Womenstake

Update on the Early Learning Challenge Fund

by Helen Blank, Director, Leadership and Public Policy, 
National Women's Law Center 

Over 30 years ago, I started advocating for child care, determined to make a difference in the lives of low-income children and women. Like all advocates, I've seen wins — and I've seen losses. We had one of the latter this week.

But I'm not giving up. And neither should you. 

Unfortunately, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, an initiative that would have challenged states to create a new framework for our early childhood system, has been dropped from a bill that would make major changes in the student loan system. The student loan legislation will be attached to the health reform bill likely to be voted on by Congress in the next few days.

So what happened?

Make it a Point to March Forth for Child Care and Head Start!

by Rio Romero, Program Assistant,
National Women's Law Center

From California all the way to Vermont, advocates across the nation will band together today to March Forth for Child Care and Head Start by contacting their Members of Congress and encouraging them to support increased investments in early childhood programs. In these challenging times, such investments are more crucial than ever in helping families gain stability in their work and everyday lives. 

Early childhood advocates, child care providers, and community leaders are uniting their voices to let Congress know that supporting key early childhood programs such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start/Early Head Start, and child nutrition, keeps families earning and children learning. The President’s FY 2011 budget proposal includes a $1.6 billion increase in funding for CCDBG, the largest increase in the program’s history, and a $989 million increase in funding for Head Start/Early Head Start, which would enable 65,000 more children to be served in Head Start and almost double the number of children enrolled in Early Head Start. The budget proposal also calls for a $1 billion increase in funding for child nutrition.

Take Action: Children Deserve Better Nutrition

by Helen Blank, Director, Leadership and Public Policy,
National Women's Law Center,

Thousands of you took action in support of the Senate bill that would improve young children's access to nutritious meals. Now it's time to get a bill moving in the House of Representatives!

Recently, Representative Paul D. Tonko (D-NY) introduced legislation that would improve young children’s access to nutritious meals in child care centers, family child care homes, and Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

Please urge your Representatives to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program. 

Like the Senate version of this bill introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), this legislation would strengthen the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) by:

· Increasing reimbursement rates for child care centers and family child care homes.

· Adding a third meal or snack option for children in child care, helping to cover the costs of food for children who are in care for longer hours.

· Expanding CACFP family child care home area eligibility, to make more family child care providers eligible for higher levels of reimbursement.

· Increasing the administrative reimbursement rate for CACFP-sponsoring organizations.

· Streamlining and simplifying program and paperwork requirements for states, sponsoring organizations, child care providers, and parents.

With your help, we can gain support for the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 and help millions of children get the start they need in life.

For more information about the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009, read our latest fact sheet.

Tell Your Senators to Improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program

by Helen Blank, Director, Leadership and Public Policy
National Women's Law Center

Last week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation that would improve young children’s access to nutritious meals in child care centers, family child care homes, and Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

With your help, we can gain support for the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 (S. 2749).

Please urge your Senators to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The bill, which would strengthen the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), calls for:

·Increasing reimbursement rates for child care centers and family child care homes.

·Adding a third meal or snack option for children in child care, helping to cover the costs of food for children who are in care for longer hours.

·Expanding CACFP family child care home area eligibility, to make more family child care providers eligible for higher levels of reimbursement.

·Increasing the administrative reimbursement rate for CACFP-sponsoring organizations.

·Streamlining and simplifying program and paperwork requirements for states, sponsoring organizations, child care providers, and parents.

We need your help to gain support for this bill so that we can reach even more children.

Child Care and Early Education Policy Update

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy,  
National Women’s Law Center 

Register for a Free Conference Call: Unions Supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor Care in New York

The National Women's Law Center has scheduled the third in our series of conference calls that will examine child care unionization and other strategies for improving compensation, benefits, and working conditions for family child care and family, friend and neighbor care (FFN) providers. This call will focus on New York state and New York City, where unions representing child care and FFN providers are in the process of ratifying contracts. The call will feature representatives from unions who have made much progress in winning increased supports for providers. Presenters for this call will include Denise Dowell from the Early Learning and Care Programs, Civil Service Employees Association and Tammie Miller from United Federation of Teachers.

Register now for a free conference call on Tuesday, October 6, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Early Learning Challenge Fund Update

On Thursday, September 17, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) by a vote of 251 to 171. The bill includes the new Early Learning Challenge Fund which would provide competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high-quality early learning systems for children up to age five. For detailed information on the Early Learning Challenge Fund, check out NWLC's summary. We expect the Senate to consider its version of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act soon. Stay tuned!

Sen. Harkin Is New Chair of HELP Committee

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) accepted the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) Committee, replacing the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). The HELP committee is responsible for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, education for young children with disabilities and special needs, Title I (which can support early learning), and Higher Education. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) will replace Sen. Harkin as Chair of the Agricultural Committee, which is responsible for child nutrition programs including the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Policy Update: President Obama Releases Detailed Budget

President Obama’s detailed budget for Fiscal Year 2010 makes investments critical to the well-being of women and their families, especially in the areas of health care and education. Yet the fine print also retains restrictions on reproductive health.

Overall, the budget represents an important change in direction from the past eight years. However, given the enormous challenges that families and communities are facing, this budget could and should do even more to address rising needs. For more information, visit NWLC's website.

Some highlights of how the budget affects women and families include:

• Health Care: The President’s budget brings the nation one step closer to making health care reform that meets the needs of women and their families a reality this year. It creates a reserve fund of more than $600 billion, which will serve as a “down payment” on health reform.
• Reproductive Health: The budget eliminates wasteful abstinence-only programs and allows states to provide more support for contraception through the Medicaid program. Unfortunately, the budget retains harmful and unjust restrictions on the use of public funds for abortion care and provides only level or insufficient funding increases for several programs that provide essential services for women, including Title X family planning.
• Child Care and Early Education: The President’s budget funds several new early childhood initiatives. However, the budget provides only a modest increase for Head Start, and no increase in funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to supplement temporary funding for 2009 and 2010 in the Economic Recovery Act. Full details are available on NWLC's website.

Take Action: Hungry Children Can't Wait

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Congress has an opportunity to give nutritious meals to millions of children — and we need you to make sure Congress does the right thing. 

Later this year, we expect the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to be reauthorized — providing an important opportunity to reach even more children and win additional benefits.

Please urge your Members of Congress to help more children and families by improving the Child and Adult Care Food Program. 

CACFP provides over 3 million children enrolled in child care centers, family child care homes, Head Start, prekindergarten and after-school programs up to two meals and a snack. In addition, it provides ongoing training in the nutritional needs of children, and onsite assistance in meeting the program's strong nutritional requirements. Unfortunately, there are still millions of children in child care who could benefit from CACFP who are currently unserved.

With your help, we have an opportunity to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

There are several key changes that the early childhood and after-school community is seeking in the reauthorization to expand the program's reach and increase benefits to children, including:

• Increasing CACFP reimbursements to stem participation declines and improve nutrition.
• Allowing child care centers and homes the option of serving a third meal as was previously allowed.
• Reducing the current “area eligibility” threshold from 50 to 40 percent to allow all providers living in neighborhoods where at least 40 percent of the children are in low-income families to automatically qualify for the highest reimbursement rate.
• Reducing burdensome paperwork to ensure that more children and providers have access to the benefits offered by CACFP.

These changes will help to reduce hunger, reduce childhood obesity, improve child nutrition and health overall, and enhance child development and school readiness. For more information on ways CACFP could be improved, check out NWLC's fact sheet.

Child Care and Early Education Policy Update

Register Today: Conference Call on Supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor Care

Given the essential role family child care and FFN care plays for so many families, it is important to understand the role that unions are playing to support these providers and the lessons they have learned. The National Women's Law Center is beginning a new series of calls that will examine child care unionization as a strategy for improving compensation, benefits, and working conditions for family child care and FFN providers and enhancing the quality of care they offer. Register today for our first call, Lessons Learned: Supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor Care & Family Child Care in Oregon Through Unionization. The conference call will take place on Tuesday, April 7, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.

Hearing: Secretary of Health and Human Services

Governor Kathleen Sebelius has been nominated as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the National Women’s Law Center is urging her confirmation based on her strong record on early education, health care, and other critical issues that affect women. Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Senate Finance Committee held hearings to consider her nomination. As head of HHS, she will oversee the Child Care and Development Block and Head Start programs. During the hearings, Governor Sebelius discussed the importance of access to high-quality child care and early education and her efforts to address the issue from the time when she was a state legislator. The Senate is expected to vote on her nomination after the April recess.

Head Start Bureau Releases Details on Economic Recovery Funding

Also last week, the Head Start Bureau released details on the allocation of the $1 billion in Head Start funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the $235 million funding increase provided by the FY 2009 appropriations legislation. The funds will be used to serve additional children in Head Start and Early Head Start, provide programs with a 4.9% cost of living increase, and support State Advisory Councils. The Head Start Bureau will be releasing details about the $1.1 billion in Early Head Start funding provided through the ARRA in the coming weeks. For information about Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) options for states through AARA funding, please check out our recent memo. 

Weekly Round-Up

by Natalie Monkou, Communications Intern

National Women's Law Center

Diana Kasdan of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project posted at Feministing about the reproductive health care needs of incarcerated women. 

A New York Times story discussed the rise of same-sex classrooms in public schools. 

Lynn Harris at Salon’s Broadsheet posted about the recently passed Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which includes a provision that restores affordable contraception to the millions of women who depend on college and university health centers and certain safety net providers for their birth control. 

Jay Newton-Small, of Time, reported on a group of Senate leaders who are working together on health reform efforts. 

Liz Willen posted at EarlyStories about the importance of keeping early childhood education in the news. 

Public comments are still being accepted about the Bush Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services "midnight regulation," which undermines women's access to vital health care services and information. The deadline is April 9.

Early Education and Economic Recovery: What's the Latest and What's Next

by Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

Today, the Senate passed its version of an economic recovery package  by a vote of 61-37. Like the House version, it includes substantial investments in early care and education — investments that are necessary for children trying to get a strong start, for parents trying to work and support their families, for child care providers trying to keep their jobs, for child care programs trying to keep their doors open, and for economic recovery and future growth. The House and Senate now head to conference to negotiate on a compromise bill that both can approve.

It is important that the Senate retain the full $2 billion increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant in the House bill and in the original Senate bill. This decision indicates that members of Congress recognize what is happening in their states and communities — parents straining to afford child care and unable to get help with these costs, child care providers scaling back their hours or losing their jobs, and child care programs struggling to stay in business. A broad coalition is urging Senators and Representatives to maintain this funding level in the final bill in order to provide child care assistance for parents under tremendous financial strains, jobs for teachers and others working or seeking to work in child care programs, and safe, stable, nurturing care for children.

The news for Head Start is less encouraging. The bill passed by the Senate provides $1.05 billion, which is half the amount provided by the House bill.  We would like the final bill to include the full amount included in the House bill ($2.1 billion), because Head Start and Early Head Start are investments that will help our economy in the short and long term. These programs employ teachers, directors, and support staff—many of whom are lower-income women.  They assist parents in finding and keeping a job or getting job training. They help children get a strong start on a path to a productive future. Head Start and Early Head Start, with their focus on low-income children and families, are particularly important as the economic downturn causes more families to slip into poverty. Why would we help only half as many of these teachers, children, and families as we could?