quality child care and early education.”

The panel speakers were:

• Samantha Aigner-Treworgy, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC)

• JD Chesloff, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable

• Theresa S. Loch, a teacher researcher at Worcester Child Development Head Start Program

• Maria Gonzalez-Moeller, CEO of The Community Group

• Amy O’Leary, director of Strategies for Children’s Early Education for All campaign, and

• Tania del Rio, executive director of the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement

The audience included Amy O’Leary’s students from Quinsigamond Commuity College who are participating in a Leadership Certificate Program.

“The students watched the live stream of the event and afterwards we had a conference call to share reflections,” Amy writes in this month’s Notes from Amy. “One student said that she felt connected – that as she watched the panel, she realized that she knew me, she had met EEC Commissioner Aigner-Treworgy, and she had met educator Theresa Loch in class. Another student said that she felt informed and another student talked about how important it was to have the voice of someone who was in the classroom every day as part of the discussion.”

Please connect and join the discussion by watching the video of the event posted above, and by sharing it with your personal, professional, and social media contacts.