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By Ann Schimke | Chalkbeat Colorado
August 12, 2022
Universal Preschool: Inside Colorado's Free Preschool Initiative
Child care providers, school district staff, and a pediatrician are among 15 people appointed to a new group that will advise Colorado’s early childhood chief on rules ranging from preschool funding rates to preschool teacher credentials.
Lisa Roy, executive director of the state’s new Department of Early Childhood, will have the final say over new rules, but state law requires her to consult with the newly formed Rules...

22 August, 2022 /

By Eden Stiffman | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
August 9, 2022
After spending her day in an Albuquerque classroom with 3-year-olds, teaching them how to hold a pencil and other skills to prepare them for kindergarten, Ivydel Natachu puts on her organizing hat. During the Covid-19 pandemic — as the lives of teachers and families changed exponentially — the 17-year veteran day care teacher got involved with Organizers in the Land of Enchantment, or OLÉ. The nonprofit advocacy group made up of working...

10 August, 2022 /

By Blake Jones | Politico
August 2, 2022
BRACING FOR A RAID: California’s long-awaited, longer-pursued rollout of universal pre-k finally began Monday as a handful of school districts kicked off the academic year. For the child care industry,the timing couldn’t have been worse. Like other states, California is spending part of a record budget surplus to offer free pre-K to tens of thousands more children. Families will be spared costly child care tuition. Up to 35,300 public school jobs will be created over four...

03 August, 2022 /

By Peter Bart | Deadline
July 14, 2022
Where do great movies come from? When Netflix started creating its own shows a decade ago, Ted Sarandos and his colleagues put that question to select creatives around town. It was a smart exercise – but most respondents insisted there was no answer. Coincidentally I’d been putting out that question at various times over the years with equally ambiguous results. Saul Zaentz, the feisty film and music producer, once offered this response: “Great movies come...

16 July, 2022 /

By Mark Swartz | Early Learning Nation
July 15, 2022
The Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) emphasizes research that drives policy and practice, as well as collective action that sparks systemic change. Since 2016, 43 fellows have taken part in the initiative, going on to leadership roles throughout the country while remaining in touch with the burgeoning Zaentz community. I spoke to three of the nine most recent fellows about their experience and their plans....

16 July, 2022 /

By Carrie Jung and Max Larkin
June 17, 2022
"For the first time ever, I think lots of other actors in the system were entirely affected by people's lack of child care, and that was an unprecedented national scenario," explained Nonie Lesaux, chair of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care....

17 June, 2022 /

By Linda Smith
June 13, 2022
President Biden and Congress can take a major step in the coming weeks to strengthen our economy and help workers and their children by fully funding the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the biggest federal funding source for child care.
Child care is not only a social program that lifts young families out of poverty. It’s also a vital economic program. Child care enables millions of parents, especially women, to be in the workforce. It...

13 June, 2022 /

By Yitzi Weiner
June 6, 2022
Why & How Filmmaker Annette Porter of Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund at Johns Hopkins Is Helping To Change Our World
Meaningful change isn’t always instant, large-scale, or permanent. Real impact can take months or years, and may mean starting very small. But the rewards for facilitating even small changes are enormous and you have no idea where that small change may lead for you, or anyone else....

10 June, 2022 /

By Elizabeth Bruenig
May 8, 2022
America is a much harder place to be a child than it has any excuse to be, and a much harder place to have and raise a child than it has any possible reason to be: It’s hard to find a politician who’ll disagree with either proposition, and harder yet to find one with any intention of doing anything about it. When it comes to the crucial business of caring for children and families, our country...

11 May, 2022 /

By Gal Tziperman Lotan
May 9, 2022
Child-care workers and advocates came out to about 90 playgrounds, T stops, and public squares across Massachusetts Monday to talk to parents and community members about the importance of their work and advocate for publicly funded universal early childhood education. The actions were part of a “Day Without Child Care,” a national day of action for child-care workers. Some providers closed their doors for the day or for a few hours, and others rallied, called elected...

09 May, 2022 /

By Elizabeth Bruenig
May 8, 2022
America is a much harder place to be a child than it has any excuse to be, and a much harder place to have and raise a child than it has any possible reason to be: It’s hard to find a politician who’ll disagree with either proposition, and harder yet to find one with any intention of doing anything about it. When it comes to the crucial business of caring for children and families, our country...

04 May, 2022 /

By Barry Ford, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
May 4, 2022
As the 2022 election season heats up, Americans will be inundated with reminders of our divisions, including differences in political party, demographics, and voting patterns. Yet, what far too often gets ignored in these conversations, or omitted in 30-second attack ads, is just how much we have in common as Americans. Ideology shouldn’t drive the way we think about what’s important in our country. Nor should party affiliation be considered a stand-in for patriotism. We share...

04 May, 2022 /

By Javaid Siddiqi, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
May 2, 2022
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” The famous saying, adapted from the work of Scottish poet Robert Burns, reminds us that even our most thoughtful and well-intentioned efforts can sometimes yield unexpected results. The expansion of public pre-kindergarten is an excellent case in point. High-quality preschool programs have been shown to reap benefits to both students and taxpayers that can span across decades — which is why both...

02 May, 2022 /

By Valerie Strauss
April 26, 2022
Every year the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education releases data on the state of public preschool programs — and the 2021 is out on Tuesday with devastating news. According to the research, progress made in public preschool programs over the past decade was wiped out during the coronavirus pandemic that began in March 2020. Drastic declines in enrollment were reported during the 2020-21 school year, with 298,000 fewer children...

26 April, 2022 /

By Linda Jacobson
April 26, 2022
Enrollment in state pre-K programs fell for the first time in two decades after a period of steady growth, according to a new report focusing on the 2020-21 school year. Before the pandemic, states were serving 44% of 4-year-olds. Now they might not reach 40% over the next 10 years, the report found. “The pandemic erased an entire decade of progress in preschool enrollment,” said Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education...

26 April, 2022 /

By Erica Meltzer
April 25, 2022
Starting next year, every Colorado 4-year-old will have a chance to attend preschool at no cost to their parents, under legislation signed Monday by Gov. Jared Polis. “With this bill, families in Colorado with 4-year-olds will have access to free preschool in the fall of 2023, saving them money and preparing kids for success,” said Polis, noting the benefits his own children experienced from preschool. ...

25 April, 2022 /

By Ann Schimke and Erica Meltzer
April 20, 2022
With just over a year until Colorado begins providing free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide, state lawmakers want to inject $100 million into efforts to beef up the early childhood workforce and create more slots for young children. During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, a group of lawmakers announced the legislation, which would be funded with federal COVID relief dollars. The money would go toward several existing grant programs, including one to help child care providers...

20 April, 2022 /

By Nico Franks
April 20, 2022
Sesame Workshop is teaming up with Discovery’s educational unit to launch an early learning channel for children aged between three and seven in the US. The Sesame Workshop-branded channel will be available in the fall on Discovery Education’s learning platform. It will include Sesame Street video content as well as lesson plans and educator resources alongside interactive games and activities for kids....

20 April, 2022 /

By Dale Mezzacappa
April 19, 2022
Pre-pandemic, Black children in Pennsylvania had less access to high-quality preschool than white children, according to a new report. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that this disparity was due primarily to the way the state funds its two main preschool programs, Child Care Works and Pre-K Counts, and the different standards policymakers have set for them. As overall enrollment in the program grew from 2014 to 2019, Black children’s enrollment in Pre-K Counts declined slightly, before...

19 April, 2022 /

By Amy Shoenthal
April 12, 2022
The cost of childcare has risen by 41% over the past few years. Many parents, mostly mothers, have been forced to completely exit the workforce because they simply can’t cover the cost of childcare. The economic impact of the childcare crisis is astronomical and the structure of care, as any parent will tell you, is unsustainable. NeighborSchools is working to fix that. Founder Bridget Garsh is on a mission to make childcare better for everybody, from parents...

12 April, 2022 /

By Christina Caron
April 12, 2022
A panel of experts says the latest research supports early intervention for younger kids. The worsening state of mental health among children has prompted an influential group of experts to recommend for the first time screening all children ages 8 to 18 for anxiety, one of the most common mental health disorders of childhood....

12 April, 2022 /

By Susan K. Livio and Brent Johnson
April 7, 2022
New Jersey needs to nurture the child care industry to help the state make a full economic recovery from the pandemic, according to state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, who on Tuesday proposed a $350 million legislative package she said will get more parents back to work. The child care industry, long beset by low wages and high costs, took a beating during the pandemic, said Ruiz, D-Essex, in her first major legislative...

07 April, 2022 /

By Connie Matthiessen
April 6, 2022
Council for a Strong America: The name conjures images of tanks and bald eagles — not so much playgrounds and childcare centers. Nor is the organization’s membership — cops, military brass, and business executives — usually associated with issues impacting young children. Still, it’s a link that the Council for a Strong America has forged for several decades. And since the pandemic trained a spotlight on the U.S. child care crisis, the organization’s approach seems increasingly...

06 April, 2022 /

By Annette Porter | The Baltimore Sun
March 22, 2022
I was working on a movie not too long ago. We were in post-production, and we needed a voice-over. One of the executives of the film was adamant that the voice needed to be male. A male voice, he said, would add “gravitas” and “grandeur.” There was no discussion, no alternative. The guy wanted a male voice, and that was it. I’m not the first to say it, but Hollywood still has...

22 March, 2022 /

By Adobe Communications Team
March 21, 2022
As the past two years have shown, even throughout a pandemic and polarization, creativity can’t be held back. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we shine our light on women creators who continue to make great strides even amidst our struggles.
Below are stories of hope and resilience, and sources of inspiration from 14 female creators — artists, filmmakers, organizers and entrepreneurs — that motivate us to raise our creative voices, to reflect on women's creative...

21 March, 2022 /

By Nick Rocco Scalia | Film Threat
March 16, 2022
"Rather miraculous . . . genuinely uplifting and inspiring in ways that even 'feel-good' fictional stories can’t often achieve. There’s compelling drama in the well-wrought contrasts between the harshness and of lower-income living in Chicago and the ambitions of Educare. Pulls at the heartstrings . . ."...

16 March, 2022 /

By Jason Whyte | Get Reel Movies
March 16, 2022
In TOMORROW’S HOPE you’ll get to know real people making a real difference on the South Side of Chicago. This is an experience that leads you heart-first into some of our most talked-about issues today, including systemic racism and the importance of providing access to education. It’s a journey with passionate educators and kids and their families who are finding a way to carve out the future, despite a sea of intense...

16 March, 2022 /

By Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
"A passionate and inspiring film . . . there is always hope, though sometimes it doesn't look like what we expect. 'Tomorrow's Hope' definitely tells the kind of feel-good, inspirational story that audiences love."...

16 March, 2022 /

By Stephanie Jones and Nonie K. Lesaux
March 15, 2022
To succeed in the classroom, children must be able to cooperate with other students and their teachers, focus their attention, control impulsive behaviors and manage their emotions so they can concentrate on the tasks at hand. They need to have a sense of belonging and purpose, be able to plan and set goals, and persevere through challenges....

15 March, 2022 /

Hosted by Lauren deLisa Coleman
March 12, 2022
Tomorrow's Hope follows the journeys of three graduates from the Educare School to their graduation and afterward. Told from their perspective, we see how vital good early education is. How big of a difference it can make in a person's life....

12 March, 2022 /

By Luke Y. Thompson | Films Gone Wild
March 11, 2022
Almost everyone says they want a better future and education for their children. But when it comes time to getting it done, other concerns often push the kids to the backburner, perhaps because children can’t lobby for themselves. Thankfully, they have advocates in companies like the Saul Zeantz Charitable Foundation, which funds documentaries focused on early childhood education. For their second feature, Tomorrow’s Hope, the foundation turned to producers Tamra Raven...

11 March, 2022 /

By Steve Kopian
MARCH 11, 2022
This is a hopeful tale of a program that gives kids enough of a leg up that they have a good shot at succeeding. I was so impressed that I found myself investigating the program right after I finished the film. The portrait this film paints such a good picture that you will wonder how the hell the program hasn't spread all across the county.
You need to see this film....

11 March, 2022 /

By Liz Whittemore
MARCH 11, 2022
In the SXSW22 short film Tomorrow’s Hope, filmmaker Thomas Morgan examines the effect of two foundations for early childhood education on its first-ever class. Educare and The Ounce of Prevention Fund are sound arguments for universal Pre-K. I’m a former preschool teacher who can attest to the impact these years have on the lives of children and their families. Working in a school in the River City Building in downtown Chicago, I taught predominantly Head Start...

11 March, 2022 /

By Carey
MARCH 8, 2022
Austin’s South by Southwest starts in just a couple of days on the 11th, but the SXSW Edu has already begun. A film that is part of it is Thomas Morgan’s documentary Tomorrow’s Hope. It is a short film at 44 minutes long but it says a lot. A film which follows the journeys of three graduates from the Educare School to their graduation and afterward....

08 March, 2022 /

This podcast originally aired on Lights Camera Austin on March 6, 2022
Interview by Robert Sims
The documentary Tomorrow's Hope: The Promise of Early Childhood Education celebrates the early childhood education program developed and taught at Start Early’s (formerly Ounce of Prevention Fund’s) Educare Chicago. The school opened in January 2000 to provide high-quality education to children from birth to age 5 from low-income families living on Chicago's South Side. The documentary spotlights three members of Educare Chicago's first-ever class as they...

06 March, 2022 /

By Nora Delaney
February 10, 2022
A new bipartisan report calls for "rewriting the generational contract" to increase investments in America’s children significantly by shifting funds from programs that now go toward supporting older, wealthier adults.
In the report, "Rebalancing: Children First," leading scholars convened by two of the country’s most respected think tanks propose directing more national funds to help children. Currently, more than 40% of the federal budget flows to Americans over the age of 65, compared to only 7.4% spent...

10 February, 2022 /

By Anya Kamenetz
February 10, 2022
Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. "It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the literature to try to think of what were plausible reasons that might account for this."...

10 February, 2022 /

By Naomi Martin and Jenna Russell
January 17, 2022
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Leighton Harris, 4, sat with her classmates on a rug before a whiteboard. One of her two teachers praised the little girl’s calm, attentive posture: “I love how Leighton is sitting.’’ A year before the start of kindergarten, Leighton is well-prepared, having already practiced not just her letters and numbers, but also subtle skills key for school success, such as breathing through stress and the art of sitting quietly and...

19 January, 2022 /

January 11, 2022
As the Omicron variant surges and U.S. schools deal with a substitute teacher shortage and related pandemic fallout, don't be surprised if a return to remote or hybrid learning leads your kids to act out, a new study warns....

18 January, 2022 /

January 10, 2022
Emily C. Hanno, PhD
The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the education of more than 1 billion children worldwide, with many experiencing shifts between remote, hybrid, and in-person learning. As the COVID-19 pandemic and interruptions to learning continue, we need to understand their consequences for children’s behavioral health to inform response efforts. We used longitudinal data to examine how children’s behavioral well-being differed by learning format....

10 January, 2022 /

October 28, 2021
This fall, two apprentices at the Coleman Center for Early Learning will serve as a pilot group. Secretary Barbara Cooper of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE) joined leaders from Troy University, Wallace Community College, and the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship to officially sign documents establishing Alabama’s first apprenticeship for Early Childhood Educators on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, at the Coleman Center for Early Learning on the Troy University Dothan Campus, 504 University Dr, Dothan, AL....

28 October, 2021 /

October 26, 2021
The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation documentaries Tomorrow's Hope and Kaotic Drumline: Drumming with a Difference screened (in person!) in Los Angeles at Regal LA Live Cinemas, at the 12th Annual Awareness Film Festival. The Panel ("The Next Gen") featured the filmmaking team conversing about the films' inspirational personalities and their remarkable creativity in the face of tremendous challenges, as well as discussing themes including systemic inequality and advancing hope of building a brighter future....

27 October, 2021 /

October 12, 2021
Many Americans pay more for child care than they do for their mortgages, even though the wages for those who provide the care are among the lowest in the United States. Democrats see the issue as a fundamental market failure and are pushing a plan to bridge the gap with federal subsidies. We went to Greensboro, N.C., to try to understand how big the problem is and to ask whether it is the job of the federal government...

12 October, 2021 /
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