Action Alerts!
1. Child Care: Congress is back in session and Democrats and Republicans are beginning to negotiate the final year –end federal spending bill. Democratic Senators have proposed an increase of $2.9 billion which would double the discretionary funding for CCDBG (Child Care Development Block Grant) . This is our chance to increase CCDBG funding for child care, health care, and many other programs to support our children and families
Please call and write your senators to support the proposal by Senator Sanders, Senator Warren and the Democratic leadership for a $2.9 billion CCDBG allocation to enhance quality, update health and safety standards, and give financial assistance to 230,000 families.2. CHIP is still not approved: Congress needs to act very soon to ensure that low-income children will continue to get the medical and dental care they need to thrive. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)’s funding is an important part of the haggle currently in both Houses of Congress on funding the Government to avoid shutting it down in the next few weeks, and Senators from both parties need to agree for the funding to pass.
The CHIP program expired at the end of September, and many States are running out of money to help young children stay or become healthy. In December Congress voted extend CHIP short term through March, but the Senate has not yet acted on its long-term reauthorization (S.1825). We need to continue to urge our legislators in both Houses to fully fund chip permanently.
Please call and write your senators to support the proposal by Senator Sanders, Senator Warren and the Democratic leadership for a $2.9 billion CCDBG allocation to enhance quality, update health and safety standards, and give financial assistance to 230,000 families.2. CHIP is still not approved: Congress needs to act very soon to ensure that low-income children will continue to get the medical and dental care they need to thrive. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)’s funding is an important part of the haggle currently in both Houses of Congress on funding the Government to avoid shutting it down in the next few weeks, and Senators from both parties need to agree for the funding to pass.
The CHIP program expired at the end of September, and many States are running out of money to help young children stay or become healthy. In December Congress voted extend CHIP short term through March, but the Senate has not yet acted on its long-term reauthorization (S.1825). We need to continue to urge our legislators in both Houses to fully fund chip permanently.
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New Year – New Opportunities
NAEYC’s America for Early Ed just came out with 4 suggestions to do in the New Year one of those being Expand Your Knowledge. Here are 3 articles of interest to read suggested by NAEYC to learn more about current ECE policies:
• Uncovering the Inner Workings of States’ Early Childhood Policies: Results From a New Tool for Changemakers Focused on Transforming the Workforce from NAEYC and New America
• State Child Care Assistance Policies Map from the National Women’s Law Center
• Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2017 from Child Care Aware of America
