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.
Colorado allies forged new advocacy relationships for bold and ambitious changes for their communities. As a result, a plethora of legislative bills passed to strengthen equity and access by addressing critical issues facing Coloradans.
Vermont allies at Let’s Grow Kids have been working diligently to advocate for H.171 as part of a three-year campaign to transform the state’s child care system. The monumental bill passed with full support across party lines, making child care more accessible and affordable.
GUEST EDITORIAL In this guest editorial for the Alliance for Early Success, Danielle Gonzalez from the Aspen Institute’s Education and Society program says making reliable and affordable early care and education available and accessible for all is among the most important policies we can enact to create equity and economic stability, especially for women.
The New York legislature passed a new, progressive, annual budget in state revenue that will fully fund its school aid formula. Additionally, New York will allocate federal relief dollars to support significant policy changes in child care.
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.
Louisiana celebrated big revenue wins during the 2021 legislative session for early care and education, including allocating sports betting revenue and specialty NBA Pelican license plate revenues to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund. The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children and other partners also succeeded in other efforts to promote broad investment for Louisiana children and families.
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).
After receiving dozens of applications and collecting feedback on them from diverse review teams, the Alliance for Early Success (the Alliance) announced today that 16 states are finalists for Child Care NEXT — a grant program to support transformational change in a state’s child-care system.
Washington state passed the Fair Start for Kids Act due to the collaboration of a broad-based coalition led by our Allies at the Children’s Alliance. Allies in Washington state also seized the opportunity during the 2021 legislative session to think and act boldly and leverage federal relief dollars to improve early care and education policies and funding.
