Early Years Progress Initiative

We need your voice — call your Members of Congress today! Emails are not getting through to those who need to hear from you. Take action: thinkbabies.org/medicaid

Voters from both parties *overwhelmingly* wanted to hear a plan to reduce child care costs during the 2024 election. Harris had one (cap at 7% of income). We never heard a clear plan from Trump, Vance or Congressional Republicans. 19thnews.org/2024/09/vanc...

Parent and Provider Experience Should Inform Child Care Policy | CLASP Effective child care policies require parents and providers at the table. States can and should use federal funds to promote equitable community engagement.

“Decisions about us cannot be made without us.”
- DéJon Banks, Sr., Parent Leader with UPLAN.

In our latest blog, parent leaders share how policymakers can improve child care by listening to those directly impacted - using existing $$ and guidance. www.clasp.org/blog/communi...

Guidepost Montessori closing Colorado locations, sending families scrambling With child care options already highly competitive, Guidepost Montessori announced it is closing its five Colorado locations in the coming weeks because of financial challenges.

A venture capital-backed chain that clearly expanded too quickly and got overleveraged... this is the systemic risk of letting unfettered profit-maximizing behavior run rampant in child care. Our children, parents, and early educators deserve guardrails.

www.denver7.com/lifestyle/ed...

How the U.S. Department of Education Serves Our Youngest Learners Americans have come to value the role education plays in supporting families by giving children the opportunity to build a good life. No matter where you

Attacks on the Department of Education—the smallest cabinet-level agency—threaten equal access to education for our youngest learners, including:

🍎 1.5M preschool students via Title 1
♿ 500K+ preschoolers & 400K infants/toddlers with disabilities
🏛️ Head Start programs & inter-agency partnerships

Head Start child-care centers face pay delays after Trump's federal funding freeze Dozens of Head Start programs nationwide — including at least six in California — have experienced delays in accessing government money for payroll and expenses in the week since the

"Everybody's nervous...Head Start serves the lowest-income families. What else is there?" Tucker said. "Parents need to drop their kids off to go to work. If there's nowhere...to go, they can't go to work or pay their bills. It's just a snowball effect."

www.union-bulletin.com/news/nationa...

☀️Today's a great day to jump-start you feed. Follow the most comprehensive list of education writers, editors and publications.
💡Bonus points: Share this list with your friends and colleagues.
go.bsky.app/UccLjhX

Head Start funding freeze: The panic was the point • Wisconsin Examiner Head Start centers in Wisconsin closed their doors after the Trump administration froze funding, throwing families into chaos

"When you play unnecessary games with trillions of dollars in federal funding that millions of people depend on, real people suffer."

@kcpeeks.bsky.social discusses Head Start's funding freeze:

New immigration policy could devastate America’s fragile child care system Trump’s deportation threats are already affecting child care workers and the children in their care. The child care industry relies heavily on immigrants.

America relies on immigrants for critical child care roles: 1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant. In recent weeks, providers have told me that some of those teachers are too scared to come to work, and children are staying home, due to fears around raids:
hechingerreport.org/1-in-5-child...

Don’t forget the in addition to all the critical health services, HHS also houses programs like child care, Head Start, etc.

Still Locked Out of Federal Funding, Several Head Start Preschools May Need to Close Temporarily Leaders of dozens of Head Start preschools said they might need to close temporarily because they remain locked out of their federal funding, a problem that first surfaced last week during President Donald Trump’s aborted effort to freeze federal grants

Still Locked Out of Federal Funding, Several Head Start Preschools May Need to Close Temporarily: Leaders of dozens of Head Start preschools said they might need to close temporarily because they remain locked out of their federal funding, a problem that first surfaced last week during President…

nativist populism, except it's the world's richest man, a foreigner, unconstitutionally witholding congressionally appropriated funds for American preschoolers

Several Minnesota restaurants and day cares close Monday to protest Trump immigration actions The movement calls for businesses to stay closed for the day to stand in solidarity with immigrants and immigrant workers.

A good time to remind you all that immigrant women make up almost 25% of the childcare workforce across the country! And a large number of them provide family based care...(cont)

www.startribune.com/minnesota-re...

L.A. fires upend fragile child-care industry, sending providers, families scrambling More than 300 child-care facilities are closed amid the L.A. fires, sending thousands of families scrambling to find care.

The L.A. fires forced hundreds of providers to shut down, upending an already fragile child care system. Here’s how that’s impacting scores of families who are suddenly in need of alternative care. www.latimes.com/california/s...

A 2024 Review of Child Care and Early Learning in the United States Updated data on child care and early learning in the United States illustrate the urgent need for holistic public policymaking and robust investments that support young children, families, and early e...

HUGE thanks to @allie-schneider.bsky.social for leading on this project and its update! A huge undertaking & it turned out great! 👏👏

Read more → www.americanprogress.org/article/a-20...

Transforming Lives with Child Care and Community Engagement: A Two-Generation Approach How a new Head Start facility in East Dayton has the power to be transformative for a struggling community.

Learn from @newamerica.org and #BetterLifeLab how a new Head Start center in East Dayton is breaking cycles of poverty and paving the way for stronger democratic participation.

www.newamerica.org/better-life-...

They don’t actually care about doing pro-family policy, so instead they’re just going to penalize families and single people who live in the wrong places

‘Patriotic education’: Trump orders federal push to monitor K-12 curriculum Former Education Department staff describe the move as unprecedented interference into the country’s education system.

President Donald Trump has directed the federal government to begin a campaign to monitor and influence K-12 curriculum — a move that former Education Department staff describe as unprecedented interference into the country’s education system.

School choice is an attack on our rural public schools. Come to the NPE conference and find out how & why:https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2025-national-conference/ @dianeravitch.bsky.social @network4pubed.bsky.social @npeaction.bsky.social networkforpubliceducation.org/2025-nationa...

The Children's Equity Project on LinkedIn: #newreport #opportunity #children #families #educators #headstart #earlyed… Earlier this month, the CEP published a #newreport outlining the devastating impacts of cutting or eliminating federal programs intended to advance child…

This report from @childrensequity.bsky.social clearly lays out the detrimental impacts the withdrawal of federal funding would have at all levels of education from child care, to K-12.

www.linkedin.com/posts/childr...

Join NHSA's Head Start Advocacy Network NHSA relies on your voice for our advocacy and engagement in Washington, D.C., and across the country. Sign up for our mailing list to receive our action alerts and updates on policy issues relevant t...

With federal child care funding coming under fire, including Head Start, it’s important to stay up to date and take action.

Join NHSA’s Head Start Advocacy Network for updates and action steps you can take in support of Head Start programs.

nhsa.org/advocacy/sub...

If Trump doesn't reverse course, millions could lose healthcare, food assistance, childcare, and even emergency services.

We've heard reports of Medicaid portals being shut down and childcare funds being frozen. Trump is steering the US into a disaster of his own making.

Federal Grant Freeze Puts Head Start Children and Families at Risk Nationwide Washington, D.C.—Last night, the Trump administration released a memo that temporarily paused all federal grants and loan disbursements. It has sparked major confusion across the entire federal government, and created panic among Head Start grant rec

The National Head Start Association sounds the alarm on Trump Admin's Federal Grant Freeze:

"At worst, this means that hundreds of thousands of families will not be able to depend on the critical services and likely will not be able to work."
nhsa.org/press_release/fede...

All federal grants and loan disbursement paused by White House | CNN Politics The White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday.

This pause will be devastating for many, but particularly for early ed and child care providers who receive Head Start grants and federal Child Care funding.

There is already not enough affordable child care in this country… why threaten what we do have?

www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/p...

My first brief for Child Care Stories argues that turning child care into a benefit of employment could derail systemic solutions for decades to come in favor of a cheap, palatable fix that shifts the burden of action from government back to individuals.
www.childcarestories.org/resources/ro...

Why is the solution to the “low birth rate” to push agendas restricting reproductive health care and education?

Why not policies that promote access to high quality, affordable child care, safe schools, and positive maternal health outcomes?

bsky.app/profile/jenn...

Not anyone on this list that I can see has ever worked with children in public schools or studied child development, and yet they're supposedly going to empower parents. It looks more like they're going to do what they can to privatize public schools.

Don’t Let the Data Fool You: The US Is Failing Working Women The record labor force participation rate among prime-age females is a bit of a mirage.

"Public investment in child care increases labor force participation — the holy grail of public policy. And yet, few in Washington seem to see child care as a priority."

With ACF being under HHS, the “DEI Purge” is directly harming children, families, and child care providers. Stoppages in services and holds on grant funding are very real - grant awarding is already on hold, and centers may have to close or serve fewer children.