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An update on the Early Childhood Agenda

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Early educators, Family engagement, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #TheEarlyChildhoodAgenda on November 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The Early Childhood Agenda is making progress. This convening series hosted by Strategies for Children has brought together more than 400 individual advocates and partners. Participants have been meeting in five working groups to identify systemic challenges and set priorities.

Last week, participants attended a whole group meeting – dubbed “Bringing it all Together” and recorded in the video above – to talk across the Agenda’s working groups and ensure that the groups’ efforts are aligned and that any gaps in the work are addressed.

Among the themes that were discussed:

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in National, Strategies for Children, tagged #HappyThanksgiving on November 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: RODNAE Productions, Pexels

Enjoy the holiday!

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We voted! What’s next? Join us for a post-election webinar

Posted in Child care, Election, MA governor, MA Legislature, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlychildhood, #WeVotedNowWhat on November 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

we voted

The Election Day results from Massachusetts are in!

Congratulations to Governor-Elect Maura Healey, Lieutenant Governor-Elect Kim Driscoll, the returning members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, and the winners of other statewide offices.

We are also excited to congratulate all returning and newly elected members of the Massachusetts Legislature.

What’s next?

Join us on Monday, November 21st, 2022, at 1 p.m. for a post-election webinar to discuss next steps and how we can work together to build relationships and engage elected officials in supporting early childhood in 2023!

Click here to register.

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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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Vote!

Posted in Child care, Election, MA governor, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #ElectionDay, #vote on November 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

It’s Election Day! Please go out and vote!

Here are some useful voting facts and links:

• polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Massachusetts. Click here to see where you vote

• you can also check the Secretary of State Elections Website

• you can see information about the Ballot Questions here

If you’ve already voted, thanks for your participation.

To learn more about voting, please check out Strategies for Children’s “Vote 2022” webpage. It has a number of voting resources as well as details on how we’re working to build more equitable access to early childhood programs.

Once again, please vote.

Your participation matters to the future of children across Massachusetts.

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A recap of The Early Childhood Agenda open house – and an invitation to the kickoff

Posted in Child care, Early educators, Family engagement, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #TheEarlyChildhoodAgenda on October 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Last week, Strategies for Children hosted an open house event for the Early Childhood Agenda, our exciting new, initiative to build a consensus on early childhood needs in Massachusetts by connecting organizations, parents, advocates, businesses, educators, providers, and government representatives.

Did you miss it? No problem. Just watch the video above. The slides are available here.

And you can click here to sign up and join this effort along with the hundreds of early childhood advocates, providers, educators, and parents.

Please also join us for a kickoff meeting that will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Everyone who completes the sign-up form will automatically receive the Zoom link and instructions for this meeting.

Now is the time to take action.

As we’ve reported, this year’s state budget includes historic funding for early education and care. Advocates are eager to build on this momentum to achieve a sustainable system and lasting change. To encourage this change the Agenda will address the often interrelated issues of early childhood by taking a holistic view, going beyond child care to include any early childhood systems, programs, and policies that impact young children and families.

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Introducing: The Early Childhood Agenda

Posted in Cost and affordability, Early educators, Family engagement, Health, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged #earlyed, #EarlyEducators, #ece, #InvestInChildCare, #SolveChildCare on October 12, 2022| 1 Comment »

Photo: Pixabay from Pexels

We’re excited to announce the launch of The Early Childhood Agenda!

This is a new partnership that invites stakeholders like you to build a consolidated agenda for early education and care.

The Early Childhood Agenda will connect organizations, parents, advocates, businesses, educators, providers, and government representatives that all support the growth, development, and education of our youngest children and the wellbeing of families in Massachusetts through public awareness, policy development, and advocacy efforts.

Strategies for Children will host a series of meetings and facilitate a consensus building process composed of five working groups:

These meetings will produce a list of policy priorities shaped by community needs and the lived experiences and perspectives of our partners.

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Get ready for election season

Posted in Child care, Election, Federal, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, National, Strategies for Children, tagged #ece, #ElectionSeason, #vote on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

Advocates have long called for early education and care to be treated as a public good – just like public schools or the infrastructure of roads and bridges needed to maintain a 21st century workforce. We are grateful for the close collaboration and appreciate the decisions our elected officials have made to support and stabilize the early education and care sector over the last two pandemic years.

While the worst may be behind us, we’re not out of the woods yet. This election year is especially important as we move towards sustainability and growth.

So please be a Champion for Young Children! Here’s how:

As a Voter

• REGISTER: If you are new to voting in U.S. elections, you have recently moved to the state of Massachusetts, or you simply need to update your registration information, visit the Online Voter Registration System. The voter registration deadline is Saturday, October 29, 2022.

• Learn about with your district and elected officials. Every 10 years, districts for members of Congress, the State House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the Governor’s Council are re-drawn by the Legislature. This process happens after each federal census in order to make sure each district is made up of approximately the same number of people. Learn more about redistricting in Massachusetts here.

• Learn about the candidates. Click here for the full list of state election candidates.

• Engage Candidates and Community: Ask questions about their education platforms and/or write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper urging candidates to prioritize young children in the election. If you need assistance, contact Marisa Fear, Strategies for Children’s associate director of research and policy.

• VOTE on (or before) Tuesday, November 8th! Click here for early voting information and instructions on how to vote by mail. Plan ahead for in person voting by looking up your poll place and election information.

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Check out our Advocacy Network highlights video

Posted in Child care, Early educators, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children, tagged #Advocacy, #EarlyEducators on September 27, 2022| 1 Comment »

Last month, Strategies for Children hosted a Reception for Reflection for the first cohort of our Advocacy Network for Early Education and Care – and we’ve created a highlights video to showcase the work of our Advocacy Network participants.

The Advocacy Network is an engaging, year-long experience for emerging leaders. It creates a new structure for connecting and supporting educator-advocates across all regions of the state, while building participants’ advocacy skills and first-hand experience.

For Anna Ricci-Mejia, an early educator at the East Boston Social Centers, the Advocacy Network experience was inspiring.

“I decided to speak up more for children’s sake,” she says. “Every word counts. I know there’s a lot of frustration; this is a low-paying career. But when you’re compassionate with children, you learn something new every day.”

Marcia Gadson-Harris, a family child care provider and Advocacy Network participant, adds: