This is why we partnered with our friends at the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading for a conversation — “Children’s Books: From Access to Opportunity” — to celebrate the power and joy of diverse home libraries, literacy-rich environments, the brain-building benefits of language development, and the importance of reading to babies and toddlers.

It was a powerhouse panel:

• Tabitha Blackwell, Executive Director,
• Norrine Briggs, Executive Director, North America, The Dollywood Foundation
• Alvin Irby, Founder and Executive Director,
• Iheoma U. Iruka, Professor of Maternal Child Health and Public Policy; Founding Director of the at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-CH
• Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s President, CEO and Co-Founder

Early Learning Nation contributor Leigh Giangreco moderated the panel.

Here are our takeaways:

1. Early childhood is the right time to celebrate diversity

Iheoma U. Iruka, provided the social and scientific contexts for the conversation. For example, the early years are a period of accelerated brain and language development, she noted, the ideal time to promote respect for diversity and the joy that goes with it.

Iruka — professor of Maternal Child Health and Public Policy and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition (as well as a mother of two) — cited the 2023 National Academies report, , which notes the benefit of “culturally relevant, identity-affirming and positive books for families to take home.”

She cautioned that books aren’t a silver bullet for all the challenges facing young children and their families, but they are a proven tool for fostering a love of reading.

2. Durham, North Carolina is “The City of Books”

Tabitha Blackwell, executive director of Book Harvest, described her organization’s work, which includes providing free books and resources in early learning and health care settings in Durham.

Altogether, Book Harvest provides 170 books over the first decade of a child’s life. Why all those books? “Because,” Blackwell says, “families feel isolated and crave more connectivity and guidance.”

Its program partners with families of Medicaid-eligible children. A randomized control trial conducted by Iruka found that 98% of families agreed that Book Babies helped to create a daily routine of reading. And its supports the transition into kindergarten, especially for bilingual families. “Family members are the ones doing the work,” Blackwell said. “We’re walking alongside them.”

3. Early learning starts at home—with a book

Norrine Briggs, executive director, North America of The Dollywood Foundation, said that has gifted 250 million books since 1995, and she played a video with the famed singer, author, actor and “Dreamer in Chief,” in which she declares, “If you can read, you can teach yourself anything.”

Briggs described the many ways her organization brings about collaboration among states, counties, school districts, public libraries and nonprofits — all in the name of creating moments where young children read with someone they know loves them.

Receiving a book in the mail every month, she said, “lays the foundation for consistent parent involvement.” Some children can’t even wait to get inside the door before they tear open the package addressed to them.

4. Reading should be fun

Alvin Irby, founder and executive director of Barbershop Books, promoted the idea of child-centered curation — that is, Black boys are the best judges of what Black boys do and do not want to read. and Dav Pilkey’s series probably won’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but these are the titles that help children become what Irby called captains of their own reading journeys. “Boys like things that are gross,” Giangreco chimed in. “You have to lean into that.”

Leveraging the cultural power of barbershops in Black communities, Barbershop Books currently operates in 20 cities. Early literacy expert Susan B. Neuman recently conducted a two-year evaluation in Philadelphia and found that Black boys exposed to books through the program were more likely to identify as readers.

Irby, a former teacher as well as a charismatic stand-up comedian, called attention to the importance of centering the diverse ways we read. “My son likes to read on the toilet,” he confessed, “so I’m going to put a basket of books there.”

5. Diverse books lead to diverse readers

Matching Dolly Parton is no easy feat, but First Book, the nation’s largest community of adults in the lives of kids, has also distributed 250 million books. And like Barbershop Books, First Book also gets researcher Neuman’s seal of approval. Its represents what the researcher calls a “research-driven roadmap for educators to foster an environment that
 will drive equitable education outcomes and be foundational for future success.”

Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s president, CEO and co-founder, explained that while giving books away is an admirable strategy, her organization practices a different one: “Traditional pricing models mean the best books are out of reach,” she said. And the publishing industry has a poor record on diversity.

“Industries respond to markets,” she continued, “so the went to publishers with a business plan for an aggregated market, a vibrant market.” Zimmer announced plans for quadrupling the number of kids First Book reaches, from 6.5 million to 26 million!

• Dana Clarkson,
• Isabelle Hau,
• Michelle Kang,
• Jay Lee, an educator in Oakland, Cal.
• Keri Rodrigues,
• Celia Stokes,

“Why is AI different from past tech innovations?” asked Gilreath, prompting the panelists to reflect on ways that previous advances were initially regarded as threats, then accepted as inevitabilities.

Here are our takeaways from the illuminating conversation:

1. The time to confront risks is now. “It’s here,” said Dana Clarkson, “and it’s not going away.” Supporting this contention, Isabelle Hau cited a finding that 46% of teachers, 51% of parents and 48% of K-12 students report using AI chatbots once a week or more. Adding, “There are a lot of risks here.”

Hau mentioned ethical concerns about how data is handled and the domination of the field by large for-profit companies motivated by profit rather than the education of children or well-being of families. Noting that structural biases exist in the language sets that AI draws upon, Michelle Kang said, “Source data has to be inclusive.”

Just because the AI genie is out of the bottle doesn’t mean that it’s too late for government (and educators and advocates) to hold companies to account and to remain vigilant about the hazards of untested technologies. Keri Rodrigues mentioned the as a leading convener.

(Hechinger Report)

2. Inclusion builds trust. “Move fast and break things” used to be a mantra in Silicon Valley, but nobody is that cavalier when it comes to shaping young minds. Celia Stokes argued that technology companies must earn the trust of teachers and families if they expect to play a part in the early educational ecosystem.

Clarkson, a self-described early adapter of AI, recommended including teachers and parents in conversations about when and how it’s used. She marveled at the ease with which generates stories when users choose characters and setting, and set the reading level.

3. Supporting the workforce is a top a priority. None of the panelists predicted that AI would replace educators, but what if it made the profession more appealing? “Less privileged kids need access to human teachers,” Hau reminded viewers, while Kang emphasized the central role of “strong relationships between and among educators, families and children.”

The greatest hope might lie in technology’s potential to relieve administrative burdens, making the job easier and more joyful. “AI can provide the sketch,” said Kang, “but it takes a human to provide the color.”

Jay Lee mentioned using AI to brainstorm curriculum ideas; in the chat I asked for an example, and he responded: “Prompting ChatGPT to share developmentally appropriate activities for my classroom based on that week’s theme. I can even ask ChatGPT to incorporate existing materials we have in our classroom, and can ask it to incorporate potential likes/dislikes/needs that I specifically know. The results can be hit or miss, but it is certainly fun to play with, and it’s a great partner for brainstorming.”

4. Children will determine how AI unfolds in their lives. With every new technological development, experts weigh in on how and when to bring it into children’s lives. Time and again, once young children get their hands on the device, they define the terms of use. Clarkson noted that while “It’s difficult for grownups to learn new things, kids are bringing these skills into our classrooms.” Rodrigues concurred: “Look in the backseat of every car in America. Look at the booths in the restaurants.”

5. Intention matters. Panelists cautioned educators not to blunder into AI without considering the consequences. “When used intentionally,” Kang said, “AI can be a valuable tool.”

Stokes envisions a time when AI can help individualize education and support assessment — by “whispering in the ear of teachers in the moment” — but stressed that it’s not a replacement for human judgment.

For Clarkson, maintaining the North Star of “building agency in our learners” can protect institutions and educators from getting carried away with AI’s dazzling capabilities. That is, we should make sure we’re using the technology, rather than the other way around.

There’s a lot we stand to lose with less local journalism: fewer local journalists, fewer watch dogs, fewer hard-hitting stories to hold governments, businesses and people accountable for their actions.

Also, fewer beat reporters.

This is why I was joined by four other journalists who cover child care as part of their work for a webinar, titled: , which was co-hosted by the Better Life Lab and Early Learning Nation magazine. You can find .

Here are 8 of the top takeaways from our conversation:

1. More journalists covering child care can lead to more data on child care, and we know that data helps inform decision makers on how and what to prioritize. We also know that care work in general has been under-measured and under-valued in our economy, that doesn’t account for unpaid household work.
2. Even though the economic arguments in support of a more robust, universal child care infrastructure are those that , the reporters who cover this topic would like to shift the focus to include the positive effect on kids, providers, families and our society as a whole that comes with a strong child care program.

   Economic arguments are important, but they don’t tell the whole story, and can threaten to eclipse what actually matters the most: the young people receiving care and being nurtured into caring, compassionate and engaged young citizens.

3. For child care coverage to matter, the leadership in newsrooms need to also value this. Some of this will come from people in leadership positions who have a firsthand experience with care (the same way that can yield more family-friendly policies). Another way is through publications, like , which focus directly on issues affecting women and LGBTQ+ people.

4. Watchdog stories make a difference and we need more of them. Two of the reporters on the call — Chabeli Carrazna of the 19th and Jackie Mader of Hechinger Report — spoke about the rippling effects of their powerful watchdog stories and their desire to do more deep-dives that hold government officials accountable. You can read Carrazna’s story on and Mader’s story on .

5. The 21st century journalism model has a strong philanthropic base. All of us on the call who write about child care acknowledged the philanthropic support for our writing. —$500 million—to support local news. And for child care beats to get the full funding they need, philanthropic support may be part of that solution.

6. We need more child care journalism to get child care on the national stage. Our conversation lamented that the presidential debate spent more time conversing about golf than child care. Streeter writes a lifestyle column, but child care figures prominently because any conversation around parenting includes the question of who looks after your child?
7. We also need more stories like that to keep child care on the national stage as a major economic issue affecting families, like . By elevating the voices of child care providers, we can recognize them for the professional work they do and compensate them accordingly.

8. Focus on collective solutions, instead of blaming individuals. Right now, each individual family comes up with a child care solution, which is not always workable or affordable. We need to acknowledge that those who are struggling to find workable arrangements are doing so because a system as significant as child care requires a collective solution and robust government investment (just like K-12 education).

I’ve written many stories — in Early Learning Nation, for and on my — about why we make parenting in this country harder than it needs to be. It doesn’t have to be this hard. An Overton window — the range of politically acceptable policies at any given moment — exists now for child care. This is why it is the ideal time to keep the child care stories going now.

I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about this issue to watch our webinar, and follow the work of these journalists: Chabeli Carrazana, Jackie Mader, Leslie Gray Streeter and Mark Swartz. You can also read and engage more on child care right here at zero2eight, formerly Early Learning Nation.

• Marshara Fross, Ph.D., perinatal justice scholar and post-doctoral fellow at the University of South Florida’s
• Luis J. Hernandez, founder of
• Jha’Niyah Holland, entrepreneur and community safety advocate at and
• Zonnie Thompson, housing justice project coordinator at
• Rachel Warren, coordinator of the

They spoke about their journeys, their motivations and their strategies, encouraging webinar participants to find a cause and join forces with others in their community. As Warren asserted, “We need each other more than we’re allowed to believe.”

Here are our 5 Top Takeaways

1. Start by centering Black experience. As a researcher trained in , Jha’Niyah Holland prioritizes listening to people and making them feel they’re being heard. For example, ThreeCubed partnered with the United Way of Greater Knoxville, Tennessee and Tennesseans for Quality Early Education on the , an initiative designed “to tap the power of communities across the state to collaboratively design, implement and scale high-quality early care and education systems locally, while informing and advocating supportive state policies.”

In the course of her research, she realized “the people doing the work are underfunded and the grant process needs more equity,” and she expressed determination to address these chronic shortcomings. As a survivor of gun violence, Luis J. Hernandez understands that it takes “people who are in crisis,” as well as mental health professionals, to develop comprehensive community violence-prevention programs. They are closest to the problem, he said, so they are closest to the solution. Zonnie Thompson described a White House rally in support of a , where people told their own stories of their struggles to obtain and maintain housing.

2. Act on data-driven strategies. The evidence is clear on a uniquely American epidemic: . “We need robust data,” said Hernandez, “to identify best strategies for interventions,” adding that academic research bolsters activists’ credibility.

Thompson said that “being honest about who is unhoused” means counting people who are couch surfing or living in motels, and this more inclusive data broadens the alliance advocating for reforms. Rachel Warren’s blunt viewpoint on research reflected a preference for action: “Stop asking the same question over and over,” she said. “The community has given you the answer. The data is there. Use it.”

3. “Be impeccable with your word.” This dictum from Don Miguel Ruiz’s influential book resonated with all of the webinar participants. They spoke about the importance of choosing their words carefully and earning the trust of those affected by the overlapping causes they were fighting for. Warren called this the “through line between all our work. We do what we say we’re going to do.”

Dr. Marshara Fross stated, “We shoulder not only our own burdens but the burdens of our families and communities,” and Holland added, “We need to understand how tied we are to our ancestors.”

4. “Doing nothing is not an option,” declared moderator Mavis Sanders, senior research scholar of Black Children and Families at Child Trends.  Driven by two traumatic birth experiences of her own,  Fross helped launch . “We had to raise all our own funds,” she recalled. “I got an awesome group of people to support me.”

Surrounded by systemic and historical racism, facing odds that seem insurmountable, today’s advocates have at least two advantages over their predecessors in the Civil Rights movement. First, they have the shoulders of those predecessors to stand upon. Second, they have social media, which connects them to allies down the street and around the world.

Ultimately, today’s social entrepreneurs take action to fight injustice and to advance well-being in their communities because they don’t feel they have a choice in the matter. In other words, as Holland urged, “If you don’t do it, nobody else will.”

5. Don’t underestimate the power of faith. All of the webinar participants cited God as their primary influence. Fross’s faith enables her to “stand steadfast in my purpose: creating a better future for the families of the future.” Hernandez, 23, who has been an anti-violence advocate since he was 14, is also inspired by young New Yorkers “who show up in spite of their pain.”

Thompson, who started a career doing hair and makeup for celebrities before shifting to housing advocacy, spoke of “letting God order your steps.” He also cited the influence of his sister, who recently died of cancer. “If it weren’t for wanting to make her proud,” he said, “I wouldn’t be doing this work anymore.”

Warren invoked her faith in the context of a thought-provoking vocabulary word: which she defined as “the thing that makes you, you.”

, for example, works to improve early childhood experiences, build up public investments and support delivery systems to increase access as well as quality. On May 30, the organization’s Kayla Goldfarb, a policy manager, and consultant Michelle Hughes moderated a webinar for advocates, featuring Shannon Jones, president and CEO of and Monica Murnan, director of community support services at , an education nonprofit serving Kansas. Both Jones and Murnan drew upon experience as legislators to inform their advocacy work.

Here are our takeaways:

1. There’s a lot on the line in 2024. At the start of the webinar, Goldfarb and Hughes conducted an instant survey, and everyone acknowledged fears about the election and implications for families. It’s clear there’s a lot at stake this year, with 13 gubernatorial races and 33 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs as well as the presidential contest.

Goldfarb said that 78% of state legislative seats are on the 2024 ballot, as well as judicial elections and ballot initiatives. (Missouri voters, for example, have the opportunity to .) Elections give nonprofits the chance to seize the media spotlight as candidates debate issues. Amplifying voter voices and participating in candidate forums are two common strategies. Panelists cited examples from , and .

2. Compliance is strength. Two IRS classifications of nonprofits — 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) — can engage in advocacy, but the rules are different. Both are free to encourage voting and to help people register and vote. The latter type of organization is less common and has more latitude about lobbying. Only the latter is allowed to endorse candidates and publicize its endorsements. Goldfarb and Hughes singled out for its authoritative guidance on how to comply with regulations and maximize impact, including:

They added that funders often impose additional restrictions. Murnan emphasized that nonprofit organizations should educate every level of staff on “being true to the culture” in their work e-mails and on social media.

3. Advocacy happens through relationships. Campaign season is the time to kindle or rekindle relationships with candidates and their staff members, but remember that trust is the currency of the realm, so everything you communicate must be accurate. “Elected officials don’t want to be embarrassed,” said Jones, who spent 10 years in the Ohio General Assembly. “If I felt misled by an advocate, I’d never talk to them again.”

Murnan, who represented her district from 2016 to 2020, recalled helping to overturn the so-called in tax cuts. She advised advocates, “You need to be the trusted expert that people call. You don’t have the luxury of disliking someone. You have to listen to both sides.”

She also noted that relationships with administrative officials are just as key as the ones with politicians, and recommended shoring up relationships after the election and before inauguration, when recently elected officials are making key appointments and preparing to realize their campaign promises. “Educate them when they’re at home,” Murnan said. “Follow them into the grocery store if you have to.”

Both Jones and Murnan stressed that elected officials are more than their party affiliation, so listen carefully and capitalize on common ground.

4. Work in coalition. No matter how knowledgeable and well funded your organization is, you will be more effective in collaboration with others than you are on you own. Advocacy organizations, businesses, unions and faith-based groups make more noise when they make it together. The flip side of this reality is that you won’t get to make all the decisions. Don’t worry about marching in lockstep; instead, concentrate on where you align. “Respect is more important than consensus,” Jones stated.

5. Play the long game. Maybe this isn’t the year for your specific policy issue, but if you solidify your partnerships and remain patient, maybe next year will be. Jones’s advice: “You have to understand when to take half the loaf. Or the heel of the bread. There’s always next year.”

Advocates have to play defense as well as offense, postponing progress until after the damaging policies have been thwarted. “Sometimes we have to stop the bad things from happening,” Murnan said, referring to the recent legislative session in her state where a hoped-for formation of an Office of Early Childhood eluded her, but on the other hand, a risky proposal to deregulate child care was avoided, .

“Every day is trying to get out alive,” she said.

Sarah Torian, chief learning officer for CGLR, opened the discussion, and Elizabeth Gaines, founder and CEO, , moderated a panel of four children’s funding leaders:

• Todd A. Battiste, senior vice president of education & youth at
• Heather Flaherty, executive director of
• September Jarrett, program officer of education at
• Trevor Storrs, president & CEO of

Here are our 5 Top Takeaways:

1. You don’t have to go it alone. Children’s funding advocates have many places to turn for support and resources. The Children’s Funding Project trains people in fiscal mapping and identifying sources of additional potential revenue, along with offering convenings, coaching, tools and a . Additionally, they host the , which pools funds to support ballot measures to fund early childhood development.

As Jarrett noted, “This is a long game, relationship-building, and I think, out of the harm of COVID
there’s a greater understanding of the public at large and diverse stakeholders in the role of government as a force for good when it comes to children and youth coming out of COVID.”

Advocates also have access to a wide range of further resources and inspiration, including:

• (The Annie E. Casey Foundation)
• (The First Five Years Fund)
• (The National Institute for Early Education Research)
• (New America)
• (Vanderbilt University’s Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center)
• (Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education)
• (ZERO TO THREE)

2. Start now (and other proven strategies). “Don’t wait for the timing to start,” Storrs recommended. “Start now, so when the timing happens, you’re ready to go.” The right political moment might be just around the corner. For example, when the pandemic hit and people in the Anchorage community saw the need for child care, advocates were able to make the case more easily for directing sales tax revenue from recreational marijuana to address this immediate need.

Battiste stressed the importance of advocacy, stating that the COO of their local United Way is a lobbyist, “so we understand that lobbying is important, and we set a policy agenda every year for our United Way.”

Battiste also noted the role of coalitions and messengers, sharing that they collaborate with their child care providers network for advocacy and that parents are the face of their campaigns. Flaherty noted the role of incremental progress to build up to a funding win. “We built the case over six years,” she said, “of consistently coming to County Council meetings, presenting on community data.” She also shared the importance of “taking one step at a time” with her board, to look at community data, fund some polling and review results before launching into a campaign.

3. We can learn from examples of success to secure local public financing. The webinar featured three initiatives across the country — in Louisiana, Washington and Alaska — that secured funding for children through local campaigns and ballot measures, demonstrating the potential of pursuing local public financing for children’s initiatives.

• Battiste described how local advocates in partnership with the United Way and others led a “Yes for NOLA Kids” campaign that to generate around $21 million per year for early learning efforts in New Orleans. This success built on years of advocacy that began in 2007 and raised more funding and support each year.
• Flaherty described her organization’s role in securing that will produce about $10 million per year to increase access to child care and mental and behavioral health, as well as decrease youth homelessness.
• Storrs outlined his organization’s collaboration with partners in Anchorage, Alaska, to steer local sales tax dollars from the sale of the recently legalized recreational marijuana toward programming for early childhood development and education.

4. More public funding for children is needed to meet needs and address gaps. From child care to education to after-school programs, more funding is needed to address access and equity gaps between lower-income and higher-income. For example, for every young person in an after-school program, , with program costs .

Though the federal government allocated unprecedented education and other funding to states and districts during and after the pandemic through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, we are approaching a “fiscal cliff,” with ESSER dollars expiring this fall.

shows the potential for more communities to pursue local funding to contribute to overall funds for children and address current and anticipated needs.

5. Philanthropy can support and accelerate public investments in children. Gaines highlighted , including convening people to define shared goals and spending priorities, and funding and conducting research including fiscal mapping.

Jarrett explained that her organization created the Heising-Simons Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) entity, to build capacity for leaders in public financing strategies and help them create political power to secure these funding wins.

And Flaherty shared her perspective, as a fellow funder, that funders “have a bird’s-eye view of the whole landscape of community need and all the different partners that they could bring together” and they can fund the coordination of those partners as a backbone entity and build public will.

Employer-sponsored child care has received substantial praise, but some child care policy experts are urging caution. In his new report entitled, , Early Learning Nation contributor Elliot Haspel takes a critical eye to the subject and raises some important questions, including:

• Is it appropriate for businesses to play a prominent role in procuring child care?
• What are the philosophical complications associated with this approach?
• What are the benefits and the risks attached to employer-sponsored child care?
• What alternative models still engage employers?

Last month, hosted a with child care advocates and policy leaders to discuss their reactions to the report. , author and director of the Better Life Lab, began the discussion and introduced Haspel. , award-winning journalist and staff writer at the Better Life Lab, moderated the event.

Panelists:

Here are the key findings.

1. Embracing child care as a work support raises major philosophical questions. 

The rise of employer-sponsored child care prompts philosophical questions: what is child care, and who is it for?

Child care helps parents (especially mothers) stay connected to the workforce and keeps our economy running, but being a “work support” is not its only function. Haspel is concerned that if child care is viewed as merely something to keep kids safe while their parents are working, then there is little incentive to nurture a high-quality, pluralistic system that relies on a valued and well-compensated workforce. He coined the term minimum viable child care fallacy to describe the problem.

Haspel also claimed that promoting employer-sponsored child care benefits weakens the argument in favor of a universal system and reinforces the idea that child care is a private good. Supporting employer-sponsored child care could contradict the argument that advocates have been making for decades: that child care is a public good worthy of robust, sustained government investment.

Embracing employer-sponsored benefits places child care in a category of services that an individual must navigate on their own and potentially procure with help from their employer, such as healthcare or a gym membership, rather than in the same category as public schools.

2. Employer-sponsored child care raises concerns about access, equity and fairness. 

Employer-sponsored child care benefits, especially benefits like onsite centers, “tend to flow pretty disproportionately to higher earning, white collar-workers, and usually those who are working at a headquarters office,” according to Haspel. Small businesses are unlikely to have the resources to offer these benefits to their employees. Further, part-time and frontline workers are frequently excluded, and millions of freelancers and “gig” workers are ineligible entirely.

As Haspel noted in the report and Erica Phillips echoed during the panel, employer-sponsored child care benefits tend to favor formal care in a center setting and are “not inclusive.” Options that millions of families rely on, such as home-based child care programs, faith-based centers and Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) care, can be left out of the equation, and the choices available to parents are limited.

Employer-sponsored child care can also contribute to “job lock,” which limits worker mobility and forces parents to stay in positions they might otherwise leave. Haspel argued that linking child care to employment puts parents in a bind: If they lose their jobs, then they also lose their child care.

3. Some experts are optimistic about the rise of employer-sponsored child care and claim it can expand supply, build capacity and be an on-ramp to continued advocacy. 

Panelists, except Haspel, believe that employer-sponsored child care can play a pivotal role in system and capacity building. They argued that business capital could help build new child care centers, increase supply in rural areas and reduce strain on an overwhelmed child care system. Nicole Riehl supported this idea, citing examples from her experience at EPIC, where she worked with small and medium-sized companies to help them build child care centers in rural areas that also serve their broader community and not just employees.

According to Carmi Medoff, employer-sponsored programs also “have an opportunity to provide stable, well-funded positions for early childhood educators,” and to improve both the quality and quantity of educators entering the field. She added that with capital from employer sponsorship, we can make early childhood education a “rewarding and sustainable career path” and ensure “the pipeline stays open.”

These panelists also believe employer-sponsored child care can inspire new advocates and advance our nation toward a universal system rather than detract from long-term goals. A growing number of businesses are raising their hands and taking an active approach to child care.

Miriam CalderĂłn believes child care policy experts should work with these businesses to find palatable solutions, identify funding options and educate them about why a publicly funded system could benefit them.

According to Riehl, “employers implementing these solutions and becoming more familiar with the business model of child care and the financial challenges that exist in that space are also becoming greater advocates.”

4. There are reasons to be skeptical about employer involvement in child care. 

Haspel described corporate attitudes towards major child care proposals as “checkered at best” and claimed there is “strong evidence that business interests are not always the friend to the child care sector.” Many businesses lobby in favor of tax cuts and regularly fight corporate tax increases that could fund child care programs.

Haspel noted that the , defeating legislation that would have supported $400 billion in child care funding.

Employers have also proven to be “fickle” and can change their minds about what child care benefits they offer their employees. In tough economic times when businesses are looking for a way to cut expenses and improve profitability, child care programs may vanish altogether. Haspel cited two recent examples, Google and General Mills, which shut down their onsite child care centers as cost-cutting measures.

Employer-sponsored child care might benefit employees, but these programs are fragile and potentially temporary. Changes in economic conditions can pose a serious threat to child care benefits. As cited in the report, of companies say they plan to scale back child care benefits in the event of a recession.

5. A universal child care system is ideal, but experts disagree on what immediate child care solutions we should accept in our current policy climate.

Panelists, except Haspel, expressed their support of an “all-hands-on-deck” approach and generally welcomed the rise of employer-sponsored child care benefits. They claimed that a universal system is what we should strive for, but we are not close to achieving that reality and American families are in desperate need of practical solutions right now.

They believe we should encourage and celebrate businesses taking a proactive approach to help their employees access child care. “I hope the government does more, but I certainly do not hope that employers do less,” said Medoff.

Haspel disagrees with the so-called “both-and” approach in which it is possible to promote employer-sponsored child care and also make advancements toward a universal system. Employer-sponsored child care comes with serious political and opportunity costs. The more child care advocates and policy experts direct resources and attention to supporting job-linked child care, the more we shift our energy away from advocacy for a publicly funded system.

Every dollar dedicated to government incentives for employer-sponsored child care is a dollar not spent on subsidizing child care. The advancement of employer-sponsored child care does not bring us closer to creating a universal system that works for everyone. According to Haspel, it actually places us on an entirely different path that cements child care as a perk that should be acquired through employment.

Haspel does not believe employers should be completely “divorced” from child care. He acknowledges that businesses have a vested interest in supporting employees with caregiving responsibilities, and those who offer child care benefits generally do so with good intentions. Haspel, however, wants businesses to shift their energy away from individualized benefits tied to employment and focus on bringing us closer to a publicly funded system. He presented alternatives that still engage businesses but do not involve the creation of onsite child care centers or voucher programs, including directly supporting community-based programs and funding grants to help expand their reach and capacity.

Haspel also applauds businesses whose advocacy “goes beyond platitudes and leans into measures that raise dedicated tax dollars.” Haspel believes Vermont is an example of how businesses should be involved. In 2023, the Vermont business community was a vocal proponent and testified in favor of a corporate tax bill. Their lobbying helped to get the bill passed and ultimately expanded child care funding, created a more than $100 million annual funding stream and subsidized child care for thousands of families.

Haspel wants the early childhood education community to reflect and question the prominence of employer-sponsored child care before it metastasizes into something we didn’t intend for it to become.

These are difficult conversations, but conversations that we must keep having. He also emphasized that “this is one of those issues [in which] reasonable people can reasonably disagree.”

Our nation’s approach to health care is a “cautionary tale” about the consequences of relying on employer-sponsored benefits instead of investing in a public system. “Today’s stopgap measure can become tomorrow’s status quo,” Haspel warned.

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. Maternal health care is vanishing. The March of Dimes maternity care deserts as “any county in the United States without a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and without any obstetric providers.” Its showed that 36% of U.S. counties fit this definition, a 2% increase from the 2020 report.

Areas with low or no access affect up to 6.9 million women and almost 500,000 births nationwide. Of those maternity care deserts, 61% were rural counties.

2. Rural communities are particularly vulnerable. About 2 million rural women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts at least 25 miles away from a labor and delivery unit, a USA TODAY found. About 1 in 9 rural Native women and 1 in 16 rural Latina women are 40 miles or farther from the nearest maternity ward.

“Half of the nation’s rural hospitals have no obstetric or ob-gyn practitioner,” said Nada Hassanein, health care reporter for . “Research has also found rural, Black communities are more likely to lose their obstetric units.”

Hassanein described the , of a mother who had to drive about 70 miles round trip every other week for her prenatal appointments and to deliver her baby. A long drive or ambulance ride in the face of a life-threatening complication can prove fatal or lead to complications that traumatically change the course of a young life.

3. There are geographic and systemic problems at play. “Rural communities with larger proportions of people of color, such as Jasper, have been found to be farther away from obstetrics than rural white communities,” Hassanein said, adding, “It’s not just a geographical problem, but also a systemic one.”

Our health care system is decentralized and favors volume. For hospitals in these poorer, rural communities, these two factors don’t often offer sustainable support, since they see lower birth volumes and primarily rely on the low rates of Medicaid reimbursements for service.

4. Policies underpin some of today’s ongoing disparities. In Georgia, nearly half of the state’s predominantly Black counties are now considered maternity care deserts.

In researching the state’s health care system, Margo Snipe, national health reporter at , discovered regulations uniquely restrictive in Georgia. “The system makes it super hard to open care, but to shut down a facility, all that’s required is a 30-day notice to the state,” Snipe said.

And existing hospitals or health care systems can fight against the appeal. A woman’s efforts to open a birth center in a Black part of Augusta County are blocked. “She had hundreds of letters of support,” Snipe said, “She still hasn’t been able to open it, because hospitals have fought against it.”

5. Many communities are taking matters into their own hands, like the folks behind the Augusta birth center, and tribal women, who have to travel some of the farthest distances in the nation to receive care.

Hassanein mentioned some who plan on learning to drive an ambulance and others who volunteer as emergency medical technicians. “A hospital closure has a really wide effect on a community, and that has implications for maternal health, but also just general health in an emergency,” Snipe said.

On January 31, the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) hosted a discussion exploring how the environment affects early childhood development and what we can do to address the impact of climate change on young children. , dean and Saris professor of education and economics at HGSE, opened the discussion, with featured guest , vice chair of the Clinton Foundation. Clinton then moderated a panel of experts that included:

• , president and CEO, National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)
• , director of education and policy, Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• , chief science officer, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University
• , Saul Zaentz senior lecturer in early childhood education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. The climate crisis is urgent and young children are particularly vulnerable. Long reminded viewers that 2023 was the hottest year on record, jeopardizing the health of young children in particular. She noted that our warming climate will “increase the prevalence of asthma, food insecurity and stressful experiences for both children and their caregivers” and have “undeniable negative effects on student learning.” She shared that the prenatal period through early childhood are “sensitive periods of development,” given the important physical and cognitive development that occur during these stages. “This is not some future challenge,” she warned. “It’s here now.”

Burghardt outlined three main categories that most affect young children’s biological systems: air, temperature and water. For example, higher temperatures “are leading to babies being born too early or too small,” and extreme wet weather events are causing floods in people’s homes that uproot children and their families for a length of time.

2. We know the solutions to combat the effects of climate change on young children. The good news is, as the panelists confirmed, we have the knowledge, tools and even recent federal legislation to address climate change: that became law in 2022 is predicted to reduce carbon emissions by around 40% by 2030.

Burghardt outlined three ways we can tackle climate change to improve conditions for young children.

First, we can address “harms” from extreme heat events through cooling centers and other mitigating strategies. Second, we can improve the conditions of places where young children spend their time through “geothermal heat pumps and other technologies that can make early care and elementary schools cooler.” Third, we can address the causes of the planet warming through leveraging solar technologies, “greening” the places where pregnant people and little children most frequent and installing smart surfaces like porous pavement as well as green roofs.

Austin cited the that outlines ways the United States can support young children ages zero to 8 to thrive amidst ongoing climate change.

3. Climate change affects some populations disproportionately, including Black children and families. According to a by the Atlantic Council, Black children aged 17 and under are 34% to 40% more likely to be diagnosed with asthma depending on the range of temperature increases based on where they live.

This disproportionate impact of climate change on Black children led NBCDI to list among its eight “essential outcomes” for Black children the ability to “breathe clean air and drink clean water.” As Austin noted, “What we’ve realized, especially as we are in conversations with the climate experts, is that each one of those eight outcomes will be completely disrupted by climate change if we’re not aggressively centering children in the climate work that we’re seeking to do.”

Basu also cited a statistic that anywhere from 5% to 13% of the racial achievement gap “can be attributed to heat by itself,” demonstrating the outsized impact that climate change has on children of color.

4. We must listen to and share stories of hope, not just data and despair. Basu shared his concern about the mental health of young people in light of crises like climate change and other issues. As an alternative to despair, he endorsed promoting “self-efficacy,” sharing positive examples of action and advocating for change through storytelling. “The storytelling is critical here,” he said. “We need to present the data clearly, but I want them to be picturing a child.”

Earlier in the conversation, Clinton also encouraged adults to build agency in youth, saying, “It is so hugely important, of course, that we teach kids about the science of the world around us. That’s what helps fuel their curiosity and their creativity, and also to build them as citizens, because I think it is really important to help kids feel like they can still make a difference.”

Austin stressed that as we share stories and solutions, we must be “learning from, listening to and being guided by those most impacted” and “embracing Black and brown people as valuable and necessary to idea generation, implementation and evaluation of solutions is really critical.”

5. Children model for us how we can approach our physical world: with wonder. Li reminded participants that young children are fascinated by the environment, and we can learn a lot from them about their relationship to the environment as one of wonder versus exploitation. He urged us to widen our definition of health to include relational health with the planet.

Li encouraged all to embrace “that sense of wonder that young children have about the world” and that “when you wonder about something—a tree, an ant, a person—you care about that thing that you’re wondering about. And, if you care about that thing, then you take action for it, and I think that’s the kind of relational solution in addition to the technical solutions that we need as we look ahead.”

Clinton reminded viewers of the critical role parents and adults play in giving kids access to that wonder in the first place: “I was thinking about how lucky I was, but also am, that I spent a lot of time in national parks as a kid and in state parks in Arkansas
 and how grateful I am that my parents understood that I needed that sense of wonder. And so I’m going to call them tonight and say thank you.”

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. The early childhood education workforce is overwhelmingly female. Men represent 3% of the workforce; of those practitioners, about 44% exit within five years, Wuori reported. This stubborn statistic plays a significant role in how men are perceived in the classroom. “I felt societal views encroaching on my work,” Dr. Calvin Moore of the explained of his time as a first-year Head Start teacher, “I felt the strange looks, the turning of the heads when they passed me in the hallway. They were surprised that I was teaching.”

2. Male teachers may feel compelled to take extra precautions. “With men hired in education, specifically in the early grades and early childhood education, you have to be very cognizant and aware of who you are and how you present,” said Edward Manuszak of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District. He taught kindergarten for eight years and then transitioned to administration. He described some measures he takes to make his classroom, staff and families feel comfortable, such as home or neutral setting visits to build rapport with families, and having another adult present whenever possible, especially if aiding a child after an injury. “There is a real concern as a male in ECE that we don’t have that capability,” Manuszak said.

3. Society should normalize male participation in early child care education. These men are professionally trained to be in care positions and should be trusted to execute. “When I earned my credential,” Moore said, “it says to the community where I’m serving that I’m a professional, and whatever skills and abilities that profession trained me to do, I should be able to exercise that in my career.” Black men are even less likely to enter the early childhood education field, something Moore attributes to external pressure, “I think that Black men are somewhat more sensitive to societal views about early childhood education.”

4. Recruitment and retention efforts are under way. Programs around the country are trying to attract Black men to the field. “We’re needed in the field in certain communities, and so we have to change the narrative for those men, whether they’re in high school or college, thinking about careers,” Moore said, citing at the University of Washington as a positive example of this work. Wuori acknowledged the difficulty of attracting, retaining and paying staff, noting, “Right now, the early childhood workforce is struggling mightily with a compensation challenge across the board, and frankly, it is difficult to attract teachers, male or female, partly because of compensation.”

5. Passion and support are imperative. “You do have to be passionate about it,” said Michael Marshall, who teaches at Cottonwood Elementary School in Yakima County, Wash. “You can’t just hire a male teacher just because he’s a man. I think that’s going a step backward. We need good teachers, men and women, and passionate ones.” Marshall has taught kindergarten for a decade and attributes this success to his classroom and coworkers. “I enjoy seeing the kids every day. Their smiles, their tears, whatever it may be.” The supportive staff makes a difference to his happiness and longevity in the role. “I don’t feel like I have to go to this job. I get to go,” he said.

Participants detailed how the care landscape has shifted since the pandemic and how leaders — elected and otherwise — have built momentum toward more equitable systems. Here are our takeaways.

1.  COVID revealed painful truths. In her introductory remarks, Better Life Lab director Brigid Schulte said, “COVID made the care crisis impossible to ignore.”

In a recorded statement, Ai-jen Poo, president of the , observed, “So much has changed in our cultural conversation about care,” adding that realization has dawned that “the care workforce makes everything else possible in our economy.”

The epigraph of Goldstein’s playbook comes from novelist Arundhati Roy’s : “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different.” And while the hoped-for transformation has been far from immediate, the ways that societal inequities were exposed raised awareness and laid the groundwork for change.

2. Care workers are organizing. Webinar participant Sandy Moreno left a promising job in Chicago to care for her grandmother in California. The grueling hours and absence of supports exhausted her physically and emotionally. “This is not just my story,” she said. “It’s thousands of other caregivers, too.”

As part of , she fought for and won statewide collective bargaining to boost Medicare reimbursement rates. Goldstein quotes AFI-CIO president Liz Shuler calling care worker bargaining “the ultimate example of creativity and innovation” and highlights Washington State’s giving home care workers — among other union-led victories.

As Moreno said, “When we get together, we can actually win big things.”

3. Ballot initiatives are having impact. Did you know that more than 60% of voters in Escambia County, Florida, approved a children’s service trust in 2020? Goldstein’s highlights this and over 50 local funds, worth about $1.5 billion altogether, passed by voters. These measures, she notes, are popular in red and blue states alike. (Children’s Funding Project tracks .)

Among the most significant ballot initiatives happened in New Orleans, which unlocked $40 million per year for 2,000 young children. Rochelle Wilcox of pointed out that a previous ballot initiative failed, but tactics such as engaging the business community and holding an advocacy boot camp for parents turned the tide. She ended her comments with a quote from Alice Walker: “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

4. The movement is using all the tools available. Advocates, activists and voters can all play a part in improving the care infrastructure. Julia Craven, senior writer and editor at New America, reminded viewers that the state and local breakthroughs chronicled in Goldstein’s report took years of groundwork.

Minister JaNaĂ© Bates, director of communications, , chronicled how a coalition won statewide after 10 years of struggle. “We could have passed a weak, gutted policy five years ago,” she stated, “but the current version, with 12 weeks family and 12 weeks medical leave and strong job protections was worth the wait.”

Taking part in the public dialogue on care requires patience, persistence and, often, investment in narrative change and advocacy. Goldstein cites data to show that the top three care-oriented groups spent only 1.4% on lobbying compared to the top three major business groups who opposed the care-related measures in Build Back Better.

5. “The playbook is only the beginning.” Schulte promised. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, cofounder and CEO of , predicted that federal progress is a matter of “not if but when,” thanks to an estimated 76 million “mom voters.”

While Craven noted, “Faith and movement work have always been deeply intertwined,” Minister Bates cautioned, “The opposition weaponizes faith against our collective future.” She recommended staying embedded in community and in touch with real people, and she brought this point home with a story about how a Black mom’s testimony about her family’s struggles left a lobbyist from the Chamber of Commerce at a loss for words.

Rowe-Finkbeiner declared, “Future generations will have things better.”

Here are our top 5 takeaways.

1. The physical environment influences child development. It is widely known and documented that the child-caregiver relationship is critically important, but it doesn’t exist in isolation. Burghardt emphasized that the environment that surrounds children, both built and natural, is shaped by human actions, “including very intentional decisions around policies that shape the environments where kids live. They’re not evenly or randomly distributed. They’re shaped by and deeply rooted in public policies and social history.”

“Pediatricians are the ultimate witnesses to failed social policies,” Hanna-Attisha said, “It’s this inaction in policy or certain actions that make our kids sick and implicate their entire life course.”

Citing the consequences of exposure to lead-laced water in Flint, she continued, “Like most environmental exposures, they often don’t show up acutely. We see their manifestation and impact years, if not decades, later.”

Many lifelong consequences, such as behavioral problems, cognition issues, high blood pressure, early dementia, gout and kidney disease, are linked to exposure to neurotoxins in early childhood and prenatally. Hanna-Attisha writes about this topic at length in What the Eyes Don’t See.

2. The onus is not on the individual. “We have to be mindful that the challenges that face us today did not arise out of thin air,” Shaefer said. “When we think about something like poverty, it is often a matter of compounded disadvantage.”

His brings health, income and social mobility into dialogue with each other, with a new index for poverty. The case of Flint is extreme, though its trajectory is not unlike many communities across the nation. “It is an emblematic story of what happens when you live in a place that has been chronically disinvested, that does not prioritize the health and development of our children,” Hanna-Attisha explained.

Practices like redlining and blockbusting made certain neighborhoods specific to African Americans. “Even before the water crisis, that made growing up in Flint toxic,” Hanna-Attisha said.

After that occurred, the address of a kid in Flint predicted whether or not they would drink poisoned water. “How can it be an individual’s fault when communities have been bifurcated and divided in these ways, not just for a decade, or a few decades, but well over a century?” Shaefer asked.

3. There’s a new prescription for hope, health and opportunity. To mitigate the water crisis, and promote the health and development of kids, Hanna-Attisha, Shaefer and families in Flint teamed up to create a first-of-its-kind city-wide initiative called .

“Starting in 2024, we will be prescribing every pregnant mom an unconditional, universal cash allowance in mid-pregnancy, and every baby an unconditional, universal monthly cash allowance from birth to twelve months of age.”

Philanthropic donations and a redirection of state funds from TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) fund the program. Their goal is to raise $55 million and to continue for five birth cohorts over five years.

4. There’s precedent for universal child payments. “The old cash welfare system that we had in the United States was a very stigmatized program,” Shaefer said, explaining its long history of invasiveness and structurally racist approach.

Following the global movement for child allowances, “The logic starts from a very different place,” he said. “Raising kids is expensive, and society has a reason to come alongside parents and support parents in that work. One way to do that that empowers families is to provide cash to pay the utility bill or to buy diapers or buy the crib.”

5. The results of cash allowances are promising. Research shows that by dispersing such universal payments, child poverty plummets and reports of child maltreatment and resulting out-of-home placements decline, along with food hardship, and parents’ mental health improves.

In addition to numerous health measures, the team will look for improved civic engagement and well-being outcomes. Rx Kids will officially launch on Feb. 14, 2024, during Black History Month and on Frederick Douglas’ self-proclaimed birthday.

Hanna-Attisha shared her favorite quote, which guides her work, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

Here are our top 10 takeaways from the conversations:

1. We can look to nature for inspiration. When elephants birth in the wild, the whole herd circles around the laboring elephant. They stay for the entire labor, providing connection, support, protection and defense. “That’s what we think humans need in the perinatal period as well,” Indra Lusero, founder of Elephant Circle, said on Aug. 30. Elephant Circle brings an intersectional, feminist, reproductive justice and design-thinking approach to birth justice to make true transformation possible.

2. The current system is failing families. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, 1205 women ” in 2021, and .

The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. rose between 2018 and 2020, showcasing the impact of the COVID pandemic on the pregnant population and resulting in nationwide health care system disruptions. “Things aren’t fair, things aren’t set up justly and we’ve got to start tackling those big issues,” Lusero said.

3. Black women experience an immense burden. During the Sept. 13 talk, Stephanie Aristide of BMMA explained that gaps in the pregnancy mortality rate between racial groups have widened over the past 15 years. In 2020, Black women were disproportionately affected by maternal death, with a mortality rate of 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births — a significant increase from 2019.

The work of the BMMA is deeply rooted in reproductive justice, birth justice and the human rights frameworks to ensure that all Black mamas have the rights, respect and resources to thrive before, during and after pregnancy.

4. History offers essential context. “When presented with the appalling statistics surrounding Black maternal health in the U.S., we must always take a deeper dive into the root causes of these issues,” explained Aristide. “The regulation of Black women’s reproductive decisions has been a central aspect of racial oppression in America.”

She provided a number of examples: “Enslaved pregnant Black women were forced to work in plantation fields until their labor, rarely given a chance to rest and bond with their babies and were required to return to the fields with their babies strapped on their backs.”

Aristide continued, “The institution of slavery in the U.S. opened the door for all types of unjust medical experimentation on Black women’s bodies, from experimental vaginal surgeries without anesthesia, to stealing cervical cancer cells, all in the name of advancing science.”

These and other atrocities set the stage for persistent harm to Black bodies. Throughout time, Black institutions such as the Tuskegee Institute, churches, community organizations and Black women’s clubs addressed these issues through health education and preventative service initiatives like the National Negro Health Week in the early 1900s.

5. Equitable health care is a human right. “Human rights is a critical dimension,” Lusero said. “When talking to people about issues facing them in the perinatal period, a sense of justice
 is really important. People don’t just want clinical solutions or solutions that are familiar. People want things that get at fundamental, core issues of inequities.”

While equity is top of mind for those navigating the system today, the idea remains elusive. “There’s a lot of interest in health equity, but how health equity can be achieved is not understood,” Aristide explained. “Maternal health is still deeply entrenched in the patriarchal narrative that only cares for women’s bodies in relation to being able to have a healthy baby. And interventions to address adverse maternal health outcomes focus heavily on individual behavior change.”

George Davis, a community advocate with Elephant Circle, mused, “A lot of times, the answers to the problems that we’re looking for have not been thought up yet. We’ve only felt the pain from dealing with this thing.”

6. Solutions exist beyond the status quo. “Policies that only look at services within the traditional medical context are extremely limiting and do not address the core problems of health inequities. They often further aggravate the problem,” Aristide said in the Sept. 13 talk.

Lusero echoed the sentiment on Aug. 30: “If we’re going to change the status quo, we have to innovate. We need new feedback loops. We need accountability.”

Davis pointed out that we must start at the root to inspire meaningful solutions, “So often, things are looked at to be changed on the branches, or the leaves, by pruning, when the problem is so deep in the root. Birth equity and reproductive justice are starting at the root to create change.”

7. Birth work is a powerful pathway. Strong evidence shows that birth work improves outcomes. “Of course, we have to look really largely at the systemic issues behind maternal mortality and morbidity, but birth work is a really important piece of that puzzle,” Lauren Smith of Elephant Circle said during the August talk.

Historically, Black midwives were vital maternity caregivers for communities, especially in the South. Aristide explained, “Over time, discriminatory public policies restricted Black midwives, depleting the maternal care workforce.” BMMA aims to address this gap with its workforce development policy and programming initiatives like the Black Maternal Health Institute and Incubator Hub.

“The goal is to work toward equitable maternal and birth outcomes for Black birthing people through systemic change at the community and state levels.” Milan Spencer of BMMA said. “In very tangible ways, we are building the capacity of our workforce through training and education.”

In addition to this learning space, they annually assemble Black women, clinicians, professionals, advocates and other stakeholders working to improve maternal health at the . They host Black Maternal Health Week every April to build awareness and amplify voices.

8. We must listen to learn and learn to listen. “When listening, you’re engaging in a mindset. It requires you to be generous and generative,” Indra said when explaining the power of listening to other people’s stories.

Pia Long of Elephant Circle said, “It’s important that people tell their story, and it’s even more important that we come up with solutions so that we don’t have to keep telling these stories, so that folks don’t continue to have this pain and trauma that happens when they go to give birth in the United States.”

9. Policy efforts should require community input. “Ultimately, all conversations regarding maternal deaths, policy solutions and improvements needed to the systems contributing to maternal mortality should start and end with the community,” said Stephanie Aristide of BMMA.

To inform a set of bills in Colorado collectively called the , Elephant Circle toured 1200 miles, with stops around the state to engage those who normally don’t have a seat at the table. “By ensuring that community voices and directly impacted people were in every conversation, every stakeholder meeting, it changed the power dynamic at that stage, which helped change the power dynamics reflected in the policies, which helped us pass these bills,” Lusero said.

The essence of the bill package is beyond what’s written into statute. “It’s how we did it and the spirit we brought to it. That’s the spirit we need in the perinatal period, that feeling of being circled around, being part of the herd. Knowing that we have to take care of each other.”

10. Everyone has a part to play in improving outcomes. “You don’t need to be a lobbyist to be an advocate,” Lauren Smith said.

Similarly, you don’t need to identify as a woman to get involved in birth justice work. “As a male, at first, I was like, this isn’t for me. I don’t know what we’re doing. Then I began to listen, ask questions, and study on my own and find out this is exactly where I’m supposed to be,” George Davis said of his experience at Elephant Circle. “In fact, more fathers, men, everyone needs to know about this because this is something that we’re all in together. Reproductive justice, birth equity, we are all born. So it’s a wonderful place to start.”

For those looking to get involved, Milan Spencer from BMMA said, “Our recommendation is to seek out those community-based, grassroots organizations that are leading initiatives locally and get involved in their efforts. Express your passion. Ask what their needs are and what support looks like to them.”

In bluntly stating, “The system we have doesn’t work,” Khanna made clear that short- and long-term solutions to the child care crisis require government support. Haspel agreed, contending, “This is an issue that affects all Americans.” Doyle announced the formation of a National Child Care Commission of industry leaders, set to launch in early November.

Here are our takeaways:

1. “The math does not work. It will never work.” Haspel quoted Annie Lowrey’s October 2022 Atlantic essay — — to underscore the impossibility of a child care system without substantial public investment. Among the far-reaching consequences enumerated by Doyle: family planning is being put on hold and birth rates are dropping.

Khanna said the cost of care is piled atop the nation’s “affordability crisis” of everyday items. Without support for child care workers and for quality child care, he said, families can’t move where they want and can’t take advantage of career opportunities.

“The American Dream is slipping away for a lot of people,” he said. The solution is what he referred to as “New American Patriotism,” which would bring about more good jobs that pay family-supporting wages and bring costs down for housing, health care, child care and education.

2. Women bear the brunt of the cost. The child care workforce is overwhelmingly female. In heterosexual couples, the woman is far more likely to make career sacrifices to meet child care needs. , and . Doyle highlighted one route toward equity: United WE’s , which empowers women and strengthens communities by improving the gender diversity of civic boards and commissions.

Another step would be paid family leave.  â€œEvery other industrialized country has it,” Doyle stated. While Khanna appreciates the steadfast work of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Patty Murray, he maintained, “Child care can’t just be a women’s issue. This is an American economic issue.” Bipartisanship is also vital, and he credited Nancy Mace for joining forces with him to form the .

3. The most important years demand investment. The evidence for nurturing young minds is clear, and nobody has presented it more compellingly than . Khanna called it a “critical issue to the future of this country” and lamented the number of children starting kindergarten “at huge a disadvantage.” Citing Heckman, he argued that nutrition, education and loving care are predictive of college and family success.

In addition to government funding, Doyle called for more public-private partnerships, saying, “It’s going to take all of us.” United We’s National Child Care Commission will conduct a national survey of women business owners to understand the child care challenge. A state-by-state review of licensing requirements is also planned, with the goal of cutting red tape and supporting entrepreneurship.

4. A fix for the short term. With federal funding expiring at the end of September for 70,000 centers, addressing the was the first order of business for the panel. Haspel predicted that fee increases are going to come before closures, saying, “Even as we’re fighting for systemic change, we need short-term solutions.”

Khanna pointed out that this moment coincides with partisan tussles over the federal budget and encouraged viewers to advocate on behalf of the , which would provide $16 billion in mandatory funding each year for the next five years. Doyle called it “interim funding while we come up with systems.”

5. A fix for the long term. Ultimately, every U.S. family with young children should have access to quality care. The system we develop may or may not resemble our public K-12 schools, but the moderator and panelists agreed that freedom to choose what’s right for your child is essential.

Khanna admitted that his ambitious proposal to send families $10 per day (which amounts to $2,400 per year) would take years to come into fruition, but he reminded the audience that the country had a similarly ambitious program during World War II. He further clarified that the money would also go to stay-at-home parents, who have what he called “the hardest job there is.”

Here are the 5 Top Takeaways:

1.  The Morning Without Child Care took a broad coalition. Marina Rodriguez, All Our Kin’s senior director in New Haven, called the event “truly a collaboration from all corners of the sector.” The providers, who had educated state’s young children during the height of the pandemic, often at significant personal sacrifice, turned out in great numbers to make sure their voices were heard.

Their activism is credited for unlocking $120 million in stabilization funding, and the event inspired a . “It was amazing to see everyone come together,” said Nichelle Waddell, owner of Watch Me Grow Daycare in Stamford, Conn. “When our voices are heard, we do make a difference.”

2. The zoning victory relied on partnerships and patience. Starting in October, providers like Waddell will be able to expand their programs from six children to 12. As , “The law
protects home-based child care providers by prohibiting zoning requirements that treat them differently than the residents of other single- and multi-family homes, a practice that has historically hamstrung those who wish to care for and educate children in their homes.”

Waddell described the dilemma that providers like her faced, “I was constantly having to turn families away, because one person out of 23 [on a zoning committee] could block me.” She mentioned the time a police officer and wife came with their three-month-old: “They were begging me, but I had to deny them because of zoning. That broke my heart, but it made me more determined to keep fighting.”

The stakes were high. “I had two young children,” she recalled. “I was scared. All Our Kin welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I was part of the family.” The Zoom hearing ran from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with 15 All Our Kin team members and educators in attendance, and the measure received unanimous approval that night.

“I had never been a part of anything bigger than myself,” Waddell said. Jade Thomas, Connecticut Early Care and Policy Fellow, acknowledged the participation of the Yale Law School Community & Economic Development Clinic () as well as the , , the and the .

3. Direct service and advocacy are better together. Thomas highlighted the fertile intersection of programming and policy advocacy, noting that All Our Kin had decided to take on policy because “educators were running into barriers that couldn’t be addressed through programming alone.”

Training, mentorship and policy education have all become part of how the organization does business. Pushing for administrative and legislative change, she cautioned, can be a slow and frustrating process, but the payoff is worth it. Systems change at the community and state level advances equity for the workforce and for families and communities.

4. The ones living the reality should inform policy. “Too often, policy is shaped by those who aren’t living the reality,” said Jessica Sager, cofounder and CEO of All Our Kin. Building on this observation, Thomas said the most effective and equitable way of addressing the shortage of infant-toddler slots is “building a coalition by identifying the people who are directly affected by the issue,” adding: “If we want change the system, we have to follow their lead.”

Rodriguez recommended: “Honor the culture of educators. Remember, they have a lot to lose. Not everyone has the privilege of not having think about the consequences of activism.” Noting that her own early care journey started a quarter-century ago when her son’s Head Start teacher invited her to volunteer in the classroom, she added, “This work is about my life story. My family and I were able to move up and out of poverty.”

5. Emotions are welcome. Rodriguez also emphasized the importance of being present and responsive to the needs of educators. “Providers have our direct numbers,” she said. “They can reach us directly to complain or celebrate.”

Asked by Gayl about All Our Kin’s commitment to such as “Children and adults learn through relationships,” she affirmed, “Emotion and values are at the center of everything we do.” Waddell concurred, saying, “With advocacy, it has to be about more than yourself. This is about those who come after.”

Gayl added, “In the post-COVID era,” there’s a significant spotlight on early childhood education.” With public and policymakers waking up to the systemic inequities and the potential solutions, she recommended taking advantage of this moment in time.

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. We all rely on screens. For better and worse, “People use screens because it’s an easy way to keep kids occupied and safe when they need to get other things done,” Dr. Deborah Rosenfeld of the explained. Speaking from personal experience, she emphasized that this “is not a unique problem of income that leads to people using screens as babysitters.”

While technology became ubiquitous during the Covid pandemic, using digital media to distract and entertain young children is not ideal, especially if it interferes with play and learning opportunities.

2. Consider the timing and type of digital media exposure. Kris Perry, executive director of , said, “For all young children, high amounts of screen time, especially without adult guidance or as a passive pursuit, is unambiguously detrimental to their learning and development. It’s not until the second year of life that there is any evidence that children benefit from media for learning, and even that requires direct facilitation and reteaching from an adult.”

Fundamental skills and abilities develop during early childhood. Greater screen time in infancy, Perry said, can lead to lower attention and executive function at nine years old.” Research shows physical and social-emotional impacts as well.

3. Technology should not displace playful learning. Screen time correlates with poorer social and language development. “We came into being with optimization for being around other people and with this physical world,” explained Dr. Victor Lee of Stanford University’s . “Our hardware is best treated and fine-tuned within that space.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends children ages one to five get at least 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and panelists agree that screen time should not interfere. “Screen time displacement for peer play relates to worse fine and gross motor skills for one- to three-year-olds,” Perry said, endorsing the AAP guidelines.

4. High-quality educational digital resources are scarce. Parents and caregivers must use caution in the media that children consume. Lee compared the prevalence of new technology to the processed food revolution, which made cheap, easily distributed foods widely available. “It doesn’t mean that it is as healthy, desirable or should be replacing what we have elsewhere,” he argued.

Rosenfeld recommended and as reputable resources for finding developmentally appropriate content for children. Perry recommends that caregivers refer to (from Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and others) when discerning if a digital media resource has the potential to promote learning.

Even with high-quality digital-based content, Lee said, “It is not there to, nor is it ever going to be capable of replacing what humans do, especially concerning how we support the development, growth and autonomy of our kids.”

5. Synchronous learning and healthy modeling should be prioritized. “Synchronicity is a caregiver sitting beside a child watching a show, playing a game,” Rosenfeld explained. That is not the typical situation. She suggests incorporating methods to mediate learning, like discussing key concepts, ideas and character interactions, which are critical when incorporating digital media and resources asynchronously.

Perry stressed that caregivers should “remember what the long-term effects are on children, not only directly when they’re on devices, but watching adults be on devices are also interrupting their opportunities to develop.”

EHS-CCP funds and equips local child care providers with the materials, services and support they need to provide comprehensive, quality infant and toddler care. We heard from grantees about how they helped local communities stabilize child care partners during the pandemic, expand access to comprehensive services for children and families and strengthen workforce development and retention.

Here are our takeaways:

1. EHS-CCP helped boost the quality of care for infants and toddlers during a tumultuous time. Technical assistance and professional development support were critically important in helping the local chapters weather the pandemic. “Providers had to be able to address things like masking with young children, accessing Covid tests or getting families supplies they needed like diapers, toilet paper and food,” explained Dr. Eric Bucher of the (CEP) at Arizona State University.

“They modified settings to accommodate safer learning and play spaces, provided up-to-date health and safety guidance related to the pandemic and assisted providers in accessing stabilization funds made available through federal relief dollars.”

2. Increased wages and training efforts pay off. Efforts to increase pay and expand learning opportunities for staff prove helpful for the early childcare workforce. In Phoenix, Mindy Zapata’s team at helped partners access and direct some of the pandemic funds to “address wages, credentials and to retrain, sustain and engage new professionals as we’ve all experienced so much turnover in the workforce.”

A similar effort took shape with Judy Williams’s team at , in the form of a retention and completion bonuses program. “It was very motivating to work with our child care partners to help create that program, fund it and have a career ladder with a retention bonus,” she said.

3. It is possible to attract and retain quality early childhood education staff. In Miami, the benefits of the EHS-CCP are apparent. Turnover has decreased by more than 30%, said Gladys Montes, former VP of the . She attributed this impact to competitive compensation as well as hiring, retention and legacy bonuses. Underwriting professional development outside of work hours also helped to reduce turnover.

4. Comprehensive, family-centered care is at the core. Caregivers and kids are equally supported and nurtured in this family- and community-centered dynamic. “Our main focus during the pandemic and the months beyond was connection,” Colleen Bosch of said of their work in Montana. “We want to maintain the connection between staff and parents in such a time of isolation.”

In addition to smaller group sizes and teacher-student ratios, they incorporated mental, behavioral and developmental screenings and consultations. “The model is really about using community connections to ensure that families have what they need, whatever that is,” explained CEP’s Dr. Shantel Meek.

Parents receive access to resources like professional development and housing assistance. “There is not only support for their organizing and advocacy but also for their child’s development and support for them as people.”

5. The benefits of this investment go beyond those immediately receiving care. In explaining the spillover effect, Zapata said, “There is a cost per child that funds the EHS-CCP grant nationally, but the residual benefit to the local community and providers and children served throughout that center is immeasurable.” All panelists agreed that continued and expanded funding is imperative for the larger early care and education system.

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. Knowledge of self is critical. “Evaluate your own beliefs,” urged Dr. Cathy Grace of the University of Mississippi. “Make sure they align with what is best for young children in the sense of access and equity.”

And Demetria Joyce of Bank Street College of Education noted that discovering and scrutinizing the “long-held beliefs, assumptions and values that we carry when thinking about racially, culturally, linguistically diverse children and how we serve” is imperative to meaningful leadership.

2. Political divisions pose problems for policy leaders. “People feel reluctant,” Dr. Valora Washington, CEO and president of CAYL Institute, said. “They feel afraid as we live in a climate where many people are being silenced.”

The ’s Dr. Lee Johnson III said that overcoming this dilemma “requires increased awareness and understanding among policymakers, communities and the public about the long-term benefits that stem from investing in early childhood education.

“We have some very deep divisions in our country along political lines,” Grace explained. Being in touch with who you are and how that looks in terms of how you’re able to serve may help leaders transcend divisiveness to bring about what’s best for children.

3. Leadership should represent the population they serve. “Policy decisions should be inclusive and representative of the linguistic and cultural context of the leaders that serve them in every part of the early childhood education system,” said Joyce, who manages Bank Street’s Early Childhood Policy Fellowship.

She emphasized representation as a way to disrupt systems that hold and reinforce inequities. “Women of color make up most of the workforce serving the children,” she said, “and we need our policy tables to be more representative and inclusive of these leaders because representation matters. Leadership is one of the greatest levers for change, but we need to ensure we have an equitable path to leadership for our next generation of leaders.”

4. Conflict is an inevitable part of change. We’re all human, and, as Johnson said, “Conflict will inevitably arise in any human community, organization or group.” Strategy and tools are required to constructively address and solve conflict, such as active listening and “resources around conflict management styles, recognizing that we all come to issues with different leadership styles.” Grace, who has 25 years in the industry, added, “It’s going to take for us to be tough and to have the skills to know how to make some progress” and make it last.

Washington noted that even if the work changes, “This is a baton we keep passing from generation to generation. It may look different, but the work still needs to be done.”

5. Evidence and experience-based education are crucial. Johnson explained, “It’s necessary to cultivate leadership skills that emphasize compassion in decision-making and evidence-informed practices, promoting policies grounded in scientific evidence. It’s crucial to focus on strategies like providing rigorous education and training in the field of early childhood development.” Collaboration and cross-sector learning allow upcoming leaders to ponder and create solutions for what is going on right now.

Grace suggested real-world experiential learning as another useful avenue. “We all have a vision of what it’s like to be a leader, but are we in the sense of the reality of what it could take?”

Here are our takeaways:

1. Bi- and multilingualism are the norm. Most people around the world speak more than one language, said Viorica Marian, professor at Northwestern University’s School of Communication and author of . The United States has among the greatest share of monolingual people, and many mistakenly assume that English is our official language, but the percentage of bilingual speakers is rapidly growing. Upper middle class families understand the power of bilingualism, she noted, but in low-income immigrant families, children are often pressured to stick with English.

Claude Goldenberg, professor emeritus at Stanford University, who was born in Argentina and grew up bilingual, said, “There’s an overlooked American tradition of bilingual education,” which various cultural moments — for example, anti-German sentiment during World War I — have suppressed over the years. He described bilingualism as “an intellectual and cultural resource and tradition we’re not taking full advantage of.”

2. Language is good for the brain. When it comes to young minds, Marian said, “The richer the input the better.” She referred to language acquisition as a way of “building other roads to reach your destination.” The early years are when these neural pathways are the most agile. Furthermore, bilingualism has been shown to postpone dementia and cognitive decline in seniors.

Martha Martinez, senior director of Research and Evaluation, , asserted that “reading is an inherently cultural activity.” In other words, denying or restricting children’s access to their cultural heritage impedes early literacy. Knowing more than one language increases awareness of language components and the way language works.

SEAL, a research-based English learner and bilingual education model, has been working with educators and school leaders from more than 100 elementary schools and 130 preschool classrooms in California for 12 years. While schools in the state are required to provide access, services and grade-level content for multilanguage learners, this often isn’t the case.

3. Discrimination is rampant. According to the , 20% of Latino children encountered bullying or shaming for speaking Spanish at school within the last year. Speaking with an accent or displaying other signs of coming from another culture can subject children and families to negative stereotyping and to what George W. Bush called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

Discrimination is passed down from generation to generation, and parents who have been subject to it may want to protect their children by discouraging their home language, but when we, as a society, confront racism and bigotry, we can normalize bilingualism and recognize it for the asset that it is.

4. Misinformation persists. Stechuk summarized the report . Despite decades of science showing that infants and toddlers can distinguish among two or more languages, so-called experts continue to tell parents otherwise. Too many teachers, pediatricians and speech therapists continue to embrace the outdated and harmful myth that bilingualism interferes with literacy. “Don’t bring in Spanish now,” one mother was told after her child’s cochlear implants were removed. “You don’t want to confuse him.”

In too many circles, the cultural skill known as continues to be regarded as evidence of disability. “Teachers get caught in the battle,” Martinez said. “They need more support and policies that recognize complexity and diversity.”

5. Educator training is part of the solution. According to Stechuk, postsecondary curricula for teachers often lack coursework about dual language development or cultural responsiveness. Martinez urged colleges to tell educators in training: “Nurture their genius, don’t squash it.” School administrators, Goldenberg said, need to build respectful community relationships. “What do good teachers do?” he asked. “They create a sense of belonging. They create the opportunity for learning, starting every morning. Otherwise you lose the whole day“

Bilingualism Resources

• • (UnidosUS)
  • (National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine)
  • (The Century Foundation)
  • (The Century Foundation)
  • (IlluminatEd)
  • (IlluminatEd)
  • (American Federation of Teachers)

David Kaz facilitated the conversation with Abt colleagues Adele Robinson and Deena Schwartz. Panelists and policy leaders Beth Bye, commissioner of the and Kimberly Perry, executive director of  discussed developments in their respective regions.

Here are our top five takeaways from the presentation.

1. Low retention and wages observed in early care and education (ECE) career trajectories. An created by Abt for the Department of Labor, following workers over 10 years (1998-2018) after they started in the occupation shows that child care workers, and preschool and kindergarten teachers, on average, rank low in starting wages compared to other professions. Still, only 5% of such workers remain in the same job 10 years later, with 14% staying to work in the field. “Often when child care workers move on, it’s outside of the field,” explained Schwartz, citing retail sales and administrative assistance as common next jobs.

2. Wage growth varies by workers’ race and gender. When looking at two people starting in the same occupation at a similar wage, income disparities are observed a decade later in ECE occupations. “Men, on average, are earning $6.75 per hour more than women, and white workers are earning $3.80 more than Black workers,” Schwartz said. The increases can be explained by a wage bump from a new role or promotions, and pay increases in the same job.

3. All early care providers deserve worthy wages. Robinson noted the difficulty of allocating limited funds in the space. “A lot of decisions have to be made about who gets compensated. It’s not universal.” In the case of Washington, D.C., Perry said the D.C. Council created a task force to tackle the issue, comprising providers, teachers, academics and policy experts. “Ultimately, there was an acknowledgment that we were losing teachers to non-teaching jobs.
What they were looking for was better pay and benefits.”

D.C. started its compensation program with early care teachers, and health, dental and vision benefits were included, and not just for teachers. “The task force had a vision to ensure everyone could enjoy the benefits,” Perry explained. The additional compensation in Washington is funded by a tax on income earners of $200,000 or more.

4. Equitable funding is a priority. In remembering what early child care providers did during the pandemic, Bye said, “Our governor had that idea that frontline workers need to be rewarded.” The state sent stabilization funds directly to programs for dispensation, and 25% of it had to be given as compensation to workers. The iterative process involved community proposals, feedback and edits based on input.

“We felt that COVID did not hit communities equally, and we wanted to ensure equity was at the center,” Bye said. Connecticut advantaged high-need, subsidized, accredited and infant and toddler programs, which were observed to struggle the most with hiring and keeping workers. D.C. similarly focused on equitable allocation. “An equity adjustment will provide programs with an additional amount of dollars to go to their administration based on the number of subsidy seats they have,” Perry said.

5. The United States needs long-term planning and can learn much from models abroad. Raising and adjusting the salaries of every single worker in an early learning program is the long-term goal for a pressing and persistent problem. Worthy wages, Perry said, “are the only way I believe we are going to keep our workers and make sure people feel seen and appreciated for the work they do every day.”

Bye said, “We are at least a decade away from having the workforce we need, and the current crisis is huge. We will need some scaffolding and temporary measures for the next five to ten years as we build the long-term solutions,” citing Scotland and Germany as examples of countries doing long-term planning. “Even with all these funds, it’s not building a system.”

Here are our top 5 takeaways from the presentation:

1. The many gaps are related and rooted in history. The “gap” usually refers to future academic performance. While education can determine future outcomes, it doesn’t capture the scope of the potential problems that children and families face.

“One of the greatest predictors of a child’s education outcomes is the education outcome of their mother,” explained Shantel Meek of Arizona State University’s . “These pieces compound over time and become root causes and beget opportunity gaps in the future.”

“Many gaps in opportunity and outcome share the products of centuries of systemic racism across numerous domains of life, including finances, wealth, health and education,” explained Duke University’s Kenneth A. Dodge. The research suggests that exclusionary policies and practices, such as residential and school segregation, are some of the structural drivers of these gaps, since they dictate whether and how many resources are distributed to children, based on where they live and go to school. Additionally, macroeconomic and labor market trends affect parental earnings and job quality, influencing stress levels and health, and affecting children’s development.

2. Gaps impact birth and beyond. While most babies in the United States are born healthy, and on track for normal physical and cognitive development, those who are not may need substantial resources and care to survive infancy and meet the challenges beyond. Nearly 15% of women in the U.S. do not receive adequate prenatal care.

“Access to quality maternity care is critical to maternal health and positive birth outcomes, especially in light of the high mortality rates and severe maternal morbidity in the United States,” explained New York University’s LaRue Allen. “Failure to provide these opportunities early in life can lead to worse outcomes or exacerbate health issues that cause concern.”

3. Environment and income influence growth factors. Child well-being is affected by environmental factors like harmful pollutants and contaminants in the water and air. The prenatal and early childhood periods represent windows of increased susceptibility. Children of color and those of lower-income households are more likely to experience these opportunity gaps.

“Parents’ jobs shape economic opportunities for children, particularly since wages are such a large source of family income,” explained Pamela K. Joshi of Brandeis University. “Access to paid leave improves parents’ health and young children’s health in infancy up to and through elementary school.” About a third of working families and most low-income families do not earn enough wages from their full-time employment to always cover necessities to raise children.

4. Access to universal care and culturally inclusive education is essential. Children are born learning, and neuroscience has long demonstrated that the early years are among the most sensitive periods for brain development. Child care and education rarely meet the needs of those most in need, and experiences differ when access is granted — for instance, dual language learners. “A lack of access to bilingual staff and teacher expectations, cultural inclusivity and effective engagement with families who speak a language other than English, all shape children’s experiences and disproportionately those of immigrant children, Latino and Asian American children,” explained Milagros Nores of Rutgers Univeristy.

5. Mental health must be a focus. The authors found that well-implemented, universal programs such as home visiting and social-emotional learning approaches in child care and preschool settings can improve outcomes. In addition, policies that support their parents’ mental health and well-being can improve outcomes for their children.

“Access not only to mental health treatment but also to mental health promotion and prevention services and environments is crucial to parents, caregivers and children, Dodge said,

“However, a lack of culturally informed and linguistically matched care can exacerbate inequalities for marginalized groups.” Young children who experience compromised mental health are at increased risk for later challenges in their physical health, social relationships, psychological well-being and financial stability that last across the lifespan.

All webinars should start with a music video this rousing. The occasion? The Haaland v. Brackeen case currently before the Supreme Court, which threatens to erase the protections established by the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1982. organized the conversation so that advocates could understand the stakes and prepare, if necessary, to push for measures at the state level. (Disclosure: I have done some freelance writing for the Alliance.)

Here are our takeaways:

1. ICWA exists for a reason. Olga Gonzalez, executive director of , provided a capsule history of ways that the United States has treated natives as expendable. She described the courage of Hatuey, who “the first prominent freedom fighter of the Americas,” and the , the weeping mother.

For decades, federal and state government agencies took children away from Native American families and sent them to live in boarding schools, where they were cut off from linguistic roots and the extended family, elders and community that conveyed cultural values.

Officials also facilitated widespread adoption by white families. A 1975 found, “One of every nine Indian children are in foster homes, adoptive homes, institutions or boarding facilities. Indian children in these states are withdrawn from their homes at a rate of 20 times the national average.”

Gonzalez celebrated indigenous resilience and environmental activism in the face of the colonial mentality of the past and present. “May our work be our prayer,” she stated.

2. ICWA is the gold standard. Federal legislation “to protect the best interest of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families by the establishment of minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children and placement of such children in homes which will reflect the unique values of Indian culture” came into being 40 years ago.

Jack Trope, senior director of the Indian Child Welfare Program, , described the tenets behind ICWA and summarized research findings that keeping families together is in their best interest and that removing children causes trauma. “You help the child,” he said, “by helping the family heal from generational trauma.”

The extended family and tribal network, along with cultural and spiritual traditions, constitute protective factors.  Kinship placements, he maintained, are more stable and less disruptive than placements outside tribes, reducing behavioral problems and mental health issues.

3. ICWA is not always upheld the way it was intended. As with any law, implementation matters as much as what the words say. The ways that ICWA is interpreted and put into practice varies. a 2015 publication by the National Indian Child Welfare Association, identifies such hazards as gaps in training and misapplied standards about who qualifies as well as lack of data and willful ignorance.

A zeroes in on how states interpret or misinterpret the “existing Indian family” exception. Media attention around Haaland v. Brackeen has allowed misleading opinions to proliferate.

Larissa Littlewolf, associate director of the Tribal Training and Certification Partnership at the University of Minnesota Duluth urged better training of state administrators as well as K-12 history education that acknowledges prejudice. “If you’re talking Native issues,” she said, “you should have Native people around the table.”

4. The foster system as a whole has moved in the direction that ICWA pioneered. As Trope observed, the biggest irony of the move to revisit ICWA is that advocates across the country are pushing for changes in the foster care system (also known as child welfare or child protective services) that would secure protections similar to those in ICWA.

“redirect[ing] resources to make help available within communities so that families can get assistance where they live, stay safely together and avoid unnecessary separation through foster care.”

5. Some states have passed their own versions of ICWA. California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming have comprehensive Indian Child Welfare laws that complement or refine federal law. Legislation is pending in Colorado, Montana and North Dakota.

Dawn Gray, managing attorney, Blackfeet Nation, said that ideally, the state laws are written in a way that enshrines tribal values. She explained that tribes are familiar with each other’s processes. “This network,” she said, “helps children wherever they are in the state.” Whether the federal law is partly or fully overturned, Littlewolf recommended, “Get to know the tribes in your state. Find out how to be an ally, an advocate. Those conversations lead to action.”

Setting the stage for the discussion, LPI’s Hanna Melnick and NIEER’s Karin Garver explained that “mixed delivery” simply means that states recognize and support the early education that is happening in a variety of settings. Whether administered by local education agencies (LEAs, which generally coincide with K-12 school districts) or non-LEA settings (which can include Head Start agencies, community-based child care centers, private schools and family child care homes), the variety gives families a range of options and supports small businesses.

At the same time, Melnick and Garver noted, the offerings in any given community can be uneven and uncoordinated. States all have their own governance and administrative approaches for supporting the diverse needs of families and educators. Even without the hoped-for Build Back Better funding, many states are embracing mixed delivery models, with all eyes on California’s to implement the country’s largest and most complex pre-K system.

Here are our top takeaways from the conversation:

1.  Alabama. reaches 34% of 4-year-olds in a full-day program and has no income eligibility requirements. Allison Muhlendorf of the endorsed gradual expansion of the program, in order to maintain quality. Of the five states highlighted, the government of Alabama is the most directly involved in early education, rather than working through intermediaries or subcontracting with ELAs to reach non-ELA providers.

Pamela Truelove-Walker of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education said the approach allows her agency to better target resources such as coaching and apprenticeships. She emphasized credentials and pay parity as necessary provisions for maintaining quality in mixed-delivery systems. A few days after this webinar, department head Barbara Cooper was forced out over the distribution of . (.)

2. Michigan. Designed primarily for children in families with financial challenges, serves about a third of the state’s 4-year-olds. State dollars go to 56 intermediate school districts, which distribute funds and provide professional development to LEA and non-LEA sites. (.)

3. New Jersey. Known as Abbott Pre-K (because of a 1980s ), this state’s program serves 29% of 4-year-olds and 16% of 3-year-olds in the state. Though state funding flows through LEAs, more than 4 in 10 of Jersey’s preschool students are enrolled in non-LEA settings. Although it still goes by the name Abbott, the state has been expanding beyond the 31 Abbott districts since 2017 and is now gearing up for the , according to Robin Wilkins, education program development specialist, New Jersey Department of Education and current president of the .

To help LEA and non-LEA preschool educators achieve parity with K-12 teachers, the state invests scholarships and supports for BA and certification. Joselyn Estevez-Vargas of underscored the need for ongoing, frequent, open and respectful communication around pay, benefits and other issues that matter to providers. ()

4. New York. Two complementary streams (the grant and ) fund preschool for 46% of 4-year-olds in New York. Similar to the New Jersey arrangement, LEAs contract directly with the state, then subcontract with participating non-LEA providers. More than 4 in 10 state-funded slots are in ()

5. West Virginia. Legislation for this state’s passed in 2002, mandating it to be up and running by by 2012. “We had 10 years to build it,” recalled Janet Bock-Hager, WV Department of Education, Office of Teaching & Learning. The program is dually governed by state departments of Education and Health and Human Services, with funds flowing to county boards of education. It now serves more than half of the state’s four-year-olds, and 82% of classrooms are “collaborative” (that is, LEAs offer services in collaboration with non-LEAs).

Bock-Hager stressed the importance of joint decision-making and county participation in enrollment and other processes, to maximize resources available to families. At least every three years, a Pre-K Review Process takes place, where the stakeholders explore quality data and analyze trends, to make big decisions together. Nicholas County Schools’ Sarah Keiper described school readiness events showing families what’s available as well as preschool-to-kindergarten days to ensure smooth transitions. ()

The webinar concluded with remarks by Libby Doggett, who served as deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy and Early Learning from 2013 to 2017, and Barbara Chow of the Heising-Simons Foundation. Doggett praised the “awesome young leaders moving us forward,” while Chow offered nuggets of wisdom and encouragement, including “Policy is a blunt tool that must be wielded with precision,” and reminded viewers that the rollout of universal pre-K can be disruptive — but it’s worth it.

Here are 5 top takeaways:

1. Racism is at the root of health disparities. Not all U.S. mothers and babies go through the same experiences in the same way. The infant mortality rate among Black newborns is more than twice that of white babies during the first year. Mothers of color die during childbirth more than three times as often as their white peers. “Racism is the root of where racial disparities begin,” said Sanchez Lloyd — whose work is an initiative of First Steps Kent.

Contrary to the hypothesis that economic circumstances can explain the gap, a conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that household income plays no role in determining maternal and infant health outcomes. Increasingly, these disparities are recognized as a problem with implicit biases within health care and other systems.

2. Educating physicians and clinical care workers is paramount. Required lessons and tools to investigate personal biases, power and privilege improve the quality of care. Recommended measures include using proper pronouns, pronouncing names correctly and appropriately addressing questions to fathers and other caregivers in the room.

Sanchez Lloyd explained that clinical workers need to “add more humanity and see the entire patient, beyond what is written on their chart.” These efforts make mothers feel they have a voice to advocate for themselves effectively. In addition to educating clinical partners, it is important to engage family and community support systems.

3. Fathers should be in the fold. “We want to break this narrative that Black fathers don’t exist or that they are not present.” Sanchez Lloyd said, “Continuing to approach this from a maternal child health standpoint, we’re leaving out a key ingredient: fathers.”

Outcomes improve when fathers are involved because mothers feel more supported. “You don’t have to be in a romantic relationship with the mother of your child to be a great dad,” she said. Strong Beginnings’ , covers unconventional topics historically left out of fatherhood and recently went virtual. The lessons range from family planning, and prenatal to 18 months after delivery. They ensure fathers feel supported by offering access to mental health therapists and other community resources.

4. Nonclinical, community support is essential. “Community-based prevention strategies help avoid hospitalization and long-term chronic illness,” Spencer explained. “We need to ensure that people have access to the resources they need,” such as housing and a living wage.

Community health workers and doulas are also part of the systemic response. “Community doulas provide physical, emotional and educational support to pregnant and postpartum people up to the first year of birth,” Spencer explained. “They are a reflection of the community. When people are assisting others in the community that they belong to, we tend to have better outcomes.”

5. Some states are making strides. States play an influential role in the implementation of effective, high-value maternity services, particularly through insurance regulations. Medicaid is the health insurer of over 40% of births in the United States and 66% of all births to Black mothers.

Virginia recently became the fourth state to reimburse doulas under their Medicaid program. As of Jan. 1, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recognized doula initiatives as being reimbursable. Several other states are in various stages of consideration, planning or implementation of Medicaid doula reimbursements. “There are some gaps, and doulas have shown that they can be present in those gaps, which leads to successful deliveries,” Sanchez Lloyd said.

“Child poverty in rich countries is especially compelling,” editors Janet C. Gornick, Laurie C. Maldonado and Amanda Sheely assert , “because it is rooted not so much in scarce aggregate resources but mainly in distributional arrangements, both private and public.”

Here are 5 top takeaways:

1. Compared to other high-income countries, the United States does little to support single-parent families. The consequences are dire, especially for the youngest children, whose brains are undergoing such rapid development. “Adequate poverty relief doesn’t come cheaply,” said Ive Marx, professor at the University of Antwerp and director of the Centre for Social Policy, likening the layers of support to a policy lasagna. “It takes universal benefits and targeted supplements to keep families out of poverty.”

Zachary Parolin, senior fellow at the Center on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia University, presented findings that showed volatility in poverty rates during the pandemic but also ways that federal stimulus and relief smoothed it out. Thomas Biegert from the London School of Economics looked at child care benefits, dispelling the myth that generous benefits are a disincentive to work.

2. No single-parent families are alike. They vary by age, race, socioeconomic status and more. Keeping the heterogeneity of these families in mind should prevent academics and policymakers alike from making generalizations. “Despite the seemingly strong relationship between single motherhood prevalence and racial inequality in child poverty in the United States, a growing literature casts doubt on the explanatory power of family structure,” University of Pennsylvania sociologist Regina S. Baker writes .

3. Promoting marriage remains a risky “proposition.” University of Maryland economist Melissa Kearney noted appreciatively that the ANNALS volume steers clear of culture war arguments (see video below to relive 1992, if you dare) and advocated for the continued separation of benefits from parental marital status. “Focusing on marriage promotion misses the point,” said Baker, observing that family structure operates differently for different racial and ethnic groups.

Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow at Brookings — whose 2014 book underscored the importance of choosing to become parents — sounded the alarm on 2022’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision.

4. “You can learn about effective policy from studying other countries,” stated Maldonado. Calling the ANNALS publication a goldmine for policymakers, Gornick enumerated such factors as benefit level, duration and financing as the variables that should be studied.

And yet, in so many ways, the United States isn’t the same as other rich countries. Baker noted that poverty risk factors such as health problems and unemployment disproportionately affect Black and Latino mothers whether they are married or not.

Eric Rodriguez of highlighted the particular nature of race in this country and the living with undocumented parents.

5. There’s more than one kind of child support. Of the 10.5 million single-parent households in the U.S., nearly three-quarters are mother-only. An recommends guaranteeing a modest amount of public support to single-parent households. “Many of the policy dilemmas we saw are common across high-income countries,” said Rutgers University professor Laura Cuesta, one of the paper’s coauthors, lamenting the singular lack of robust support here.

emphasizes the value of social involvement and provision of in-kind support. “Nonresident fathers are more than a check,” said Kearney. “They can be part of the children’s lives.”

The panelists speculated on the likelihood of policy shifts in the coming years. While perceiving political support for many progressive ideas, Doug Besharov (University of Maryland School of Public Policy) said, “The sale hasn’t been made yet.” Taking the long view, Irwin Garfinkel (Columbia University School of Social Work), predicted, “These ideas will become politically feasible at some point, because they’re good policy.”