Last week was the latest entry in Strategies for Children’s Advocacy 101 webinars.

The topic: state budget updates — or, to put it more bluntly, what COVID-19 has done to the budget.

Earlier this year, before the pandemic shut down Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker submitted his fiscal year ’21 budget.

“This budget would have continued an eighth consecutive year of increases for early education,” Titus DosRemedios, Strategies director of research and policy, says in the webinar.

State budget trends before COVID-19

“Then came… COVID 19.”

The pandemic has led to closures of all early education and care programs in the state, except for those providing emergency care for essential workers.

There has been some federal support, DosRemedios said, but not enough.

“Unfortunately, uncertainty rules the day,” Charlie Stefanini, legislative strategist for Strategies for Children, adds. “There are more questions than answers.” And legislators are facing unprecedented demand from their constituents.

“We’ve had over 750,000 people file for unemployment in the last five weeks,” Colin Jones, senior policy analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, says in his webinar presentation.

And the state will need to use all its advocacy tools.

Federal support will be crucial.

Watch the webinar for more information about how state and federal government efforts can help.

Reach out to the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and members of the Massachusetts Legislature. Tell them your story. And ask them to support early education and care programs.

Stay informed by visiting the websites of Strategies for Children and the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget).

Sign up for email updates and follow Strategies and MassBudget on Twitter: @EarlyEd4All, @MassBudget.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created daunting obstacles that have to be met with historic advocacy.

“Your role as advocates,” as DosRemedios says in the webinar, “is more critical than ever.”