The Desktop
From the Desk of Neighborhood Villages
ICYMI: Co-Founder, Lauren Kennedy, Testifies at the Joint Committee on Education Informational Hearing
Early education and care play a critical role in shaping a child’s future and supporting working families. However, in Massachusetts, and across the country, the child care system has faced numerous challenges and shortcomings, leaving families struggling to access affordable, high-quality care for their children.
Our work to address the children’s mental health crisis
Right now, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis that is affecting even our youngest children. Made worse by the pandemic, long delayed or absent mental health services have resulted in an urgent need for mental health supports in early childhood education (ECE) settings. That’s why here at Neighborhood Villages, we’ve prioritized creating an innovative, scalable model for how centralized and multi-layered mental health supports can be delivered in ECE settings in Massachusetts.
No One is Coming to Save Us: Pushing change forward in D.C.
In this episode of No One is Coming to Save Us, veteran reporter Gloria Riviera and Neighborhood Villages’ Senior Director of Advocacy Latoya Gayle visit our nation’s capital to speak with local advocates about their successful, years-long campaign to pass universal pre-K in D.C.
Back for Season 3: ‘No One Is Coming To Save Us’ hits nationwide tour to discuss the child care crisis with local experts
America’s child care system is broken and still, more than three years after the pandemic began, no one is coming to save us. That’s why veteran reporter Gloria Riviera and local Boston mom, activist, and Neighborhood Villages’ Senior Director of Advocacy Latoya Gayle, have set out for season 3 of hit podcast No One Is Coming To Save Us.
Piloting Teaching and Learning Supports that are Critical to a Functioning Child Care System
Neighborhood Villages set out to create a comprehensive menu of ECE teaching and learning supports, including a strengths-based, educator focused coaching model, professional development workshops and webinars, and a monthly newsletter highlighting best practices and wonderful work already happening.
No One Is Coming To Save Us — A story about how to fix our broken child care system
Kate Duncan, Neighborhood Villages supporter and volunteer, writes on the Liberty Mutual blog about her child care story.
Massachusetts Governor’s Budget Sends Strong Signal of Support for Early Ed
Last week, Governor Maura Healey unveiled her Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget proposal, which includes major investments in the state’s early education and care sector – a hopeful sign of good things to come. The Governor’s budget, referred to as H.1, provides a historic investment of nearly $1.5 billion in funding for the early education and care sector.
Our Child Care Priorities for the 2023-2024 Legislative Session
To achieve our vision, we are excited to announce our immediate priorities for the 2023-2024 legislative session, which are driven by our fight for a more affordable, accessible, and equitable child care system.
Operations Grants are Critical to Sustaining and Growing the Early Ed Sector in Massachusetts
Neighborhood Villages is advocating for policymakers to make operations grants a permanent vehicle for funding the early education and care sector.
RECAP of the December EEC Board Meeting: Revising MA’s Subsidy System Regulations & New Survey Results on the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Operational Grant Program
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. That includes tuning-in to the monthly meetings of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care (“EEC Board”), to stay apprised of updates and to identify opportunities for how we can work with government and other stakeholders to improve our early education and care system.
A New Play-Based Early Education Curriculum
Neighborhood Villages is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood to develop a first-of-its-kind play-based, vertically aligned curriculum for early childhood education settings.
Investing in Early Education Providers Through Business Management Trainings
At Neighborhood Villages, we know that successfully overhauling our broken early education and care system starts with assigning professional value to early educators. That’s why we are working to build an example of what a comprehensive early education workforce infrastructure can look like if we properly invest in and support early educators.
RECAP: October EEC Board Meeting—Setting Subsidy Reimbursement Rates
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.
Building a Comprehensive Early Education Workforce Infrastructure
At Neighborhood Villages, we are working to make investments in early educators and in early learning programs to address key systemic drivers of the early education workforce crisis including lack of career mobility, workforce instability, and the need for compensation reform.
Legislative Roundup: MA Delivers for Early Education and Care
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.
From COVID Testing to Formula, Our Scalable Model for a Better Child Care System
Here at Neighborhood Villages, we implement innovative, scalable solutions that address the biggest challenges facing early education and care providers and the families who rely on them. To demonstrate exactly how this works, we’ve built infrastructure around existing child care programs in the City of Boston as part of a program we call The Neighborhood.
New EEC Data Shows Ongoing Need for Stabilization Grants for Early Education and Care Sector
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.
Even Superstar Athletes Need Child Care: On the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, Olympic Athlete Allyson Felix Discusses the Importance of Child Care on NOICTSU
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
The Importance of Investing in Professional Development for Early Educators
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.