CenterFuse的动态

Excited to share this new report, in collaboration with GG Weisenfeld! In Including Family Child Care in State-funded Pre-K Systems: An Update, we outline how enrollment of children participating in state-funded pre-K in FCC settings has changed since our last report in 2021. Since then, most?states reported increases in the number of children participating in FCC/pre-K, including New York (increase from 294 children to 4,090 children); Oregon (increase from 216 children to 970 children); and Washington (increase from 30 children to 263 children).?However,?the number of children served in FCC/pre-K homes is?relatively low?compared to center-based programs.?More than half (8 out of 13)?of those that could report?it?served?less than 1% of preschool children in FCC homes.?Exceptions to this small percentage were Oregon?(18.2%), Arizona?(3.7%), and New York?(2.7%).? Thanks to Home Grown for the support of this work! Read more here:

Minister Roderic O’Gorman recently launched Equal Start - a set of measures to support children's access and participation in Early Years and School Age Care. The launch was attended by Early Childhood Ireland representatives, and there was much interest in Equal Start and what it will mean for children’s access to high quality Early Years and School Age Care. In this article we break down what Equal Start is and how it will work alongside AIM. https://loom.ly/kTWF39Y #QualityForChildren #EarlyYearsIreland #EqualStart

Every child, regardless of background, deserves access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education. This means taking action to improve the existing child care system by advocating for new state and federal legislation. We must transform our ideal policies into real, sustainable change that is tangible and universal. ? Where do we start? WeVision EarlyEd, an initiative of our sister organization, the Bainum Family Foundation, highlights four ways we can shift our messaging to align our advocacy with what families want in a reimagined child care system. Find it here: https://lnkd.in/evgipnrQ

?? What do we think about today's "plan for change" speech? ? We’re pleased to see the Government’s focus on early years education, which we’ve urged as a priority, and especially the specific mention of social as well as academic skills, which are key to a child’s development. ???? The root causes of children not meeting developmental milestones are complex – a view shared by our members leading work in this area. To shift outcomes, we need to support families holistically as well as increase access to quality childcare. ?? We must stay focused on long-term outcomes, and we hope the work towards these targets includes joining up systems in every community to identify and meet needs at an early stage. While the early years are hugely important, we must also keep working to support older children who are already moving through the education system.

The Gates Foundation's article on strengthening the care economy to boost women's workforce participation resonates deeply with our mission at Kinda Childcare.org. As caregivers ourselves, we see firsthand how access to affordable, quality childcare empowers women to pursue education, careers, and entrepreneurship. Investing in the care economy is not just about equity—it’s about unlocking untapped potential for families, communities, and nations. At Kinda, we’re committed to creating safe, nurturing spaces for children, enabling mothers to thrive. Together, we can build a future where care is valued and supported. #CareEconomy #EmpowerWomen @GatesFoundation

Early childhood is an important launchpad for life. At the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) we believe that all children have a right to quality and affordable early education and care. As recommended by the Productivity Commission, we welcome the Government’s election commitment to scrap the activity test. As Trav McLeod, Executive Director of Brotherhood of St. Laurence, says in the attached article "What a parent does or earns should never hinder the access their child has to quality education and care in their early years." Advocating for a universal early childhood system, BSL has long called for the abolition of this punitive and inequitable test.? Working with families experiencing disadvantage, we constantly see how this unnecessary requirement prevents thousands of children from accessing formative early education and care. A recent estimate by Impact Economics and Policy suggested that the test currently denies care to at least 126,000 children from some of the country's poorest households.?

A new Child Trends factsheet highlights the ways in which policy changes to Maryland’s Child Care Scholarship Program changed how families receiving child care subsidies accessed early care and education programs (ECE). Findings suggest that these policy changes enabled families to access higher quality ECE and increased the number of child care providers with a higher quality rating. https://buff.ly/4aHY4UL

Lightcast recently published "The Rising Storm: Building a Future-Ready Workforce to Withstand the Looming Labor Shortage" and summarizes some of our imminent challenges into categories of Boomer retirements, our workforce growth is misaligned with demand, and automation isn't going to catch up with the population decline anytime soon. Meanwhile, Indiana loses out on $4.2B annually due to child care shortage. Hundreds of thousands of Hoosier children need high-quality early learning experiences. With fewer future college grads coming down the pipeline, we're not providing the best educational opportunities to one of our most powerful resources. And parents are being forced out of the active workforce. We're going to have to invest in our local workforces, which will include decreasing child care shortages so more parents, especially women will rejoin the workforce. Child care providers need your support - at every level. I've been serving on the board at New Beginnings Child Care (Crawfordsville, IN) for several years now. The "business" model will never be sustainable without outside contributions or without pricing families out of child care. "Extending licensing requirements" on existing providers is 100% not the answer. With smaller graduating of classes of college students, being more open to hiring international graduates (and empowering your HR departments to do so) will help you offset the difference in qualified, talented entry-level candidates in your pool. I can assure you, if you're not looking at the international students in our US colleges, you're missing out on some of your best future employees. To hire international interns is so much easier than you may think. What a great way to vet a future full-time hire, risk-free. I'm encouraged by so much happening in my local business ecosystem, but there is so much more to do. We can figure this out, Hoosiers. Lightcast Report: https://bit.ly/3TXmK5H Indiana Capital Chronicle: https://bit.ly/4eTbvDp #workforce #futureofwork #childcare

In 2024, a record of over 200,000 children were provided with fee relief for attending early childhood education and care. A $340 million investment was pledged to help families with three, four and five year olds. This year, NSW families can receive: ?? Up to $4,347 a year for three- to five-year-olds attending eligible community and mobile preschools ?? Up to $2,174 a year for children aged four and above attending eligible preschool programs in long day care services. This can be received on top of the Australian Government Child Care Subsidy payment. ?? Up to $515 a year for three-year-olds attending eligible preschool programs in long day care services, on top of their Australian Government Child Care Subsidy payment. Further information can be found on the Department of Education website ?? https://loom.ly/j8KsIf0 #DepartmentofEducation #StartStrongforfamilies

This is a great step in strengthening universal access to early childhood education. Universal efforts are crucial, but to change the trajectory for the most vulnerable and at-risk kids, we need to address poverty and the policy responses needed to better tackle entrenched disadvantage. This includes better supports for families during the perinatal period and supporting informal, inclusive and accessible environments for care and connection such as playgroups.