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The child care landscape throughout the U.S. can put just about anyone in a grim frame of mind. The problems are legion and the solutions few or unheeded, even as voices in high places can鈥檛 say enough about the worth of our children and of the sanctity of our families.

Bostonians Sarah Siegel Muncey and Lauren Birchfield Kennedy recognize this landscape from multiple vantage points: as mothers who scrambled to find good care for their children, as professional women working in education and health care policy, and as citizens committed to a society that works. But rather than surrender, they have used their frustration to stoke the blaze in their bellies for systemic change. The result is Neighborhood Villages, a powerful Boston-based nonprofit designed to bring about systems change in early care and education 鈥� scaling their successes first in Boston, next throughout Massachusetts, and if they have anything to say about it (they demonstrably do), coming soon to an America near you.

鈥淪omebody鈥檚 got to figure this out, and no one is coming to save us. There鈥檚 lots of talking and meeting and declaring that it鈥檚 a problem, but we want to do it 鈥� actually do it. We can鈥檛 put any more chewing gum in this dam.鈥�

Sarah Seigel Muncey, co-president and chief innovation officer, Neighborhood Villages

Muncey and Kennedy got to know each other when they were pregnant. Their babies were born within a few days of each other, and soon they were experiencing firsthand the treadmill of concern any parent in the U.S. now experiences to some degree: How do I find child care? How do I work without child care? How do I continue my career in any meaningful way and have children? Why are we even having this conversation in the wealthiest country on the planet?

Joining the millions of their peers in the U.S. who ask those questions and are desperate for change, Muncey and Kennedy had the resources and background and, as they will admit, the privilege to take the issue on in a big way. Muncey, Neighborhood Villages鈥� co-president and chief innovation officer, has a master鈥檚 degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and spent 12 years at Boston Collegiate Charter School, first as a 7^th grade English teacher and ultimately as Director of Family and Community Relations. Kennedy, the nonprofit鈥檚 co-president and chief strategy officer, holds a law degree from Harvard, served as Director of Health Policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington, DC, and oversaw advocacy strategy for key policy initiatives including implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Together, they had the chops and the will to tackle the ganglia of issues surrounding child care in a strategic, targeted way.

They knew that child care is foundational to our economy, our communities and our country. They knew that the U.S., unlike every other developed nation, makes no meaningful public investment in child care. Readers of Early Learning Nation are no strangers to this story.

No One Is Coming to Save Us

In looking at the situation, Muncey and Kennedy realized the first of what Muncey calls their three 鈥渇undamental guiding principles.鈥�

鈥淪omebody鈥檚 got to figure this out, and no one is coming to save us.鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of talking and meeting and declaring that it鈥檚 a problem, but we want to do it 鈥� actually do it. We can鈥檛 put any more chewing gum in this dam.鈥�

The brokenness of the system also offers freedom and possibility, which is the space Muncey says Neighborhood Villages is claiming.

鈥淚f you look at K-12, there are so many things that will never change because they鈥檝e been done that way so long. It鈥檚 just accepted as the way things are. But because child care infrastructure is so hollowed out and missing, we can start from that nothing and create from there.

鈥淭his devaluation and lack of professional value given to child care is a very direct line to the racism and misogyny on which we鈥檝e built our country,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time for an entirely new system that鈥檚 not built on that racist, patriarchal foundation. We can start from elegant. We can start from operationally efficient. We can start from anti-racist. It鈥檚 an amazing, exciting opportunity. At Neighborhood Villages, we feel like we have the greatest job in the world 鈥� to actually fix 迟丑颈苍驳蝉.鈥�

How the nonprofit goes about fixing things is to work with five early-learning partners in Boston to pilot and test programs. This is 鈥渢he Neighborhood,鈥� comprising 13 child care sites around Boston that serve a highly diverse population. All Neighborhood Villages (NV) programs are designed to scale statewide to demonstrate the infrastructure needed to create a workable, high-quality early education and care system. Funded by philanthropy, government grants and public investment, the Neighborhood is both an innovation lab and proof of concept for scalable solutions.

鈥淲e show that it can be done because we鈥檝e done it,鈥� Muncey says. 鈥淔or example, when folks started back to work during the pandemic, it only took a few weeks to realize that we were going to have to figure out Covid testing because every time a teacher coughed, she was out for eight days trying to isolate and find a test. We found a philanthropic partner to pay for tests, worked with the people who had set up the nursing home testing in the state of Massachusetts who knew what they were doing, worked with health economists from Berkeley and MIT and created a really, really good program.

鈥淭hen we sat in my living room with cardboard boxes going, 鈥業 guess everyone needs this many swabs 鈥︹�� We made the tests happen鈥攊n a scientifically sound way鈥攁nd then we said, 鈥楾his is ready for the state.鈥� When we went to the state, they said, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 do testing in child care. It鈥檚 not possible because the sector is 7,500 small businesses.鈥�

鈥淲e took them data from our evaluators at Boston Children鈥檚 Brazelton Institute and said, 鈥楢ctually, we鈥檝e been testing 700 teachers鈥︹�� We were able to show that it was suppressive testing, was keeping people safe and within about two weeks we were getting to the point where no one was getting sick.鈥� Massachusetts deployed the program for ECE statewide.

A similar scalable innovation was Neighborhood Villages鈥� development of professional pathways for the ECE workforce. The nonprofit found that, though free certification classes were offered through community colleges, that model didn鈥檛 work well for early educators who were required to attend a 7 pm class on Tuesday in a completely different neighborhood after spending all day working with children and possibly needing to get home to their own. So, NV brought the course to the teachers and the essential certification, Child Growth, was taught at five sites around the city every Saturday, with each site offering three or four classes鈥攊n Haitian, Creole, Spanish, Mandarin, English and Portuguese. The program is now available to all child care providers in the state of Massachusetts.

鈥淥nce these things are piloted,鈥� she says, 鈥測ou realize the second it starts, 鈥榃ell, that was doable. So, moving on 鈥︹�欌��

It鈥檚 Not Rocket Science

There鈥檚 a certain 鈥淗old my beer鈥� quality to NV鈥檚 approach. Someone says it can鈥檛 be done; NV starts asking providers what they need and builds those missing pieces of infrastructure. It鈥檚 like building with Legos, Muncey says. The goal is a child care system that functions beautifully at the state, regional, school and family level.

鈥淲e鈥檙e building all these pieces with a great sense of urgency,鈥� she says. 鈥�Deliberate urgency. No one is coming to save us; and we have to do it. Our second guiding principle is: It isn鈥檛 rocket science. All of this is doable. Even stuff that鈥檚 hard 鈥� like rocket science 鈥� is totally doable. We do it every day. We can do hard things.

鈥淏ig government programs are complicated and take thoughtful work and iteration,鈥� Muncey says. 鈥淭he Affordable Care Act is complicated and hard, and yet, we do it. The U.S. military child care system did it. Legislation (creating military child care) was passed in 1989 and over the next 10 years, the military set standards and provided incentives and 鈥� all of a sudden, you have a system. It鈥檚 not perfect, but the system is in place. We know how to do this.鈥�

We鈥檙e Not Magicians

All of this leads to NV鈥檚 third and final fundamental guiding principle. The most basic reality of a functional child care system is the fact that educators must be paid real money. They鈥檙e not magicians. They can鈥檛 pull education, labor and love out of thin air and pay mortgages and groceries with pixie dust.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 start paying teachers professional wages by funding ECE as a public good, none of the stuff we鈥檝e been talking about matters at all,鈥� Muncey says. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to keep paying people nothing, they鈥檙e going to leave. If we keep training teachers and they can鈥檛 pay their bills, they鈥檙e going to leave.

鈥淭he most important thing for people to understand is that this is so doable, but we are not magicians. A functioning child care system takes money and will.鈥�

Building the Will

The pandemic revealed the brokenness in America鈥檚 child care system like nothing before. Every issue associated with it was held up in stark relief, like shining a floodlight on that intransigent mess in the back closet. People who thought they had no stake in solving the problem suddenly found themselves invested. And, as we鈥檝e seen over and over in the U.S., when enough people are invested in a problem and put their energy, insistence and money into it, elected officials start looking at solutions.

鈥淭hey will have to,鈥� Muncey says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e learned from so many other movements what it takes. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America 鈥� often called Moms Demand Action 鈥� wore their red tee shirts and physically attended every state house when a piece of gun legislation was being talked about. We鈥檝e seen what angry moms can do in this country many times.

鈥淲hen Lauren Kennedy and I made the podcast (鈥攇ive it a listen!), we knew we needed to give people a vocabulary around the issue. People don鈥檛 know how to talk about it. Let鈥檚 say you have feelings about guns or abortion. Regardless of what side you鈥檙e on about it, if someone looked at you and said, 鈥楾ell me what you think about guns鈥︹�� you鈥檇 have a little speech prepared with all the things you鈥檙e demanding from government about that.

鈥淐hild care isn鈥檛 like that. People don鈥檛 know what to ask for or how because we鈥檝e been told to deal with it privately. 鈥榊ou went and got yourself pregnant, figure it out.鈥�  We don鈥檛 have the words to say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 think I should have to pay more than 7 percent of my income for child care. How about that, Legislator?鈥欌��

In a very brief time, the podcast grew from a venture the two creators thought might be a 鈥渨onky, niche thing鈥� to being the # 13 podcast in the U.S. (beating out Prince Harry on Armchair Expert, Muncey鈥檚 proud to say). Plainly, child care is a conversation whose time has come.

To harness that energy, NV鈥檚 affiliated 501(C)4 organization, Neighborhood Villages Action Fund, works to make sure policymakers hear the voices demanding change鈥攁nd the demand to deliver that change now, not a few more years down the road.

鈥淲e have to let them know we expect them to fix this immediately,鈥� Muncey says. 鈥淚鈥檓 42 and my mom had pretty much the same level of support that鈥檚 available to us now.

鈥淐丑补苍驳别 is coming. Everyone wants this and it鈥檚 coming, one way or the other. Our job is to know how to do it well when it does.鈥�

And that, as Neighborhood Villages has shown, is doable: Determine specifically what鈥檚 needed; build that solution; test it; when it works, fund it and scale it. It鈥檚 not rocket science.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.