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Boston is using federal funds to invest in the early childhood workforce

Posted in Boston, Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, Federal, Funding, Higher Education, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, tagged #ARPA, #bospoli, #ece, #InvestInChildCare on January 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Early education and childcare is critical infrastructure. Yesterday we announced funding to close gaps in our early education workforce with funding to credential 800 providers who will be connected to guaranteed jobs right here in Boston. Thank you to all our partners! pic.twitter.com/TgUisSheGc
— Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@MayorWu) November 22, 2022

The pandemic wiped out part of Massachusetts’ child care workforce.

Now Boston is trying to rebuild.

And the scale of this challenge is substantial.

“The childcare industry in Massachusetts lost about 10% of its workforce since the start of the pandemic,” WBUR radio reports. “In Boston, that’s translating into long wait lists and shorter hours of care. According to city officials, about 50 early education classrooms are sitting empty because child care centers can’t find enough people to operate at capacity.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu “was quick to point out that the estimate doesn’t include centers that have had to cut hours because they’re short staffed.”

To address this daunting gap, the city is using $7 million from the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act to launch the Growing the Workforce Fund.

The fund will provide scholarships and financial aid to 800 students who want to earn a Child Development Associate (CDA) or an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

“Today’s investment is a welcome one for early educators like me,” Lisa Brooks, an early educator at Horizons for Homeless Children, says in a city press release. “Relieving the burden of debt associated with higher education will help educators continue to focus on the important work of building the foundation for our students’ future success.”

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Mo Barbosa: from zero to 24 and beyond

Posted in Achievement gap, Boston, Child care, College/career readiness, Cost and affordability, Developmentally appropriate practice, Infants and toddlers, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #TheEarlyChildhoodAgenda, #ZeroTo24 on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

One of the most important lessons you learn in a conversation with Mo Barbosa is that everything in youth development work is – or should be – connected.

“The better we do with zero to five,” Barbosa says of working with young children, “the better we’re going to do with the next 10 to 15 years of development.”

Barbosa is the senior director of Community Engagement at Health Resources in Action, where his goal as a trainer and facilitator is to professionalize the youth work field. He is the facilitator for convenings of The Early Childhood Agenda, which are hosted by Strategies for Children.

Barbosa’s sweeping focus is on the zero-to-24 age range – “or 24-ish” he says, “as we’re starting to understand the brain, we’re going a little bit later.”

But instead of a well-paved road that leads from birth to early adulthood, children and families in Massachusetts — and the rest of the country — face a fractured system.

“There has been this historic difference between where you get child care and how much of it is early education and how much of it is just a place to put your kid,” Barbosa says. “And that difference has dictated quality. It has dictated pay. And it has dictated opportunity.”

Barbosa recalls running an early childhood program in St. Louis where children who lived in local housing projects would not go to kindergarten because they could not pass the screening test. Instead, they would enter first grade as six-year-olds with no early childhood classroom experiences.

The solution?

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Our Advocacy Network in Action: Felicia Billy

Posted in Boston, Child care, Early educators, Family engagement, Play, Pre-kindergarten, Social-emotional development, Strategies for Children, tagged #EarlyEducators, #FamilyEngagement on July 14, 2022| 1 Comment »

We’re continuing to highlight our Advocacy Network participants, and we’re excited about all the work they’re doing in the field and across the state. For past blogs click here, here, here, and here.

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Felicia Billy was working at a privately owned child care center — and applying for early education jobs at the YMCA of Greater Boston.

What made the Y attractive?

“The benefits,” Billy says.

This sounds like a personal issue, but Billy is also putting her finger on the fact that so many early educators don’t have the kind of benefits – such as retirement savings plans — that K-12 educators and many other professionals can take for granted.

The Y also offered another perk that other early childhood programs don’t: a career ladder. Billy started as a teacher, became a curriculum coordinator, next she was the assistant early education director, and then she moved into her current position as the early education director.

The Y also allows for Billy’s creativity.

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In quotes: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announces $20 million investment in universal pre-K

Posted in Boston, Child care, Family child care, Infants and toddlers, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes, tagged #bospoli, #earlyed, #InvestInChildCare, #preK, #upk on July 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Announcing: The City of Boston will be expanding support for community based-classrooms with a $20 million investment in early education through Boston's Universal Pre-K program, a partnership between BPS and the Office of Early Childhood.

Learn more: https://t.co/KyZTrXSsqf pic.twitter.com/WgtuZQsgtV
— City of Boston (@CityOfBoston) July 7, 2022

“Mayor Michelle Wu today announced a $20 million investment in early education through Boston’s Universal Pre-K (UPK) program, a partnership between BPS [Boston Public Schools] and the Office of Early Childhood. This investment builds on Mayor Wu’s commitment to universal, affordable, high-quality early education and care for all infants, toddlers, and children under five.”

“For the second year in a row, Boston UPK will increase the number of seats available to both 3- and 4-year-olds at community-based providers. Specifically, UPK will now offer up to 992 seats at community providers, with up to 627 seats for 4-year-olds and up to 365 seats for 3-year-olds.“

“ ‘The greatest investment we can make in our future is to support and center our young people,’ said Mayor Michelle Wu. ‘With this historic investment in early childhood education, we can kickstart an increase in high-quality Pre-K seats, bring family child care providers into the UPK network, and ensure all of our families have access to free and accessible early childcare and education.’ ”

— “Mayor Wu Announces $20 million investment to expand Boston’s universal pre-K program,” Boston Mayor’s Office, July 6, 2022

See also: “Boston to spend $20 million to expand pre-K program,” by Stephanie Ebbert and Adria Watson, The Boston Globe, July 6, 2022

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Our Advocacy Network in Action: Anna Ricci-Mejia

Posted in Boston, Child care, Developmentally appropriate practice, Diversity equity and inclusion, Language development, Pre-kindergarten, Social-emotional development, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlyed, #EarlyEducators, #MARunsOnChildCare on July 7, 2022| 3 Comments »

We’re continuing to highlight our Advocacy Network participants, and we’re excited about all the work they’re doing in the field and across the state. For past blogs click here and here and here.

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Anna Ricci-Mejia is an example of how multifaceted a Bostonian’s life can be. She grew up in Boston’s North End neighborhood. She’s an early educator at the East Boston Social Centers. Her parents immigrated to Boston from Italy. Her husband is from Central America. She speaks English and Italian. And in high school she learned to speak Spanish.

When Ricci-Mejia heard about Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network, she was immediately interested. She wanted to speak up for people. In any of her three languages.

“I know a lot of people, especially undocumented immigrants, are afraid to speak up or even get quality childcare for their children. And I always say, it doesn’t matter what your immigration status is. Your kids have to learn, and they have to learn and socialize when they’re young, because if they don’t, it will be harder later on.”

In the classroom, Ricci-Mejia speaks whatever language children in her care respond to, creating the kind of supportive environment she didn’t have as a kid who went straight from her mother’s care into kindergarten. She didn’t speak English. Other kids teased her. But over time she learned this new language.

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In quotes: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu gives grants to family child care providers

Posted in Boston, Child care, Family child care, Funding, Strategies for Children, tagged #InvestInChildCare on June 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Boston’s childcare stabilization grants provide critical funding towards an equitable recovery for our city’s young children & working families. pic.twitter.com/JPekxlrhXy
— Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@MayorWu) June 2, 2022

“All licensed family child-care providers in Boston will receive $3,260 in an effort to stabilize an industry battered by the pandemic, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday.

“The funding, approved by the City Council last year, comes from the federalAmerican Rescue Plan, on top of pandemic aid the state is already allocating to small businesses.”

“ ‘This is highlighting the need for family child-care providers,’ said Amy O’Leary, executive director of Strategies for Children, an advocacy and policy organization addressing early education. ‘And that amount of money could really help a family child-care provider compared to a large center just because of the scale.’ ”

“The Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement has prioritized child care as a critical issue for Boston’s families.

“ ‘Supporting family child care providers in the City of Boston is essential to our economic recovery,’ Alexandra Valdez, the office’s executive director, said in a statement. ‘As a first-time mom, I know that it’s essential to ensure that childcare providers continue to have the resources needed in order to succeed.’ ”

” ‘Empowering early childhood and childcare providers is critical to ensuring an equitable recovery for Boston’s young children and working families,’ Wu said in a statement. ‘As we work to ramp up access to accessible, high-quality childcare, these investments will immediately support our early childcare providers in their critical work to set up all of our children and families for success.’ ”

— “Mayor Wu directs grants to Boston family child-care providers,” by Stephanie Ebbert, The Boston Globe, June 1, 2022

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An early education “Epiphany”

Posted in Boston, COVID-19, Diversity equity and inclusion, Early educators, Family engagement, Health, Philanthropy, Pre-kindergarten, Social-emotional development, tagged #earlyed, #ece, #Epiphany, #NeverGiveUpOnAChild on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

What happens when a foster parent learns about an early learning center that’s willing to try a new approach?

Progress.

That’s the story Kate Audette tells about a child placed in her care by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), the state’s child welfare agency.

It was 2020, in the middle of the pandemic and after George Floyd was murdered, when Audette, who has been a licensed foster care provider since 2017, accepted the placement of an infant whom we’ll call Jordan to protect the child’s privacy.

Audette was working from home at the time and planned to keep the baby home “until it felt safe for them to go to school.”

But she did take the baby to a neighborhood rally in support of George Floyd. The event was organized by Dorchester People for Peace. It was outside. Everyone wore masks. It felt safe.

It also turned out to be life changing.

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Boston’s new Office of Early Childhood has a new leader: Kristin McSwain

Posted in Boston, Child care, Cost and affordability, Early educators, Family child care, Family engagement, Infants and toddlers, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #Boston, #ece, #InvestInOurFuture on March 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has created a promising new Office of Early Childhood, and this office has a new leader, Kristin McSwain.

The office will “advance the administration’s commitment to universal, affordable, high-quality early education and care for all children under five,” by:

• expanding access to early education and childcare programs

• investing in Boston’s early education and care workforce

• accelerating “the creation of a universal pre-K system that stretches across Boston Public Schools (BPS), community-based organizations, and family-based childcare programs”

• expanding high-quality, affordable options for infants and toddlers, and

• serving as “a central point-of-entry for residents looking for information on early education and childcare programming and wraparound services for young children and their families”

Mayor Wu, the mother of two young boys, sums up the vital importance of this work, saying, “Every bit of investment in our children and families to close gaps in early education and care is an investment in our collective future.”

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In quotes: Amy O’Leary’s graduation speech

Posted in Boston, Business and economy, Child care, Early educators, Family child care, Quotes, Strategies for Children, tagged #ChangeTheWorld, #ece, #SolveChildCare on March 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Last night, Amy O’Leary, executive director of Strategies for Children, spoke at the graduation ceremony for the City of Boston Childcare Entrepreneur Fund.

“The Fund offers support to current and aspiring owners of family childcare businesses in Boston. Fund recipients attend business training and receive grant funding for their business.”

Here’s part of what O’Leary said:

“We continue to be inspired by this dedicated and resilient workforce and their commitment to the problem solving, building partnerships and providing high-quality learning experiences under incredible circumstances.

“And YOU – tonight we celebrate you, the graduates of the City of Boston Childcare Entrepreneur Fund.

“You can change the world. All of the skills, gifts and talents you use to support young children can be used where you are sitting right now to lead.

“The most important piece is that YOU have to BELIEVE.

“WE are the ones we have been waiting for.

“YOU ARE SMART, POWERFUL LEADERS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES!

“We need to believe in ourselves and be willing to think differently about the future.

“It is critical that we find new, innovative, and meaningful ways to support educators and expand access to childcare for Boston families.”