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Archive for the ‘Child care’ Category

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| Leave a 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.

(more…)

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Act Today: Early education and care in the FY23 state budget

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, Early educators, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #earlyed, #EarlyEducators, #ece, #mapoli, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on July 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

The FY23 state budget is late this year, but legislators are very close to a deal. A 6-member conference committee is meeting now to finalize differences between the House and Senate budget proposals.

For early education and care, there is $344 million at stake.

That’s the difference between the House and Senate proposals. There’s $250 million for Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Stabilization Grants in the Senate proposal, and $70 million in rates in the House proposal, which includes $10 million for grants to early education and care providers for costs associated with personal child care.

Click this link to email the conference committee today, and ask them to advocate for early education and care in the conference committee budget.

If you have already taken action in recent weeks, take action again. As they finalize the state budget, our legislators need to hear from advocates for early education and care.

Our state continues to have record revenue surpluses. Not only can Massachusetts easily afford to fully fund early education and care – we can’t afford not to!

State funding is essential for continued recovery of our field.

Ongoing staffing shortages mean that early education and care programs are open but operating with lower enrollment and closed classrooms.

Many industries are experiencing similar shortages, but a workforce shortage in child care means people cannot return to work and our state and local economy cannot fully recover.

Ask the conference committee to invest in high-quality early education and care, for young children, families, educators, and communities.

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In quotes: Massachusetts Senate passes early education bill

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, Cost and affordability, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes, tagged #ece, #mapoli, #earlyed, #InvestInChildCare on July 8, 2022| 1 Comment »

Great news! The early education and child care bill passed the @MA_Senate this evening with a unanimous, bipartisan vote! This is a huge win for young children, working families, early educators, early education providers, and employers in the Commonwealth. pic.twitter.com/IxiDVcArrZ
— Jason Lewis (@SenJasonLewis) July 8, 2022

“Just as the Senate led on transforming the Commonwealth’s K-12 education system through the Student Opportunity Act, today’s bill would similarly transform the early education system,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “Unfortunately, high-quality early education remains out of reach for most Massachusetts families, and our providers struggle to keep their doors open. This bill will address those issues and make our Commonwealth stronger by making early education more affordable, investing in our early educators, and ensuring the sustainability of our providers.”

“With this bill, we are creating a framework to support the early education and care sector; making clear that the Senate understands the vital importance of early childhood to our economic recovery and to the health and wellbeing of Massachusetts families,” said Senator Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “I am proud of this bill and the work that has gone into it. I thank the Senate President for her leadership in prioritizing this issue, and I want thank Senator Lewis for thoughtfully and collaboratively putting this important legislation together.”

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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| 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 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: NYC Mayor Eric Adams shares $2 billion plan for child care

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, COVID-19, Funding, National, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #ece, #SolveChildCare on July 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

It doesn’t just take a village to raise a child. It takes a city. Join us in East Harlem for a major child care announcement. https://t.co/Yg6fvJQMns
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) June 28, 2022

“It takes a village to raise a child — or as Mayor Eric Adams puts it, these days it takes a city.”

“There’s currently only one available child-care slot for every five infants in New York City, the city said. However, the mayor said he hopes that the Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City will change that number.”

“Adams on Tuesday released a blueprint outlining a multi-agency $2 billion investment over the next four years that he said will increase the quality of child care and early childhood education — make them more accessible and equitable.

“More than 500,000 children under the age of 5 will benefit from the plan, including undocumented children and their families, the mayor said.”

“ ‘As a child, my mother had to work three jobs and still find a way to take care of me and my siblings. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 375,000 parents were forced to quit or downshift their jobs because they had no other way to take care of their children. Now, my administration is working to make sure no parent has to make that hard choice between childcare and putting food on their table again,’ said Adams.”

— “ ‘It takes a city:’ Mayor creates $2B plan to improve child care, early childhood education in NYC,” by Kristin F. Dalton, silive.com, Jun. 28, 2022

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Our Advocacy Network in Action: Kelly Marion

Posted in Child care, Higher Education, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Social-emotional development, Strategies for Children, tagged #ChildCare, #earlyed, #EarlyEducators on June 30, 2022| 2 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.

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Kelly Marion first came to the Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center when she was 11 years old. Her father had just passed away. He had been the victim of a violent crime. And Marion’s mother wanted Marion and her siblings to stay engaged with the community – and the world.

Today, Marion is the CEO of the community center, where she has worked for over 30 years. The center currently serves 2,500 families in and around the Western Massachusetts city of Pittsfield, in Berkshire County.

“The majority of our families are socio-economically challenged,” Marion says. “We have a lot of single-parent households and grandparents raising their grandchildren.”

The center has a number of programs that support children, all the way from birth to age 13, including child care programs and an array of programming for middle and high school students. Once they’re old enough, many of these children are hired as center staff.

Thanks to her work, Marion is a seasoned advocate. So for her, joining Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network was a chance to connect with other early educators from across the state — and share a vital message.

“I don’t think people see how important early childhood education is, and how important high-quality early education is,” Marion says.

(more…)

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Happy anniversary, Amy!

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, COVID-19, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, Higher Education, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Philanthropy, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged #EarlyEducators, #ece, #RedSox on June 29, 2022| 5 Comments »

Amy O’Leary at the Massachusetts State House in 2011

We’re thrilled to wish Amy O’Leary a happy 20^th anniversary! She started working at Strategies for Children on June 24, 2002.

We sat down with O’Leary to talk about this milestone.

“I have to say how grateful I am to have been at Strategies for Children for the last 20 years,” O’Leary says. “I would have never imagined that I would have this kind of job.”

O’Leary’s work with young children started at Skidmore College where she earned a degree in psychology and early education.

“I didn’t do a traditional K-12 education major,” O’Leary recalls, “because I was very interested in understanding why children did what they did, and how they sat in the context of family and community.”

O’Leary’s campus job as a financial aid student was working as a classroom assistant at the Skidmore Early Childhood Center, a laboratory school affiliated with Skidmore’s Education Department, where she also did her student-teaching.

“It was such an important part of my college experience to have that world where I could go three times a week, whether it was to my campus job or [for] student teaching, and develop relationships with families.”

“I don’t think I realized how wonderful the program was, and how it prepared me for my next job as a preschool teacher in Boston.”

(more…)

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In quotes: Kansas gives $53 million to early educators

Posted in Child care, Early educators, Federal, Funding, National, tagged #EarlyEducators, #InvestInChildCare on June 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

NEWS ALERT: We are making $53M available to eligible childcare staff at licensed facilities in Kansas to thank them for their incredibly hard work. A $750 to $2,500 dollar bonus will soon be going out to nearly 23,000 eligible childcare professionals across Kansas. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/GLCuLuMjLh
— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) June 21, 2022

“Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday announced a $53 million program to deliver bonuses to 22,000 child care workers at licensed facilities in Kansas.

“Child care workers will receive a one-time payment between $750 and $2,500, depending on the hours they work, in late July. The governor said the appreciation bonuses are ‘a reward for their incredibly hard work.’

“ ‘Child care providers have faced unbelievable challenges during the last two-and-a-half years,’ Kelly said. ‘Yet they’ve continued to fulfill their critical role in caring for kids. Their work is essential to the social and economic well-being of our state.’

“The $53 million program is paid for with federal funds, the governor said. The bonuses will be administered by Child Care Aware of Kansas.”

— “Kansas to give child care workers $53M in appreciation pay,” by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector, June 21, 2022

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Voices from the field… on WBUR

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #EarlyEducators, #ece, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on June 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

Check out this new feature from WBUR radio that is aptly titled: “We asked 8 child care workers about their joys and frustrations. Here’s what they said.”

It’s part of a week-long series on early education and care.

This particular article and audio clip features:

Bernadette Davidson

Kiya Savannah

Vanessa Pashkoff (whom we’ve blogged about)

Kitt Cox, and

WBUR asks these early educators to discuss “the joys and challenges of working in this industry, and why some are leaving the profession,” as the field grapples with challenges.

“The child care workforce in Massachusetts is about 12% smaller today than it was before the start of the pandemic, according to a recent analysis from the University of California, Berkeley,” WBUR explains.