Last week, 350 people (many of them strategically wearing red) came to the Massachusetts State House for Advocacy Day for Early Education & Care and School Age Programs.

Caitlin Jones and Leishla Diaz of The Guild of St. Agnes in Worcester

The morning started with speeches from legislators and the commissioner of Early Education and Care – as well as remarks from a parent and from another parent who became an early educator.

Afterwards, attendees went to meet with the legislators. Here’s a recap of what the speakers said.

Bill Eddy

“It’s important that we do two things today. One is to say thank you,” Bill Eddy, the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Early Education and Care,

said of the work done by early educators and by House Speaker Robert De Leo (D-Winthrop) and Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland).

The second thing to do, Eddy told the crowd is to remind legislators that “We have not gotten to where we need to be.” Massachusetts and the federal government still need to invest more in parent access and in education and training for early educators as well as in Head Start and in support for homeless children.

Michael Moore

“You’re the foundation for the education of our kids,” Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury) said to early educators, adding that Massachusetts needs to do more for them by increasing salaries and educational opportunities.

Moore credited the success of his own children to the strong start they got years ago in their own early education programs. Now early education can help close the state’s academic achievement gaps.

Talk to your legislators, Moore said. “There’s nothing more important than putting a face to this issue.”

Tricia Farley-Bouvier

“Early education is the secret sauce,” Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield) said. “Early education is what’s going to change our communities… It is what will bring our families out of poverty.”

Farley-Bouvier also pointed to the progress of early educators in her area who are earning their bachelor’s degrees at MCLA, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She spoke of how moving it is to see the triumph of these students graduating. And she pointed out the disappointment of having them return to work with their new degree and still only earn $12 per hour.

Farley-Bouvier encouraged the audience to invite legislators to their early education and care programs.

“Have them sit in the little chairs,” she said. “Tell them about your teachers and how they are working two jobs.”

Michael Rodrigues

“I can’t tell you how much we value what you do,” Senator Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) said.

Rodrigues, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, also praised increased federal funding for Head Start and increased state funding for the rate reserve. And he said that for the FY ’21 budget, legislators are looking at creating a sliding fee scale reserve.

“But there are just too many families on the waiting list.”

So fan out across the State House, he advised, and spread the word. “You’re going to be speaking to many choirs today, but it’s important that you do.”

Holly Benson

“I started out as a full-time mom,” Holly Benson said, recalling the days when she brought her own children to an early education program. She became a part-time teacher’s aide and then a full-time aide. And now she is an early education teacher in her own classroom.

She earned her college degree and says that while she could use it to make more money in other careers, she stays in early education because, “I love my job.”

However, she added of herself and her colleagues, “We are starting to feel that pay is a real struggle.”

Sal DiDomenico

Early education is personal for Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett). He attended Head Start as a child, and in those days, it was tough to find kids to fill spots.

Today, Massachusetts has the opposite problem, there aren’t enough early education spots for all of the state’s children.

“You are there for our families at critical points in their children’s development, and we should be there for your families, too,” DiDomenico said.

He told the audience that all the legislators they meet will say they support early education, but that is not enough.

“Make that person be your champion,” he said, telling early educators to ask, “What are you going to do to make things happen.”

“Our kids don’t have time to wait.”

Christine Barber

“Somerville has been wonderful,” Representative Christine Barber (D-Somerville) said, pointing out that 95 percent of city children who enter kindergarten have had some form of early education. “What weighs on us is how to keep this going.”

“Teachers can’t afford to live in our community, so we need to work on wages.” And resources should be in place so that children’s behavioral and mental health needs can be addressed during early childhood.

She acknowledged how complex and multifaceted early educators’ work is and encouraged them to communicate with legislators, saying, “You really are the best messengers.”

Michael Wynn

“In case the outfit wasn’t a giveaway, I am not in early education,” Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn said.

Wynn is a member of “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids,” a bipartisan nonprofit organization with 5,000 members nationally, 100 of whom are in Massachusetts.

“I have met many young children who entered school not ready to learn,” Wynn said. These children can become discouraged and lose interest. Some look for support elsewhere, in gangs or other criminal enterprises. Some are incarcerated, and some “are no longer with us.”

“As a cop, that’s my challenge to you, help stop me from telling more of these stories,” Wynn added, saying that in addition to reaching out to legislators, it’s also important to reach out to police chiefs, sheriffs, and district attorneys and ask them to join in the work of investing in children.

Nairobi Woodberry

“I’m a school bus driver now,” Boston native Nairobi Woodberry told the audience.

But Woodberry, a single mother of three, had struggled with domestic violence and been homeless. She received helped with housing and with child care, including support from ParentChild+.

“As a constituent, I’m grateful for the services offered.”

Samantha Aigner-Treworgy

“I am thrilled to be here with you,” Samantha Aigner-Treworgy, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, said.

Based on her previous work in Chicago and here time here in Massachusetts, Aigner-Treworgy has seen “how fragile the field is.”

So she’s thinking about change.

“How do we innovate?” she asked. “How do we catch these systems up?”

The commissioner’s advice to the early educators who were about to talk to their legislators? “I encourage you to share those magic moments that you have,” working with children.

“Not only can we be the birthplace of affordable healthcare,” she said of Massachusetts, “we can be the birthplace of affordable child care.”

Photos: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children