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NWLC Federal Government Update
Congress will return from its Memorial Day recess next week and continue working on FY25 federal appropriations. More: Scalise lays out ambitious summer appropriations timetable - Roll Call
As a reminder, funding bills will almost certainly not be finalized until after the November elections. It is still critical that we remind Congress to prioritize investments in ECE programs.
⇒ Children’s Budget Coalition FY25/budget letter for sign-on. As previously reported, the House leadership’s approach to FY25 is very troubling and could mean another round of proposed cuts to ECE programs by as much as 6-11% along with more harmful policy riders. You can read the full letter and sign-onto it here. The deadline for sign-on is COB Friday, June 7.
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Child Tax Credit
Improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) remain at a standstill. However, the Senate could still vote on the tax package in the next few months. It is up to Senate Leader Schumer (D-NY) to make a vote happen.
⇒ Please urge your Senators to pass the expanded CTC now.
We know how to end child poverty. That is why we are fighting for this expansion right now, and why we will keep fighting to further improve the CTC.
More: Child Tax Credit 2024 Resources & Social Media (Coalition on Human Needs)
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Supplemental Federal Child Care Funding
We are focused on ensuring that any future domestic supplemental that is considered includes $16 billion for child care and early learning.
⇒ Please urge your Members of Congress to support the $16 billion proposal supported by President Biden and many congressional Democrats.
As previously shared,
Take Action - Farm Bill cuts to SNAP
From the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN):
The House Agriculture Committee voted out the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (House Farm Bill). The bill poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of the more than 41.4 million people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to put food on the table.
⇒ Take Action: Join national, state, and community-based organizations in sending a joint letter to Congress urging that any Farm Bill must ensure that SNAP is protected and strengthened. Additionally, we will oppose any Farm Bill that proposes cuts to SNAP, including restricting future Thrifty Food Plan benefit adjustments — nearly $30 billion in cuts over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office — in addition to provisions outsourcing administrative functions currently required to be performed by public sector merit employees.
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Read the sign-on letter here.
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Complete the sign-on form here (organizations only).
Funding Opportunities - 3 New OPRE Child Care and Early Education Funding Opportunities
From the US Administration for Children and Families (ACF):
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is soliciting applications for
- Center for Home-based Child Care Research;
- Access to Infant and Toddler Care and Education: Research and Evaluation Grants; and
- Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency Data and Research Capacity Grants.
Center for Home-based Child Care Research:
This cooperative agreement would establish a Center for Home-based Child Care Research to support research about home-based child care (HBCC) in states, territories, Tribes, and/or local community contexts. The purpose of the Center is to provide leadership, build research capacity in the field, and offer support in the development and facilitation of local research to improve understanding of HBCC settings and providers as well as access by the families who seek and utilize HBCC. The Center’s activities would build research and evaluation capacity in the field and support research in states, territories, and/or Tribes that could inform local initiatives designed to sustain and strengthen HBCC. The Center would promote sound research examining HBCC and the factors that support or suppress the availability of HBCC in states, territories, and/or Tribes. In addition, this Center would advance the field’s understanding of HBCC providers’ engagement in publicly funded programs (e.g., child care subsidies, Head Start) and quality improvement efforts (e.g., Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), quality initiatives (QI), and continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives). This Center would ideally bring together a team that has experience investigating HBCC, evaluating Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program and policies, and assessing the needs and experiences of families with lower incomes, in tribal communities, and of historically marginalized populations. The full announcement can be found here.
Access to Infant and Toddler Care and Education: Research and Evaluation Grants:
This grant opportunity will provide funding to address key research and evaluation questions related to care and education access for infants and toddlers at the national, state, or local level. Specifically, these awards will support either: 1) descriptive research studies to document current access, shifts in access over time, or the characteristics of specific policies, practices, or other efforts that may be affecting access; or 2) evaluations to explore the implementation or effects of specific policies, practices, or other efforts that may be affecting access. Proposed projects can include primary data collection and/or leverage secondary data sources. Proposed projects can use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods data at the national, state, territory, or local level. The full announcement can be found here.
Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency Data and Research Capacity Grants:
These cooperative agreements are meant to support partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies and researchers to develop and improve state, territory, and tribal data systems and build the capacity of CCDF Lead Agencies to collect, analyze, and use data to guide child care policy decisions and program improvement efforts. These 18-month projects will fund a planning phase to develop a research plan to address questions of interest to the CCDF Lead Agency, including a plan for identifying, linking, and using state, territory, and Tribal data to inform child care policy decisions. These planning projects may be followed by a second competition (Phase II) to support execution of the research plans to develop and improve state, territory, and Tribal data systems. Projects must be conducted through partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies (i.e., states, territories, Tribes, or local subsidy administering agencies) and researchers from institutions of higher education within the state agency, research organizations, and/or other organizations with proven expertise conducting policy research. Applications are invited from CCDF Lead Agencies, institutions of higher education, research organizations, and other organizations with proven expertise conducting policy research. The full announcement can be found here.
For further information about OPRE, see http://acf.hhs.gov/opre. For other OPRE grants forecasts for this year, please visit https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/grants. We recommend that potential applicants subscribe on grants.gov to these Notices of Funding Opportunities to receive notifications of updates.
Resources & Opportunities for Family Child Care
From the National Association of Family Child Care (NAFCC):
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Upcoming opportunity to learn more about including family child care in Pre-kindergarten programs. We encourage you to share this with your state or local pre-k administrators. Please note, spots are filling up quickly. Additional here: 2024 Pre-Conference Session (Erikson Institute)
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NAFCC just launched our new Policy Site. Please share widely with any family child care educators: https://nafcc.org/public-policy/
New Report - Reflections on the DC ECE Pay Equity Fund
From the Urban Institute:
Earlier this year, I shared findings from Urban Institute researchers on DC’s Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund. Given the DC Council’s 2025 budget, which was released this week and cites Urban evidence, I wanted to share a new report from the research team that provides an in-depth exploration of early educators' experiences with the Pay Equity Fund during its initial year of implementation.
Using survey data and focus group responses, the researchers explore educators' introduction to the Fund, their application and payment experiences, financial impacts, and perceived benefits for child care programs and the broader early childhood education field.
Read the report, op-ed, and a recent statement before the DC Council to learn more about the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund.
If you have questions or would like to speak with the research team, please email Amy Elsbree, eaelsbree@urban.org
Updated State Profiles - NCCP's Early Childhood State Policy Profiles
From the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP):
NCCP has updated our Early Childhood State Policy Profiles, which provide a two-generation view of current policies affecting families and children from birth through age 5, nationally and state-by-state, in the areas of early care and education, health and development, and parenting/family economic supports. You can visit the profiles to find out if your state meets key policy benchmarks. The profiles allow you to quickly see how many states meet each benchmark as you review policies in your state's profile. You will also find data relevant to young children’s well-being in your state, including the percentage of infants and young children receiving EPSDT screens, and the percentage of infants and toddlers participating in the Part C Early Intervention Program, overall and by race/ethnicity.
New and revised TANF policy benchmarks describe which states allow 60 months of benefits without limits on continuous coverage and which states have exemptions or extensions of time limits for recipients who are pregnant or caring for a child under 6 months of age. The policy regarding housing programs that provide rental assistance to low-income families with children was revised using the Area Median Income (AMI) and Federal Poverty Level (FPL) due to AMI’s relevance in housing policies. As a result, 6 new states meet this benchmark.
The number of states that provide 12 months of postpartum Medicaid coverage for eligible women has steadily increased with 9 new states currently meeting the benchmark. Also, 5 new states require or recommend maternal depression screening in EPSDT well-child visits. Other notable policy changes include 3 new states that offer a refundable Child Tax Credit; 7 states that no longer meet a minimum wage at or above $14/hour and indexed to inflation, leaving a total of only 9 states that meet this benchmark; and 4 new states that have paid family leave for a minimum of 6 weeks with a partial replacement of wages.
We have also updated the profiles’ section, Related Research and Policy Resources, which summarizes evidence for each policy and provides links to recent reports with additional analysis of policies and their status across states.
Visit NCCP’s website: http://www.nccp.org to view the state profiles and other NCCP resources that can inform efforts to help America's low-income children. We also send occasional updates that announce the release of our latest reports on early childhood and family economic security. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on NCCP’s research.
New RAPID Survey Data - What parents and providers want policymakers to know
From the RAPID Survey Project, based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood:
Child care availability and affordability, and the ability to meet material needs are top concerns.
Since 2020, the RAPID Survey Project has asked thousands of parents of young children and child care providers across the country this open-ended question: What do you want elected officials and policymakers to know about how your family is doing and what you need?
We have received almost 30,000 answers. During an election year that has important implications for young children and their families, these answers can help decision-makers develop policies and programs that improve family health and well-being.
Explore the data and hear from families in the RAPID 4th anniversary special report.
More: Child care providers report high levels of worker anxiety and depression, survey shows | EdSource
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