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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. 

Idaho early childhood policy

Idaho Advocates Use Innovative Early Learning Collaboratives to Move the Needle on Early Care and Education

In Idaho, where there is no state funding for pre-k, advocates are working at the community level to demonstrate families’ interest in — and the impact of — early care and education. Community-led collaboratives are uniting various stakeholders, including educators, parents, community leaders, and business owners, to create a holistic approach to early learning, tailored to local needs.

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Alaska Early Childhood

Marijuana Tax Is Now a $5 Million Win for Alaska Child Care and Early Education

Anchorage, Alaska will soon benefit from an additional five to six million dollars per year in funds for child care and early education thanks to voter approval of Proposition 14 in April, also known as the “Care for Kids” measure. The five percent sales tax on marijuana purchases has existed for years, but the funds will now be used for the benefit of young children and their families rather than going into the city’s general fund.

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Kentucky Early Childhood Policy

Kentucky “Fragile Ecosystem” Report Helps Advocates Win Child Care Stabilization Funds

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prichard Committee and a team of statewide partners released data capturing the pandemic’s impact on Kentucky’s child care sector. The latest report on the survey results, “Fragile Ecosystem IV: “Will Kentucky Child Care Survive When The Dollars Run Out?,” played a big role in spurring the state to commit additional stabilization funding to the sector.

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Minnesota Early Childhood Policy Advocacy

Minnesota “Coalition of Coalitions” Turns Years of Work into a String of Big Wins for Children and Families

From a new nation-leading child tax credit that will cut child poverty by a third, to $1.3 billion for expansion of mixed-delivery child care, to continuous medicaid coverage for children to age 6, to a long list of other wins for young children and their families, there were almost too many advancements to count in the 2023 legislative session. The secret to all these wins? A long-standing “of coalition of coalitions” in the state the centers communication, equity, cooperation, and authentic power sharing.

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Idaho early childhood policy

Idaho Providers Get Loud to Reverse Child Care ARPA Funding Cuts

When Idaho’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted to strip away $36 million in ARPA funds and another $43 million in additional federal dollars, child care providers panicked, then organized, and then made their voices heard. The committee restored the funding, and the issue of child care is much more visible going into the 2024 legislative session.

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Montana’s Push to Improve Early Education Includes a Partnership to Protect Tribal Languages  

Zero to Five Montana is improving early education by helping to protect the languages of the state’s 12 Native American tribes. It’s an effort to enrich children, support early educators, and draw on the experience and expertise of the larger community. Young children experience a better understanding of their own cultural identity when they can learn their tribal language, and this cultural knowledge helps heal some aspects of generational trauma that many indigenous families live with.

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Across the Country and Across the Aisle, State Policymakers Are Moving to Extend Medicaid Coverage for New Moms

While a significant number of pregnancy-related deaths happen 6-12 months after the end of pregnancy, the federal government only mandates that Medicaid coverage extend for 60 days after the end of the pregnancy. In response to this deadly gap in coverage, advocates are working with policymakers—Democrat and Republican, urban and rural—to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage in their states. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have recently passed coverage extensions.

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Alliance for Early Success Utah Early Childhood Policy

Utah Coalition Celebrates Passage of Full-Day Kindergarten Option

The Utah Full-Day Kindergarten Now! Coalition of more than 50 organizations is joining with Utah families to celebrate the passage of a full-day kindergarten option across the state. A bill passed by the legislature and signed by the governor provides greater access to optional full-day kindergarten in Utah by funding the program the same way grades 1 through 12 are funded.

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