Starting at Zero Podcast is LAUNCHED!

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14 Nov

Posted at 03:38h in News by

Delaware Online
By Kelly Powers
November 13, 2023
Delaware families are still struggling to find child care. Middle income families face the brunt of inaccessibility, according to the results of a new parents survey, as many struggle to afford care but earn too much to qualify for any state-funded programs. In brighter news, a Wilmington student is among 27 nationwide to receive a Sallie Mae’s Bridging the Dream Scholarship for High School Seniors this year. And, Delaware State is prepping technology for the moon. In this...

09 Nov

Posted at 23:07h in News by

WBUR.ORG
By Nik DeCosta-Klipa
November 9, 2023
While all of us in New England look longingly at the weather the rest of the East Coast is getting, here’s what we have ahead today: Head Start headaches: For decades, Head Start has provided thousands of low-income families in Massachusetts an escape hatch from the state’s notoriously expensive child care costs. However, as WBUR’s Emily Piper-Vallillo reports, recent staffing shortages have forced Head Start leaders across the state to permanently cut slots for children — putting...

06 Nov

Posted at 21:32h in News by

MPR
By Angela Davis and Maja Beckstrom
November 6, 2023
The cost of child care takes a huge chunk out of parents’ paychecks. But at the same time, many child care workers make barely enough to support themselves. And, now the costs are rising. Families across the U.S. today spend 30 percent more on their average child care payments than they did in 2019, according to new data from Bank of America. In Minnesota, child care centers are having trouble paying competitive wages...

06 Nov

Posted at 20:59h in News by

NPR
By John Daley
November 6, 2023
At the Isabella Bird Community School in Denver, preschoolers rumble around a playground as John Opp arrives to pick up his 4-year-old daughter, Giuliana, who's been diagnosed with autism. Opp's family relies on Colorado's new universal pre-K program to help cover her tuition. "It's kind of scary to think how much farther behind she would be if she didn't have this," he said, noting the support teachers and therapists provide. "I got a full enough plate as it is,"...

02 Nov

Posted at 22:28h in News by

By Khristopher J. Brooks
November 1, 2023
The cost of child care has risen so high in recent years that some parents can't afford to work. As of September, the average household spent more than $700 a month on child care, up 32% from 2019, according to a recent report from the Bank of America Institute. The sharply higher costs are driving some parents to leave the workforce in order to look after their children. At the same time, many families laying out for child care...

02 Nov

Posted at 22:27h in News by

Axios
By Emily Peck
November 1, 2023
The average child care payment is up 32% from 2019, according to new data from the Bank of America Institute. The price surge outpaced overall inflation; the Consumer Price Index was up 20% over the same period. Why it matters: Rising costs pose a threat to the remarkable progress that women, particularly mothers, have made in the U.S. labor force. The report found that cost increases might be driving some parents out of the workforce to look after...

26 Oct

Posted at 20:24h in News by

Forbes
By Christine Michel Carter
October 25, 2023
In their first-ever survey associated with their One Million Black Women initiative, Goldman Sachs investigated the economic mobility journey of Black women. Most findings mirrored insights from other annual reports on Black women in corporate America. However, two data points could impact employers looking to hire or retain diverse female talent: 24% of Black women with children at home spend more than 20% of their income on child care (compared to 17% of U.S. adults). 19% of...

26 Oct

Posted at 20:20h in News by

Chalkbeat Newark
By Samantha Lauten
October 25, 2023
At Clinton Hill Early Learning Center in the South Ward, everything is designed with the city’s youngest children in mind: Many of the wall decorations are just 2 feet off the ground — the perfect view for infants and toddlers. The lobby overflows with plants and sunlight, the classrooms are filled with color, and the courtyard has climbing structures, toys, and, most importantly, padded flooring. Clinton Hill Early Learning Center offers one solution for closing gaps...

24 Oct

Posted at 20:57h in News by

USA Today
By Alia Wong
October 24, 2023
BriAnne Moline has been “seriously considering” shutting down the early-childhood education program she runs out of her home near Missoula, Montana. The 38-year-old single mom of four has sacrificed a lot to get where she is today – from moonlighting at McDonald's and Michael's to owning a business in a profession she loves. Housing policies forced Moline to move her business and family twice over six months in 2019, while she was pregnant with her...

24 Oct

Posted at 20:33h in News by

Time
By Katherine Goldstein
October 24, 2023
Erica Gallegos, who worked as an organizer in New Mexico a decade ago, at one point had “stepped foot in every single childcare center in the state,” she told me, sometimes spending a week in small towns five hours from her home, getting to know people, hearing their concerns and building trust. While you may have heard the good news about New Mexico’s constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to early childhood education that passed with 70%...

18 Oct

Posted at 23:03h in News by

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
December 19, 2023
Imagine you work for an advocacy organization in one state and you want to find out how other states are raising revenue to support early education and care. If you Google child care tax revenue or daycare tax payments, almost all the results pertain to the tax credits that individuals can apply for when they file their taxes. Refining your search terms might give you better results, but it might take hours to track...

04 Oct

Posted at 16:38h in News by

The New York Times
By Amelia Nierenberg
September 30, 2023
Kristen Calderon was making about $37,000 a year as an early childhood educator in New Haven, Conn. It was more than the state’s average salary for the job but given the high cost of housing, it was barely enough. “Every month, I had to decide on a rotating basis which bill I wasn’t going to pay,” she said. But recently, all that changed. In 2021, she moved into free housing provided by her employer, the Friends...

29 Sep

Posted at 22:44h in News by

Fatherly
By Devan McGuinness
September 29, 2023
While parents have years to save up for their kid’s college tuition — by opening a 529 plan, for example — they have much less time to save for child care. That doesn’t mean that the cost of child care is any more affordable. In fact, according to a new analysis, the cost of child care is currently more expensive than in-state college tuition in 28 out of 50 states, and it’s only getting more expensive...

26 Sep

Posted at 19:41h in News by

Greater Good Magazine
By Rebecca de Leeuw, Sophie H. Janicke
September 26, 2023
Most children love stories. Stories are entertaining and fun, but can they be more than just fun? Findings from a new study led by one of us (Rebecca de Leeuw) indicate that stories in movies can also be meaningful for children. This study interviewed children between 4 and 15 years old after they watched the Disney • Pixar film Inside Out. This film takes place predominantly in the head of an...

26 Sep

Posted at 17:18h in News by

Insider
By Eliza Relman
September 26, 2023
Childcare costs are soaring, particularly in major US cities — and zoning regulations are making it worse. Costs aren't just prohibitive for parents, they're also sky-high for providers, who operate on tiny margins and struggle to pay their workers a living wage. The financial situation for providers is about to get worse as the nation nears the end of federal pandemic relief funding for childcare providers, which is predicted to disrupt care for 3 million children. The funding...

26 Sep

Posted at 15:44h in News by

Mass Live
By John L. Micek
September 26, 2023
Tens of thousands of Massachusetts children could lose access to child care coverage by week’s end if Congress, which is already scrambling to avert a government shutdown, fails to take action, a loss that could send ripple effects across the economy as families try to find care. More than 56,000 children could lose care, and more than 1,800 child care centers could close, as pandemic-era funding expires by Jan. 30, according to an analysis by...

25 Sep

Posted at 15:35h in News by

CBS Pittsburgh
By John Shumway
September 25, 2023
Every family with children and working parents know we've got a childcare problem in this country. Pandemic-era funding is coming to an end and thousands of child care facilities are closing -- leaving parents with quite the dilemma. KDKA's John Shumway has been looking into the issue. The Century Foundation estimates that when the federal childcare investment ends this week, up to 70,000 childcare centers could close with 3.2 million children losing care. Up to 200,000 of...

23 Sep

Posted at 17:43h in News by

The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Nate File and Lynette Hazelton
September 23, 2023
The federal government kicked in nearly $40 billion in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to keep the nation’s fragile childcare system afloat during the pandemic. Now, that support is set to run out at the end of this month. To Damaris Alvarado-Rodriguez, the director of the Children’s Playhouse early-childhood learning centers, the pandemic should have been a moment when the value of childcare was finally appreciated for...

22 Sep

Posted at 15:27h in News by

KXAN Texas
By Sally Hernandez
September 22, 2023
Millions of kids, including 305,976 in Texas, are at risk of losing childcare by September 30 when the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act expires, according to an analysis by the Century Foundation. “Congress has to act quickly to resolve the immediate funding crisis for childcare,” said Jamie Bussel with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a non-profit that says it’s the Nation’s Largest Health Philanthropy. The Foundation is calling on Congress to extend the federal funds to help...

21 Sep

Posted at 15:04h in News by

CBS News Colorado
By Shaun Boyd
September 21, 2023
State lawmakers grilled administrators of Colorado's Universal Pre-School program at a hearing at the State capitol. The Legislature's Joint Budget Committee called the hearing. It approved $135 million for the program on top of $190 million from nicotine taxes approved by voters. The state promised the money would cover up to 30 hours of free pre-school for all low-income kids but then backtracked at the 11th hour, leaving families scrambling. Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer demanded to know why...