October 12, 2021 Tonight at 10pm EST, PBS airs an hour-long documentary that takes an in-depth look at how the lack of affordable, quality child care is affecting American families, which has plagued families in the U.S. for more than a century....
October 5, 2021 Governor Hunt received the Dr. Robert E. Bridges Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 at WakeEd Partnership's Stars of Education event....
Sep. 30, 2021 By Betsy Biemann & Keith Bisson COVID-19 didn’t just reveal a broken child care system. A confluence of events dramatically worsened the frayed patchwork of child care programs in the US, after significant drops in center enrollment when parents lost jobs, shifts from in-school to at-home learning, and uncertainty about health and safety during a global pandemic. Since a lack of licensed child care options has long correlated with higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and poverty, these problems only...
September 13, 2021 Host Matthew Toffolo has a conversation with filmmaker Aaron Steinberg on the process making this documentary short, Kaotic Drumline, winner of BEST DIRECTION at the 2021 Chicago Feedback Festival....
September 9, 2021 KAOTIC DRUMLINE: DRUMMING WITH A DIFFERENCE played to rave reviews at the September 2021 MUSIC Film Festival. Interview with Matthew Toffolo and posted to matthewtoffolo.com....
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called for urgent action to make affordable childcare available to more families, calling such investments critical to ensuring U.S. growth and global competitiveness....
SZCF is pleased to announce that Starting at Zero is now available on Kanopy. Kanopy partners with public libraries and universities, providing ad-free films and series that can be enjoyed on all devices – TV, mobile phone, tablet and online. Kanopy is available to students/faculty/patrons at universities and libraries that offer the platform....
Starting at Zero was screened at the 2021 Block Island Festival on September 9. Following the screening was a Zoom Q&A panel with Director, Willa Kammerer....
During the week of July 12-16, 2021, our partners at PBS NewsHour examined America’s fractured child care system and its impact on women, children, people of color and the economy. If you missed their special coverage, click here to watch the segments....
Start Early August 10, 2021 Last month, families across the country began receiving the first payments under the Advance Child Tax Credit (ACTA), a part of the American Rescue Plan Act. For many families with young children, like Educare Chicago parent Cheryse Singleton-Nobles, the expanded Child Tax Credit offers integral support that increases their ability to provide a stable environment and experiences for their children to thrive. “A lot of us are struggling. Even though the pandemic is ending, that doesn’t end the...
Big news! We're excited to share that tonight and all this week, PBS NewsHour is examining the current state of the American child care system in a special five-part series, titled "Raising The Future." The feature kicks off this evening, Monday, July 12, with a segment that examines how America’s child care landscape has dramatically changed as the country emerges from the pandemic and what’s at stake in this critical moment....
Monday, July 12, 2021 - PBS NewsHour reports on America's broken child care system, communities on the front lines and new political momentum for major reform in the post-COVID era. ...
Beginning July 12 and airing over the course of that week, PBS NewsHour will broadcast “Raising the Future: America’s Child Care Dilemma,” a five-part series that takes an extensive look at America’s child care crisis. The struggle to find affordable, quality child care has always been one of the biggest issues for American families and Covid-19 only exacerbated the problem. ...
New research from NORC at the University of Chicago, Start Early, and the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research finds that Chicago policies intended to increase access and enrollment to full-day, school-based pre-k were also related to higher kindergarten entry skills and ultimately better academic outcomes in second grade, particularly for high-priority students....
With help from SZCF, Mountainfilm for Students is offered at no cost to K-12 public schools in conjunction with Mountainfilm on Tour shows. These curated playlists are customized by grade level with informative and inspiring content. Classroom materials developed by teachers to align with College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards are available for select films....
Fox 32 Chicago May 20, 2021 Jamal Poindexter and Anita Harvey-Dixon talk about the new 'Tomorrow's Hope' documentary....
May 21, 2021 Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Angie Han, Wade Major and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s new movie releases, including 'Tomorrow's Hope.' Review is about 33:20 into the program....
By Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J. May 13, 2021 “Tomorrow’s Hope: The Promise of Early Childhood Education” brings us into the journey of passionate educators and tenacious kids and their families on the South Side of Chicago, determined to carve out the future – despite a sea of incredible challenges....
The Science of Early Learning and Adversity: Leadership in Early Learning Settings in a Post-Pandemic Era To be held virtually June 16-17. Designed for early education leaders, this program will explore the latest science of early learning and what this means for the work ahead in cultivating strong, responsive, and supportive environments in the wake of the pandemic....
By Cody Uhing May 10, 2021 This morning, the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released the findings of a new study on the long-term effects of Boston’s preschool program. Using admissions lotteries, the research found that participation in the preschool program led to significant long-term improvements in academic and behavioral outcomes in children. ...