Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Pre-kindergarten’ Category

In quotes: the Early Childhood Agenda

Posted in Child care, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged on March 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This video features highlights and interviews from the official release of the Early Childhood Agenda at the State House in January.

As we’ve blogged, the agenda is “a unified plan that draws on many voices to improve early childhood programs in Massachusetts.”

There’s more to come: the many advocates and providers who support the Early Childhood Agenda will reconvene on March 29th. To join us, please RSVP for either the 10 a.m. or the 6 p.m. session (which will have Spanish interpretation). Check out our Agenda Events page for links and information.

To get involved with the implementation phase of the Early Childhood Agenda, email info@earlychildhoodagenda.org.

Read Full Post »

Advocacy call for videos about stabilization grants

Posted in Child care, Early educators, National, Pre-kindergarten, tagged , on March 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Please join an advocacy effort being led by the national nonprofit Child Care Aware of America by creating a 90-second video about the importance of stabilization grants.

Stabilization grants have had a powerful, positive impact on helping early childhood providers stay open during the pandemic.

But funding for these grants is going to expire later this year!

That’s why Child Care Aware is seeking “perspectives from more child care providers in every state. Can you submit a short video? Sharing your story can help leaders and policymakers hear about the challenges child care continues to face and the difference that additional funding can make for programs and families nationwide.”

Making a video is easy. You can click here to watch a sample video. Then click on the button marked “Start Your Video,” and you’ll see prompts about what to say. You’ll also have to grant the website permission to access your computer’s microphone and camera.

You can also click on the video above to watch highlights of other providers’ videos.

Please join this national effort by sharing your voice and your story.

Read Full Post »

Our Advocacy Network in action: MyHanh Barrette and her love for families

Posted in Boston, Family engagement, Infants and toddlers, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged on March 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The second cohort of Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network is underway, and we’re excited to share the stories of this year’s participants. 

*

24zpgpf8-100012_original

MyHanh Barrette

MyHanh Barrette moved from Vietnam to the United States when she was 11 years old, and her path to advocacy started with figuring out her own strengths and then helping to elevate the strengths of the families she works with.

One tool she uses in her work is love. 

“If I don’t love my community, if I don’t love my country, then I won’t want to change anything,” she says. “If I don’t love an organization, if I don’t love my school, I won’t want to improve them.”

Barrette’s professional story began years ago with a practical question. 

“My Mom and Stepfather said, Okay, are you going to be a doctor, a pharmacist, an engineer, or a lawyer?” 

Barrette made a practical choice and graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a computer science degree – which she never used in her work. Instead, she became a court-certified interpreter, helping families who spoke Vietnamese access the legal system. 

“Language was used as a commodity, as part of the power dynamic: You don’t have access to language and I do, so I’m going to assume that because you don’t speak English, you’re ‘less than’ in every other aspect,” Barrette says. 

“As an interpreter, I was there to remove the language barrier. When I did that, I saw other barriers that these families faced. But even with these barriers, families were thriving in their own ways. They were facing so much, but they were resourceful, and they were strength-based. I learned so much from them, and I came to see myself as a facilitator, as someone who empowers families.” 

In her spare time, Barrette helped lead a co-ed Scout troop, which built on her love of children. She went on to raise her own children, and as they grew, she thought she might want to be a teacher. A trip to the library changed that. A career coach, who was volunteering at the library, listened to Barrette and said, You don’t want to be a teacher. You want to be a social worker. 

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Join us for Advocacy Day

Posted in COVID-19, Early educators, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged , , , , on March 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Please join us for Advocacy Day for Early Ed & Care and School Age programs – next Tuesday morning, March 14, 2023, in the Great Hall at the Massachusetts State House!

Registration starts at 9:30 a.m.

The program of speakers starts at 10 a.m.

Meetings with state legislators start at 11:15 a.m.

And, of course, there’s the excitement of getting to meet with hundreds of other early childhood professionals.

Check out the RSVP page for more info.

And click here for related materials, including social media hashtags.

In previous years, Advocacy Day has had a celebratory mood, created by early educators who understand the power of speaking as a group and asking policymakers to create more affordable, high-quality early childhood programs for families. You can read more about that in our past Advocacy Day blogs.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

In quotes: Governor Maura Healey makes the case for her budget proposal

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, Cost and affordability, MA governor, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged , , on March 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“A day after unveiling her $55.5 billion state budget, Gov. Maura Healey is on the road trying to garner support for her plan. She made a pitch Thursday morning to 800 members of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

“ ‘We know some of the challenges that we’re confronting right now: an unprecedented housing crisis, skyrocketing costs for quality child-care, companies unable to find workers with the skills they need to grow,’ Healey said. ‘The good news is we can, working together, fix that.’ ”

“Healey said her budget, along with a $750 million tax reform bill she proposed earlier this week, would help to stop the exodus of workers from the state. Since the pandemic, more than 110,000 people have left Massachusetts to find work in states with a lower cost of living, according to Internal Revenue Service data obtained by The Boston Globe.”

“ ‘No one is going to compete harder as your governor than me. I promise you,’ Healey told Chamber of Commerce members.”

— “Healey pitches her budget and tax reform plans to Boston’s business community,” Steve Brown, WBUR, March 2, 2023

Read Full Post »

Governor Healey’s first budget proposal has good news for early education and care

Posted in Child care, Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged , , , on March 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll kicked off the Massachusetts budget season by releasing their $55.5 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, which includes good news for early education and care.

“Our FY24 budget is what Massachusetts needs to meet this moment and build a strong economy, livable communities and a sustainable future,” Governor Healey said in a statement. “Combined with our tax relief proposal, we will set Massachusetts up for success by lowering costs, growing our competitiveness, and delivering on the promise of our people.” Earlier this week we highlighted the Child and Family Tax Credit in Healey’s proposal, which would provide $600 per eligible dependent.

For early education and care, the Healey-Driscoll budget proposal includes:

• $475 million to continue the state’s C3 operational grants

• $25 million for financial assistance for low-income families

• $30 million for Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative

• $20 million for child care resource and referral services

• $20 million in rate increases for subsidized child care providers

• $5 million for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Services, and

• $5 million for comprehensive strategic analysis to build on the work completed through the Special Legislative Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission

(more…)

Read Full Post »

State budget season is starting: Governor Maura Healey will release her budget proposal tomorrow

Posted in Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged , , , , on February 28, 2023| 2 Comments »

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey will make news tomorrow when she releases her first state budget proposal for fiscal year ’24. It will be a fiscal snapshot of her policy priorities, and we’re excited to see how she invests in early education and care.

 Healey stands on a strong funding foundation. As our budget analysis explains, the state’s FY’23 budget made historic investments in the early childhood system, including:

• a $1.16 billion budget for the Department of Early Education and Care, which is a 45% increase over FY22.

• a new $175 million High-Quality Early Education & Care Affordability Fund, which supports recommendations made in the Special Legislative Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission

• an Economic Development bill signed into law in November that provided an additional $150 million for C3 Stabilization Grants, and $315 million for the Affordability Fund

Advocates hope Healey will continue to increase the state’s investment, and so far, the signs are promising. Yesterday, Healey announced a major tax relief proposal that includes $458 million for a new Child and Family Tax Credit that will “provide families with a $600 credit per dependent, including children under 13, people with disabilities, and senior dependents aged 65 and older,” a press release says. 

This tax relief proposal “will be factored into the budget Healey will file on Wednesday,” according to a State House News story published in the Lowell Sun. “It will be up to the Democrats who control the House and Senate to decide whether to increase or decrease the scope of Healey’s proposals.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Lessons from Somerville: How to build a strong and sustainable early childhood system

Posted in Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Family engagement, Funding, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Philanthropy, Pre-kindergarten, tagged , , , on February 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Somerville, Mass., has spent years building a strong foundation for its early education and care programs.

somerville

Photo: Huong Vu for Strategies for Children

Now, a case study – One Somerville, Every Child — explores how Somerville has used a three-year (2019-2022), $1 million grant from the Commonwealth Children’s Fund to make vital progress that will support young children and families – and set an example other cities can learn from.

This work began in 2018 when representatives of the City of Somerville and the Somerville Public Schools were introduced to team members from the Commonwealth Children’s Fund – thanks to the Harvard Education Redesign Lab’s By All Means Initiative.”

Somerville officials “shared plans and dreams they had for expanding their early childhood services, and the CCF team shared their plans to start investing in communities piloting innovations in early childhood systems,” the case study says.

Somerville had three goals it sought to achieve:

• expand and institutionalize its early childhood programs

• expand its existing preschool initiatives, and

• bridge the gaps between children’s birth and when they start school

Another program that was central in the grant-funded work was “Somerville’s light-touch, universal home visiting program, SomerBaby,” a first point of connection “to early childhood services and supports for many families.”

(more…)

Read Full Post »

The second year of the Advocacy Network: introducing a new group of leaders

Posted in Child care, Early educators, Funding, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged , , on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Cohort2_ZoomScreencap

Advocacy Network Year 2 Cohort

Last year, Strategies for Children launched the Advocacy Network for Early Education and Care, a program for educators and leaders in the early childhood field who wanted to expand their impact. Seven advocates completed the first cohort, and are having a positive advocacy impact on their programs, communities, and state.

Now we’re excited about the second year of the program and how a new group of leaders will expand advocacy in their communities. 

“This program is all about the advocacy journey,” Titus DosRemedios, deputy director of Strategies for Children, says. “Last year’s participants went on a journey with us and with each other. They stepped out of their comfort zone, met knew people, learned about policy and ‘Advocacy 101,’ and took new strides in their professional development. They had the chance to speak on panels, serve on committees, write and share testimonies, appear in the news media and on social media, and develop advocacy projects for their programs, classrooms, and communities. This created a powerful ripple effect for the early childhood community, one that we know will continue with cohort 2 and 3.”

This year’s cohort 2 participants are:

(more…)

Read Full Post »

The National Early Care and Education Workforce Center – a federal effort deployed by local and national leaders

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Federal, Funding, National, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, tagged , on February 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

workforce

Photo: Huong Vu for Strategies for Children

Earlier this month, federal officials announced that they are creating the new and promising National Early Care and Education Workforce Center (the ECE Workforce Center). It’s a national effort to rebuild the workforce that includes local leaders here in Boston.

Launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with $30 million in funding, the new center will address an old problem: even before the pandemic, the early childhood workforce was plagued with low pay and high turnover rates. This situation has grown worse during the pandemic.

 “We know it is hard for families to find quality early childhood programs. One of the reasons is that programs are having trouble recruiting and retaining early educators,” January Contreras says. Contreras is the assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families, part of HHS. “We cannot continue to expect early educators to remain in these critical roles only to earn poverty wages.”

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra adds, “HHS is honored to launch this first-of-its-kind research and technical assistance center to support the essential early childhood workforce who partner with families every day to ensure young children have what they need to thrive.”

The new ECE Workforce Center will help by addressing recruitment and retention. The center’s work will include the input of early educators and be carried out over the next five years by six partner organizations. They are:

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: