Screenshot: Department of Early Education and Care portal

The Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) has a strategic plan – and EEC needs your help to turn the plan into action.

“The strategic plan was co-developed with over 11,000 residents of Massachusetts – their ideas, feedback, concerns, and expertise led directly to each strategy we will undertake,” EEC explains on the new strategic plan portal. The plan was approved last year by EEC’s Board.

The next step is community engagement.

EEC has a list of these events on its portal. Tonight and Thursday night, for example, there is a family child care “Licensing Regulatory Review” feedback session. Additional licensing sessions will cover out-of-school time programs as well as programs that operate child care programs for children ages 0-5 and for school-age children and youth.

During the first week of February, engagement activities will focus on stabilizing program operations. The focus in the second week of February will be “Family Child Care Operational and Program Supports.”

The portal will also feature surveys to collect information from the field.

So please stay tuned to EEC’s new portal. More engagement opportunities will be announced on a rolling basis. And EEC also shares information about these and other events on its Facebook page.

As EEC Commissioner Samantha Aigner-Treworgy says in a recent email, “We’ve had over 4,000 visitors so far—and we hope you’ll log on to join us for one of the many virtual events we have planned in the weeks ahead!”