At Neighborhood Villages, we prioritize keeping up with the policy landscape in the early education and care field, both across the country and in Massachusetts. This month’s EEC meeting focused on what the new child care subsidy reimbursement rate should be for providers participating in the subsidy system.

As the most recent legislative session in Massachusetts came to a close on July 31, 2022, it ushered in some major progress on early education and care, while laying out a roadmap for where we must go moving forward.  

With the Massachusetts Legislature in the process of finalizing the FY23 budget, Neighborhood Villages is urging lawmakers to prioritize the needs of children, families, and employers of the Commonwealth by investing the maximum amount possible in the early education and care system. In particular, we’re advocating for the continued funding of Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Stabilization Grant Program and have asked that the Massachusetts Legislature fund the program at the $250 million figure currently proposed in the state’s Senate budget.

On the 50th anniversary of Title IX (the federal law passed in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools), it’s fitting that this week’s episode of Neighborhood Villages and Lemonada Media’s hit podcast, No One Is Coming To Save Us (NOICTSU), features Olympian Allyson Felix, the most decorated U.S. track and field athlete in history and a fierce advocate for women and moms

As we face an ongoing child care crisis across our country, the impact on the early childhood workforce is devastating. Our early education and care system isn’t just failing our children and families – it’s also failing our early educators.

On May 18, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Education favorably reported out a new bill — An Act to Expand Access to High-Quality, Affordable Early Education and Care (H.4795/S.2883) — aimed at addressing current access, affordability, and workforce challenges in the Massachusetts early education and care sector. We’ve summarized our new fact sheet that breaks down the elements of the legislation.

That’s why we are advocating for the inclusion of $480 million in the state’s FY23 budget to extend the C3 stabilization grant program through FY23. Extension of these grants is critical to keeping child care programs open, ensuring access for children, and supporting socially vulnerable communities.

As we honor women’s contributions in American history this Women’s History Month, we also recognize that our nation’s broken child care system underscores the persistent undervaluing of women and their work in our society, especially for women of color.

As we’ve already seen, getting back to some kind of normalcy for many families hinges on one thing: child care. So how do we avoid where we found ourselves in 2020 (and 2021, for that matter)? We put infrastructure in place to keep child care open. Our ability to do that relies on making free, preventative COVID-19 testing available to child care providers.

We recently surveyed a collection of almost 50 early education and care center-based programs in Massachusetts to get a snapshot of the current state of the sector through the perspective of their directors.

Here in Massachusetts, and across the country, our nation’s broken child care system is one of the greatest drivers of racial inequality. Black children, Black parents, and Black workers have been experiencing the consequences of our failure to invest in it for generations. It is time for that to change.

On November 23rd, the Massachusetts legislature will hold its first Committee hearing on the Common Start legislation (H.605/S.362), a bill that would transform early education and care in Massachusetts. Neighborhood Villages is proud to support this legislation and will be submitting testimony to urge the Massachusetts legislature to favorably report out the Common Start legislation so that it may become law. Let’s talk a bit about why we need this bill, and why we need it now.

One measure tied to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, known as the reconciliation package, could totally transform child care and early education in this country, ensuring that it is affordable and accessible for all families. Host Gloria Riviera returns for a conversation with Neighborhood Villages’ co-founders, Lauren Birchfield Kennedy and Sarah Muncey, to better understand what’s truly at stake and what you can do to help get this legislation over the finish line.

Neighborhood Villages was thrilled to host Congresswoman Pressley at our Neighborhood partner, Ellis Early Learning Center, to shine a spotlight on the child care crisis and how President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation could bring transformative change to families across the country. Most importantly, it was an opportunity to hear directly from the parents and educators most impacted by the crisis.

We are witnessing a long-in-the-making crisis in early education and child care – for providers and for families – that hinges on workforce. We can’t afford to wait any longer to address it. That’s why Neighborhood Villages partnered with Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and Boston-area community colleges to start Career Pathways for Early Educators, a unique program that supports educators in their attainment of advanced early education and care credentials.