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Motherly
June 28, 2024
By Katrina Nattress
It’s an election year, and one of the largest hot topic issues for parents is the surging cost of childcare. Nonprofit Moms First, founded by activist Reshma Saujani, vocalized the importance of the childcare crisis to voters by starting a petition urging CNN to address the problem during the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which aired on Thursday, June 27. “The extreme cost of child care is crushing moms all over the country,”...

28 June, 2024 /

NC Newsline
June 26, 2024
By Greg Childress
Stephanie Smith’s nearly eight-year run as a home childcare provider in Durham is coming to an end just as the Child Care Stabilization Grants that came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expire. The childcare veteran with more than 20 years of experience says she can no longer afford to keep the doors open due to rising expenses and state and federal childcare subsidies that haven’t kept pace with the cost of doing business. So, Smith...

26 June, 2024 /

Chalkbeat Detroit
June 17, 2024
By Patrick Dunn
In a cozy second-floor room at Brilliant Detroit’s Morningside facility, a small group of moms, grandmas, and caretakers learned about the importance of singing to the children in their lives. Surrounded by children’s art and photos of notable Black Americans, the women listened, chatted, and laughed as they participated in what’s known as a “Six-a-Day” workshop. The workshops, held weekly in multiple locations by the nonprofit Detroit Champions for Hope, teach family and caregivers to help young...

17 June, 2024 /

The 74
May 27, 2024
By Susan B. Neuman & Lily Wong Fillmore
In joyful preschool classrooms, three- and four-year-olds play and pretend together. They sing and dance, listen eagerly at story time, and ask endless questions. Nearly everything is new, which fuels an intense enthusiasm for learning. High-quality preschool supports social skills, fosters friendships, and builds a sturdy foundation for kindergarten and beyond. As researchers specializing in linguistics and early literacy development, we celebrate the growing movement to connect preschool instruction with the...

27 May, 2024 /

Los Alamos Daily Post
May 26, 2024
By Carol A. Clark
$1.1 billion. That’s how much money Virginia included in the compromise budget for the next biennium early toward early childhood education. “This is the first time that we’ve seen funding levels as high as they are,” Senior Director of Early Education for United Way of Greater Charlottesville Meredith Locasio said. “The bipartisan sponsorship from the governor and the general assembly is a huge historic win for early education.” Locasio says this monumental investment will...

26 May, 2024 /

Virginia 29 News
May 26, 2024
By Jacob Phillips
$1.1 billion. That’s how much money Virginia included in the compromise budget for the next biennium early toward early childhood education. “This is the first time that we’ve seen funding levels as high as they are,” Senior Director of Early Education for United Way of Greater Charlottesville Meredith Locasio said. “The bipartisan sponsorship from the governor and the general assembly is a huge historic win for early education.” Locasio says this monumental investment will allow organizations...

26 May, 2024 /

Wisconsin Examiner
May 20, 2024
By Sarah Kazell
You hear the refrain everywhere — when it comes to raising children, it takes a village. As an early childhood educator, I know this to be true. It takes a community of parents, child care providers, community members and our elected officials all working together to set the next generation up for success. Unfortunately, unlike all other developed nations, the U.S. supplies bare minimum public funding for early care and education despite decades of research showing...

20 May, 2024 /

Chalkbeat Colorado
May 13, 2024
By Ann Schimke
Fourteen preschoolers sang “Eggs, larva, pupa, adults,” on a recent morning, curling up on the grass, wriggling around like caterpillars, lying still, and then flapping their arms in search of wildflowers. The song, along with redwing blackbird calls and a bit of traffic noise, was the soundtrack of their morning circle, which kicked off near a wetland in southeast Denver....

16 May, 2024 /

Nebraska Examiner
May 1, 2024
By Cindy Gonzalez
More than 80% of respondents in a new statewide survey agree, and about half strongly agree, that Nebraska lawmakers should support child care and early learning programs as they do for K-12 grades and higher education. About the same proportions believe state legislators should make child care and early learning a higher priority than it is today. And the bulk of parents, nonparents, rural and urban folks alike favored using a portion of a state...

02 May, 2024 /

The Harvard Crimson
April 25, 2024
By Katie B. Tian
Nonie K. Lesaux will serve as interim dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education after Bridget Terry Long departs the post at the end of this academic year, interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a Thursday email to HGSE affiliates. This decision comes three months after Long’s announcement of her resignation back in January, during which time HGSE released no public information about a search for her successor. The first...

25 April, 2024 /

The New York Times
By Dana Goldstein
March 31, 2024
Watch These Cute Videos of Babies (and Learn Something, Too)
SZCF's own Dan Wuori was interviewed and profiled in the New York Times for his incredible work in ECE and for his unique and influential Twitter/X presence. ...

02 April, 2024 /

Harvard's Center on the Developing Child
April 1, 2024
After 18 years at the helm, Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., has decided to step down as Center Director at the end of June to dedicate all his time to an external, field facing agenda. Jack is not retiring—in his new role as Founding Director, he will remain an active member of Harvard’s faculty and double down on a portfolio of work that remains aligned with the Center’s core mission. He will focus his...

01 April, 2024 /

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
March 26, 2024
Ellen Galinsky’s The Breakthrough Years is the product of nearly a decade of exploration into the adolescent mind. A companion piece to Galinsky’s previous landmark book, Mind in the Making, which addresses early childhood development, it reaches a surprising conclusion about adolescence. Rather than an ordeal of sullenness and rule-breaking, it is a process of exploration necessary for human development. In other words, don’t fear the teens in your life. Instead, prepare to be dazzled...

26 March, 2024 /

Capita
By Elliot Haspel
March 20, 2024
Last week, the Massachusetts Senate made significant strides in prioritizing the betterment of children and families by passing a major child care bill, S.2697. If enacted into law, this legislation would be another step in reshaping the state's child care landscape, setting a course for others to learn from. The bill also includes arguably the strongest guardrails against undue profit-seeking behavior by large corporate for-profit chains ever seen in the United States. This legislative language may...

20 March, 2024 /

Alabama Daily News
By Alexander Willis
March 17, 2024
Leadership Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama announced the launch of a new initiative Friday that it says will not only streamline access to child care for its employees, but provide a monthly stipend. The new initiative was born out of a new partnership between Hyundai and TOOTRiS, a child care technology platform that connects employers with child care providers. Providing access to child care for workers in today’s world, argued Reggie Williams, senior manager of human...

19 March, 2024 /

March 7, 2024
The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation is please to announce Ellen Galinsky's new book, The Breakthrough Years, out on March 26th. The book provides a paradigm-shifting, yet practical, understanding of adolescence. Click the image above to pre-order/order your copy!...

07 March, 2024 /

Alabama Political Reporter
By Jacob Holmes
February 28, 2024
A collaborative partnership involving the Alabama Partnership for Children, the Alabama School Readiness Alliance, and VOICES for Alabama’s Children unveiled the Alabama Child Care Roadmap Tuesday, a strategic plan of recommendations for addressing six core areas of the intensifying challenges facing child care providers, families, children and employers and the overall child care shortage in Alabama. “The gap in child care coverage for children under age 6 is at 40 percent, which is higher than...

28 February, 2024 /

Business Insider
By Jacob Zinkula
February 27, 2024
If you're having a hard time affording childcare, you're not alone. The United States has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world. That was among the key findings of a new Bank of America report released on February 22, which analyzed how high childcare costs could slow the growth of women in the US workforce. Using data from the OECD, an international economic coalition of 38 countries, Bank of America estimated the average childcare...

27 February, 2024 /

The New York Times
By Troy Closson
February 27, 2024
In Brooklyn Heights, a couple that wanted to have a second child is reconsidering, anxious over crushing child care expenses and cutbacks to prekindergarten programs. In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a mother may move to a more expensive neighborhood nearby where she would be more likely to receive no-cost child care when her daughter turned 3. And in Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan, a mother who lost her job worries about what the future might hold if...

27 February, 2024 /

AP News
By Bruce Schreiner
February 27, 2024
An ambitious measure to expand early childhood education in Kentucky passed an early test Tuesday, winning broad support from a legislative panel as lawmakers look for ways to relieve parental stress by increasing access to childcare. The proposal cleared the Senate Families and Children Committee on a 9-1 vote. The legislation still has several hurdles to clear in the final weeks of this year’s 60-day legislative session. In promoting his bill Tuesday, Republican Sen. Danny Carroll recounted...

27 February, 2024 /

Business Insider
By Jacob Zinkula
February 27, 2024
If you're having a hard time affording childcare, you're not alone. The United States has one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world. That was among the key findings of a new Bank of America report released on February 22, which analyzed how high childcare costs could slow the growth of women in the US workforce. Using data from the OECD, an international economic coalition of 38 countries, Bank of America estimated the average childcare...

22 February, 2024 /

Alliance for Early Success
By Helene Stebbins
February 20, 2024
In 2023, I had the honor of engaging in passionate debates and honest exchanges as part of the Convergence Collaborative on Supports for Working Families—a group of 32 leaders representing different political, ideological, and industry perspectives—that culminated in a rare breakthrough on these issues. Despite our differences, we were united in a belief that government, businesses, and communities can and should do more to help families flourish. The result of our work, In This...

20 February, 2024 /

La Cruces Sun News
By Ernesto Cisneros
February 20, 2024
Childcare workers who want to start a business from home can now take advantage of a free eight-week online training program that is being offered through the Wonderschool Academy in collaboration with the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department (NMECED). The deadline to sign-up is fast approaching. According to a news release, the program offers the chance to learn how to start and maintain a childcare business from home. Participants...

20 February, 2024 /

WyoFile
By Katie Klingsporn
February 19, 2024
Kendra West walked briskly through corridors of the newly expanded child development center she helms, opening classroom door after classroom door. As she proceeded, the pupils graduated from infants on a colorful mat to toddlers making paper crafts to preschool students building skills for kindergarten. She paused outside a classroom of kids mostly under 2, watching a pair of teachers easily wrangle the toddlers to their seats for an art project. “I have an amazing staff,”...

19 February, 2024 /

Forbes
By Tracy Brower, PhD
February 19, 2024
Significant numbers of parents don’t have adequate childcare today—and it’s getting in the way of performance, retention, happiness and fulfillment. These are negative impacts for parents and families, but also for businesses. The problem goes beyond parents to organizations because without adequate childcare, parents (most frequently mothers) are leaving the workforce, pausing their careers and limiting their contributions—forced to choose between work and family priorities. The reality of the talent shortage means companies must be intentional...

19 February, 2024 /

The New York Times
By Nikolas Kristof
February 4, 2024
An early child care program modeled after the one that exists in the U.S. military. If our armed forces can operate a child care program with fees based on ability to pay, then the rest of the country can as well. A government-supported early childhood program rescues parents and kids alike. Roughly one child in six is living with a parent who misused drugs in the last year, and some of these children...

04 February, 2024 /

The New York Times
By Claire Cain Miller, Alicia Parlapiano and Margot Sanger-Katz
January 30, 2024
At a time when congressional Democrats and Republicans seem unable to agree on almost anything, they may soon enact an expanded child tax credit, which gives money to parents. The credit, a rare family policy that has support from both parties, is part of a $78 billion tax package that passed the House on Wednesday night with a large bipartisan tally, 357 to 70. It is not guaranteed...

30 January, 2024 /

EdSurge
By Emily Tate Sullivan
January 30, 2024
Last month, business leaders and child care advocates from a handful of states convened on Zoom. Representing Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia, they had come together to discuss a new child care model, called “Tri-Share,” that has gained traction across the country, including in their respective regions. The cost-sharing model, in which the state government, the employer and the employee each pay for one-third of the cost of child care, first launched in 2021 in...

30 January, 2024 /

Chalkbeat Chicago
By Reema Amin
January 29, 2024
Public preschool has been a lifeline for Kristen Larson. Larson and her husband couldn’t afford private day care for both their daughters, who are 4 and 1. So last fall, when Larson was able to get a preschool seat just four blocks from their Bridgeport home for her 4-year-old, she was relieved. Without that, she said, “I probably would have had to quit my job.” Thousands of Chicago parents like Larson depend on the district’s free public preschool...

29 January, 2024 /

Bloomberg
By Alice Kantor, Yuko Takeo, Ella Ceron, Catarina Saraiva, Leonardo Lara, and Abeer Abu Omar
January 27, 2024
Around the world, rising inflation is pushing child care costs up to unprecedented levels. Average day care fees went up 6% in 2023 from the previous year, according to mobility company ECA International, while in the US, costs jumped by 9%. Reversing this trend is key to pulling economies out of recession, promoting growth and creating more equitable societies, but so far, many governments...

27 January, 2024 /

Associated Press
By Margery A. Beck
January 26, 2024
Nebraska is looking to follow in the footsteps of Kentucky in implementing a program that covers the costs of child care for child care workers. The idea, presented Friday by Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, is that the benefit will draw more workers into the child care industry, which is experiencing dire shortages across the county. Nebraska’s bill would cover 100% of the child care costs for child...

26 January, 2024 /

Berkeley Film Foundation
Media Contact: Andrew Neilly, Nancy Amaral
BERKELEY, Calif., January 18, 2024– The Berkeley FILM Foundation (BFF) has received a $1.5 million grant from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation (SZCF). The funding over a three-year period will augment BFF’s current grant program to fund local independent film projects, establishes new educational programs focused on filmmaking, and inaugurates the first annual Saul Zaentz Film Festival to be held September 14-15 at the Smith Rafael Film Center in partnership with the California...

19 January, 2024 /

Mass.gov
January 16, 2024
MALDEN — Governor Maura Healey today laid out her administration’s agenda to make early education and child care more affordable and accessible for all families across Massachusetts. The Governor will highlight these programs in her State of the Commonwealth address tomorrow and propose the funding in her Fiscal Year 2025 budget next week. The “Gateway to Pre-K” agenda includes four key components: Delivering universal, high-quality preschool access for four-year-olds in all Gateway Cities by the end of 2026. Every...

16 January, 2024 /

Mass.gov
January 16, 2024
MALDEN — Governor Maura Healey today laid out her administration’s agenda to make early education and child care more affordable and accessible for all families across Massachusetts. The Governor will highlight these programs in her State of the Commonwealth address tomorrow and propose the funding in her Fiscal Year 2025 budget next week. The “Gateway to Pre-K” agenda includes four key components: Delivering universal, high-quality preschool access for four-year-olds in all Gateway Cities by the end of 2026. Every...

10 January, 2024 /

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...

19 December, 2023 /

Stanford University
By Vincent Ingram
December 7, 2023
A generous gift to the Stanford Center on Early Childhood will advance the center’s work in early childhood and accelerate the exchange of expertise among researchers, policymakers, and front-line practitioners. The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation is providing funding to expand a valuable large-scale data collection tool called the RAPID Survey, which tracks the experiences of young children, their families, and caregivers and is used by practitioners, government systems, and other stakeholders to address critical challenges for...

07 December, 2023 /

KVOA.com
By Myles Standish
December 5, 2023
TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — A recent study shows Arizona is losing an estimated $4.7 billion per year because of the limited child care for children up to 5 years old. ReadyNation Arizona released the report Tuesday at The Sandbox Early Learning Center in Tucson. It was funded by the Helios Education Foundation. The lack of available, accessible, affordable child care wreaks havoc on parents’ work lives, with 70 percent of parents surveyed reporting that access to child care...

05 December, 2023 /

Chalkbeat Colorado
By Ann Schimke
December 5, 2023
Much of the federal relief aid sent to Colorado’s child care providers during the pandemic helped keep doors open and businesses solvent. But one small stream of federal COVID funding — $23 million — was used for innovation in the sector rather than its survival. That money was distributed through the CIRCLE Grant program and helped fund more than 200 projects around the state. The projects included weekly bilingual preschool classes for Armenian-American children, a training...

05 December, 2023 /

WTNH.com
By Tina Detelj
December 4, 2023
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A new state program hopes to get more people involved in Connecticut’s child care industry. Green World Family Child Care in Hartford was the backdrop for Gov. Ned Lamont’s announcement of a new registered apprenticeship program. The program is being hailed as one of the first in the nation for family child care. “Today, I feel that we are no longer alone,” Maria Amado, who owns Green World Family Child Care, said through a...

04 December, 2023 /

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
November 29, 2023
Vanderbilt University’s Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center (PN-3) just issued its annual State Policy Roadmap, exploring ways that the states (and D.C.) can improve conditions so infants and toddlers can thrive. The Roadmap focuses on 12 solutions (see sidebar) shown to enhance well-being and to reduce the stubborn disparities in access to evidence-based programs. “We are constantly trying to figure out how to make the Roadmap more useful and more used,” says executive director Cynthia Osborne,...

01 December, 2023 /

ParentData
By Emily Oster
November 27, 2023
The other day, my friend Jon asked to have coffee. He and his wife were expecting their first child and he had some questions. Or, really, he had one question, which went something like this. I’ve read your books, and you’ve convinced me that most of the individual behaviors people obsess about — breastfeeding, sleep training, stuff like that — do not matter for how kids turn out. I believe you that many of the data findings...

27 November, 2023 /

Diverse Education
By Marcus Bright
November 21, 2023
The early learning sector plays a crucial role in shaping the foundation of children's education and future success. However, the shortage of qualified professionals poses significant challenges, hindering access to quality early learning programs and impeding economic growth. To address these issues, it is imperative to focus on building a thriving workforce through higher education. By equipping individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills, we can transform early learning into a vibrant industry that offers...

21 November, 2023 /

Nursery World
By Caroline Vollans
November 21, 2023
How many of us feel upset when we see a parent responding aggressively to their child? Or sad when a child is desperately trying to please their parent to no avail? Parents are only human, so not all interactions with their children are going to be understanding and considered. Indeed, it could be worrying if they were. Having said that, parent-child interactions are highly significant: they impact the child more than any others. The National Association for...

21 November, 2023 /

The Journal
By Tom Joyce The Center Square
November 17, 2023
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez, all Democrats from New Mexico, recently announced that the state will receive $10 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve early childhood education. The state will get the funding via the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five program. The program “empowers state governments to better leverage...

17 November, 2023 /

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...

14 November, 2023 /

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...

09 November, 2023 /

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 November, 2023 /

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,"...

06 November, 2023 /

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 November, 2023 /

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...

02 November, 2023 /
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