Photo: Huong Vu for Strategies for Children

Last week we hosted another convening of The Early Childhood Agenda. Thank you to all those who registered and participated! Here’s a quick recap:

The Early Childhood Agenda Continues

On March 29, 2023, Strategies for Children and lead advocates shared an overview of The Agenda’s launch, its accomplishments, and new developments that have occurred since the launch in October, 2022, and then finalized The Agenda in January of 2023.

Special thanks to our partners for presenting timely updates and opportunities for action. They are:

• Naomi Meyer, Lift Our Kids Coalition

• Charlotte Bruce, Healthy Families Tax Credit Coalition

• Ryan Telingator, Common Start Coalition, and

• Kate Barlow, Massachusetts Act Early

We hosted two sessions (in the morning and evening) in two languages (English and Spanish) to accommodate our growing community of almost 600 partners across the Commonwealth.

Both recordings are available on the YouTube playlist

Click here to view the presentation slides – English

Haga clic aquí para ver las diapositivas de la presentación – Español

The Agenda is available online www.earlychildhoodagenda.org

The Next Phase

The Early Childhood Agenda has identified 10 priorities to focus on for the next two years. During this next phase, our goal will be to support our partners as they participate in actionable initiatives that advance these priorities. We envision two pathways of engagement, participants can:

• Join an established coalition and help advance the priority of their choice

• Join a workgroup and help develop recommendations and advocacy next steps for the priorities that don’t have a lead advocate. We are launching workgroups for seven of our priorities so that our partners can come together and work on equitable and impactful solutions.

Upcoming Opportunities for Action

April 11: Tax Credit Fairness Event at the State House 
Learn more about the Healthy Families Tax Credit Coalition

April 12 – 19: MA Statewide Developmental Monitoring & Screening Week 
Learn more about how you can participate on the Massachusetts Act Early website

Interested in becoming a Lead Advocate or Facilitator?

We are still looking for partners who are willing to step into leadership roles within The Early Childhood Agenda. Please review slides #23 and #24 (see the links above) for more information about these opportunities and email Marisa Fear, associate director of Research and Policy at Strategies for Children to share your interest.

Learning Together!

Last month, The 9:30 Call featured an update on An Act to establish a Massachusetts Children’s Cabinet (S. 79 and H. 189) with Dr. Greg Hagan, of the MA Child and Adolescent Health Initiative, part of the Cambridge Health Alliance, and Dr. Charles J. Homer, president and CEO of the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality. Click here to view the recording and learn more about one component of priority #7 of The Early Childhood Agenda:

For general questions or assistance, please contact: info@earlychildhoodagenda.org

Thank you for your continued participation and support!