Allies Huddle to Share Strategies As More States Raise Child Care Ratios
April 13, 2022
As the pandemic wears on, and the ECE workforce challenges continue, we’re seeing more attempts by state policymakers to relax
The Alliance for Early Success is a 50-state resource for early-childhood advocates as they pursue the big, sustained impact that will ensure every child in every state, birth through age eight, has an equal chance to grow, learn, and succeed.
As the pandemic wears on, and the ECE workforce challenges continue, we’re seeing more attempts by state policymakers to relax
The Under 3 DC celebrates advocacy wins that led to $75 million that DC will use to begin to publicly fund increases in early childhood educators’ compensation. These efforts will begin movement towards a more equitable funding structure for ECE.
A new brief from the BUILD Initiative and the National Center for Children in Poverty compiles policy approaches, barriers, and recommendations for states looking to policies that reduce or eliminate expulsion and suspension from early care and education (ECE) settings. The report was prepared in response to the growing recognition among policymakers that young children are harmed by exclusionary practices, and that new policies and supports for programs can prevent these practices so all children can benefit from quality early care and education.
Early childhood advocates in Arkansas recently joined forces to empower ECE professionals to influence the use of child care funds from the federal government and to share their stories and ideas with policymakers.
Georgia allies at GEEARS are celebrating the creation of a new task force for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Allies leveraged a cross-state partnership with Alabama’s IECMH coordinator to support progress. GEEARS organized efforts for a legislative study committee that led to the creation of recommendations, which will be carried out by the task force.
Early childhood advocates from across the country — representing a diversity of states — have come together to recommend nine consensus principles for investing in early care and education. These principles were developed to guide leaders at every level as they determine whether and how to invest new funding in the child care system.
The Alliance for Early Success has announced that five states have been selected for Child Care NEXT, an initiative to support in-state coalitions that are ready to mount long-term campaigns to achieve transformative change in their state’s child-care policies and funding.
EDITORIAL The president’s American Families Plan, as currently proposed, includes an unprecedented level of federal investment for early care and education (ECE). To many in our field, this is the moment for building a cohesive birth-to-five ECE system and doing away with the distinction between “child care” and “pre-k.” Alliance for Early Success Senior Policy Director Albert Wat explains how blending the two systems together seamlessly will require fundamental changed in the way we think about funding child care.
WEBINAR The pandemic increased stress for children, parents, and the early childhood workforce, which require increases in resources to effectively support the workforce as they manage their own stress and the social-emotional needs of the children returning to their care. In this webinar we heard about early childhood mental health consultation (ECMH) in the new ECE environment.
Illinois has announced a significant expansion of financial assistance for both families and providers that allow children to return to quality, affordable child care programs. Eighty percent of families will pay less for child care under this latest round of changes, to be administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).