Recent State Policy Advances
Expanded investment. Restructured agencies. New caucuses, committees, and coalitions. Read about all the ways our allies on the front lines are making their state a better place for each and every child to reach their full potential.
State By State:
Nebraska Advocates Use Innovative Financing and Engagement to Expand Home Visiting
After working with Alliance Responsive Support providers at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, advocates uncovered a new funding stream for home visiting, which ultimately nearly doubled the state’s available home visiting funds.
Oregon Coalition Successfully Pressures Legislature to Reverse Position
Advocates are celebrating the state legislature’s reinvestment in Oregon’s Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) subsidy program, a successful program that has been a difference-maker for Oregon families for years.
Maryland Pilot Program to Expand Family Child Care Showing Results
A pilot program in Maryland aimed at reversing the family child care decline, Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care (GOFCC), has seen promising results so far. As of November 2024, the program has facilitated the opening of more than 100 programs across the state and has increased the number of family child care slots available to children by more than 1200.
Advocates in Wyoming Tap Shared Values to Win New Funding for Developmental Preschools
Child care advocates in Wyoming are celebrating a major legislative victory. After years of setbacks, the state secured the most funding for developmental preschools in over a decade. The passage of SF 19 marks a significant shift. The Wyoming Women’s Foundation, who advocated for the bill’s passage, credits a new messaging approach and strategy to its success.
Years of Constituency Building in Vermont Continue to Pay Off as Legislature Rejects Governor’s Child Care Cuts
Vermont became a national model with the passage of Act 76 in June 2023, which resulted in an annual commitment of about $125 million to the state’s child care system. The win—and a 2024 defense of the funding—was the result of a broad and strong constituency for child care cultivated over a decade by advocates.
To Learn How to Best Advance Equity in Child Care, Wisconsin Advocates Ask Practitioners
It is no secret that early childhood educators face challenges in Wisconsin and beyond, and yet plans to make the system more equitable are often missing the voices of these practitioners themselves. In Wisconsin, a new study that centers the voices of Wisconsin early educators from traditionally marginalized groups is already having an impact on policy in the state.
Alliance Grantees Huddle to Discuss the Rising Cost of Liability Insurance
State allies in the Alliance for Early Success network recently gathered to discuss the challenges the family child care workforce is facing. The group focused on two growing challenges: the rising cost of liability insurance and the availability of coverage. Allies were joined by NAEYC who shared findings based on recent surveys conducted with child care providers.
The Alliance Network Helps Delaware Advocates Tailor Their Messaging—and Win New Child Care Funding
When advocates at Rodel in Delaware began planning a targeted messaging strategy for increasing child care subsidies, the Alliance connected them with Child Care Aware of America, who helped them build a dashboard that quantifies the gap in child care supply and demand at the local level. This allowed advocates to create fact sheets about the shortage of child care in each state legislative district and, ultimately, win more than $10 million in additional subsidy and reimbursement funding.
As Governors Across the Country Reject Summer EBT Funding, Missouri Advocates Win a Reversal
Successful advocacy helped Missouri buck a trend among many Republican governors who opted not to participate the federal Summer EBT program—and helped ensure that children who would have otherwise received food benefits through schools or child care programs continue to receive nutritious meals.
Massachusetts Advocates Turn a Crisis into a Community
In the early, crushing days of Covid, early childhood advocates in Massachusetts began to talk to each other daily on Zoom about making a way through the pandemic. These meetings were small at first, but grew over time. Four years later, “The 9:30 Call” is still happening and has an invite list of more than 2,000. More important, it is now a powerful, statewide conversation and a tool for ongoing and unprecedented advocacy.
Georgia Advocates Use Alliance Responsive Support to Advance Child Welfare Innovation
When a baby or toddler is removed from their family due to alleged maltreatment or neglect, children are often placed in a child welfare system that has not developed policies and practices with the needs of infants and toddlers in mind. In Georgia, early childhood advocates have worked with Alliance responsive support providers to win a solution for this problem—the implementation of an evidence-based court team approach.
In DC and Louisiana, Advocates Unite to Avoid Damaging Funding Cuts
In lean budget times, successful advocacy can often take the shape of avoiding deep cuts or even planned eliminations to vital programs. This year, early childhood advocates in the District of Columbia and Louisiana leveraged grassroots voices and strategic messaging to defend investments in child care programs.
