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Posts Tagged ‘#InvestInChildCare’

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.

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The power of advocacy

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, tagged , , on March 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

Here’s a great example of the power of collective advocacy.

Last month, more than 180 organizations and 718 individuals all signed a letter that was sent to the Massachusetts Legislature. The letter’s request: please provide an additional $70 million to fund this fiscal year’s Commonwealth Cares for Children or C3 stabilization grants.

These grants were essential for helping child care providers stay open during the pandemic, and they have become critical for supporting program quality and workforce retention.

“Now is the time,” the letter adds, “to move from a temporary stabilization program to permanent direct-to-provider operational funding and take an essential next step in our efforts to establish a sustainable business model for early education and care.” The C3 grant program can pave “a pathway from stabilization to systems growth.

“The $70 million will bridge the gap between the end of the childcare stabilization grant program and position a permanently funded operational grant program for sustained support and success into the future.”

The advocacy letter featured the logo of the Early Childhood Agenda, a new effort in Massachusetts to build collective power for transformational change. Check out highlights from the release of the Agenda at the State House earlier this year.

Now, we are happy to say that the advocacy letter was received, and its message was heard!

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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

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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

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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| 1 Comment »

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.”

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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.

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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.”

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In quotes: child care is also expensive in the United Kingdom

Posted in Cost and affordability, International, Quotes, tagged on February 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Of the multitude of problems plaguing the UK, one issue is rising toward the top of the pile—and it has nothing to do with Brexit.

“Calls to tackle the exorbitant cost of early-years child care are growing louder ahead of the next general election, due within two years. There’s no easy fix for a system that’s become dominated by private interests, and any meaningful reform would likely require an injection of public funds at a time when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is focused on tightening spending to bring down inflation.

“The average cost of a full-time nursery slot in Britain is about £14,000 ($17,000) a year, but it can be double that in London and other places. After taxes, the average household income is just over £32,000, making the UK the most expensive country in which to obtain care for children aged 2 and 3, relative to wages, in the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.” [The United States is the second most expensive country.]

“The expense is particularly painful with prices for just about everything rising, and it’s eroding decades of progress in getting more women into the workforce… ‘Unless politicians wake up to the fact that this will be a doorstep election issue, they’re going to meet some very, very angry parents,’ says Sarah Ronan, who leads work on early education and child care for the nonprofit Women’s Budget Group.”

— “UK Getting It ‘Totally Wrong’ on Soaring Child Care Costs,” by Olivia Konotey-Ahulu, Bloomberg, February 13, 2023

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The Early Childhood Agenda releases its work TODAY at the Massachusetts State House at 11 a.m.

Posted in Child care, Early educators, Family engagement, MA governor, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged , , , on January 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Join us TODAY for the release of the work done by the Early Childhood Agenda – a unified plan that draws on many voices to improve early childhood programs in Massachusetts. 

You can register here and meet us at the Grand Staircase inside the Massachusetts State House at 11 a.m.

Starting at 11 a.m., we will also livestream the event on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

We’ll be sharing “a targeted list of policy priorities… shaped by community voice and needs, and the different perspectives and lived experiences of partners to highlight the field’s top priorities for the next two years.”

These priorities cover five broad areas:

• Financially Secure Families

• High-Quality Experiences

• Thriving Early Childhood Workforce

• Robust System Infrastructure and Local Partnerships, and

• Healthy Beginnings

So please join us live — or via our livestream — to ensure that Massachusetts is a place where all young children can thrive.

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Welcome federal funding increases – and the need for ongoing support

Posted in Child care, Federal, Funding, National, tagged , on January 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

In the shadow of the pandemic, there is positive and welcome progress in federal investments in child care. 

One example of this positive trend is the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (also known as the omnibus bill) that President Biden signed into law at the end of last year.

“The appropriation for fiscal year (FY) 2023 included more than $8 billion in total annual discretionary funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) in addition to increases for other important child care and early education programs such as Head Start,” the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) explains.

“The FY 2023 CCDBG appropriation of $8 billion represented a $1.9 billion increase above the previous year’s funding, a 30 percent increase. This is the second largest increase in discretionary funding in the history of CCDBG—following the $2.4 billion increase in FY 2018.”

Specifically, this funding helps low-income families who would otherwise struggle to afford child care.

 “The increases in 2023 for each state range from $2 million in Vermont to $209 million in Texas.”

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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 , , , on January 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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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