NEWS FROM THE FIELD

Senior Research Scientist Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., is collaborating with Kimberly Lucas, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice at Northeastern University, on a study of the experiences of home-based child care providers in Massachusetts in order to better understand which government policies can help them survive and thrive.

“A child is born in Massachusetts… then what happens?” That’s the important question that the new website EC 101 tries to answer . . .

The Rennie Center for Education and Research Policy and the Massachusetts Early Childhood Funder Collaborative unveiled Early Childhood 101, an interactive website that maps out all the various ways in which young kids and parents interact with programs and services like health care, housing support, employment assistance and more. To use the site, visit https://www.earlychildhood101.org/.

Fully funding early education and care will positively impact the lives of three main groups of
Massachusetts residents - children receiving high-quality early childhood services, parents who
are able to contribute economically knowing their children are thriving in care, and the early
education workforce, who dedicate their lives to raising our Commonwealth’s future.

”We write today to share the challenges the ECE sector continues to face and to request that Congress rally behind the new Murray-Kaine ECE proposal and invest a minimum of $200 billion in the reconciliation bill to ensure that high-quality early education and care delivered by well-compensated educators is available and affordable for all Massachusetts families."

We strongly urge the Massachusetts Legislature, to:

* Fund all immediate recommendations of the Commission’s report in the fiscal year 2023 state budget,
* Implement the short- and long-term recommendations of the report as soon as possible, and
* Work to establish high-quality early education and care as a “public good” accessible to all children. Build an early childhood system that meets the needs of each family and supports our early educators in providing high-quality early care and education.

The MA ECFC joins with 80+ organizations asking Governor Baker to support “the designation of $600 million, as projected by the Department of Early Education and Care, to extend and study the (EEC) Child Care Stabilization Grants through Fiscal Year 2023 to position the program for sustained support and success into the future.”

A new COVID-19 testing site that will serve child care employees, enrolled children and associated household members was launched at Tewksbury State Hospital to replace the drive-thru child-care test site in Billerica.

In January, the Administration partnered with private and philanthropic funders, including supporters from the Massachusetts Early Education Funder Collaborative and BayCoast Bank, to launch a pilot COVID-19 testing program dedicated to providing on-demand PCR testing to child care providers and the families they serve to ensure easy access to testing when there is suspected COVID-19 exposure.

A coalition of early education advocates are introducing an ambitious proposal to completely overhaul the state’s early education system. The legislation would provide universal, affordable early education in Massachusetts, turning childcare from a system that is now largely private pay to one that is primarily publicly funded.

If you’re a professional child care worker, this new COVID-19 testing program is for you.

Nine sites in Massachusetts — including a colorful bus in the rear parking lot of BayCoast Bank’s corporate office and bank branch on Swansea Mall Drive — are now providing free PCR testing for anyone working at a child care facility.

The business coalition follows last year’s formation of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a group consisting of some of the state’s top philanthropic supporters of early-childhood education, including the Boston Foundation and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.