Child care workforce

June Update: Prenatal-to-3 State Legislative Trends

Though most legislative sessions have adjourned, lawmakers and advocates across the country continue to advance efforts to support children and families. A lot can happen at the tail end of a legislative session, as Colorado

Stagnant Funding Results in Alaska Pre-K School Closure, Instability for Vulnerable Children

Meadow Lakes Head Start, a preschool in Wasilla that has 45 students, will close down at the end of the year. Half of the students will move on to kindergarten and the rest will have

Governor Glenn Youngkin Launches Building Blocks for Virginia Families

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced significant early learning and child care investments. The Building Blocks for Virginia Families initiative will include funding to ensure access to high-quality early childhood programs for every low-income family

Transforming the Child Care Landscape: A Case Study of New Mexico

Throughout the nation, states are struggling to keep their child care industries afloat. Decades of underinvestment and a global pandemic threatened a near-total collapse of the system, held off only by temporary pandemic-era funding that

Why Reporters Should Cover Early Care and Education Like K-12

American child care has long been a broken system, despite being a critical backbone of the nation’s economy and education.  When COVID hit and K-12 schools closed, many child care providers — suddenly deemed essential

June Update: Prenatal-to-3 State Legislative Trends

In the past several months, legislatures throughout the United States passed transformative policies for children and families. This exciting, evidence-based legislation includes a historic investment in child care in Vermont, Medicaid expansion in North Carolina,

Highlights from the Society for Research in Child Development 2023 Biennial Meeting

“Life is complicated, and to understand it as researchers and scholars…well, we have our work cut out for us,“ said Dr. Deborah Vandell at the Society for Research in Child Development’s multidisciplinary conference. Hundreds of

2023 State Legislative Trends Across the Prenatal-to-3 System of Care

In addition to conducting research and evaluating evidence, at the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, we also track state legislation and administrative action impacting young children and their families. These efforts provide us with context to

Child Care in Crisis: Texas Case Study

Read about specific issues facing the child care industry and what states can do to support children and families, early childhood educators, and child care businesses.