What’s New?

View the Recording – Child Care Providers – Learn How to be Part of State-Funded Preschool

Posted on June 14, 2023

On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, ACNJ and the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) held a lunch-and-learn for child care providers throughout New Jersey about how they could be part of free, full-day, state-funded preschool in eligible school districts. Keynote speakers include ACNJ Senior Policy Analyst Cynthia Rice, NIEER's Early Childhood Education Technical Assistance Specialist Beth Ann Gardiner, and Rahway Community Action Organization's Executive Director Aneesha Ghaly, which has participated in preschool expansion efforts.

Comments or questions? Email Cynthia Rice at crice@acnj.org, Beth Ann Gardiner at bgardiner@nieer.org, or Aneesha Ghaly at aghaly@rahwaycao.org.

National 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book Ranks NJ 7th on Child Well-Being

Posted on June 14, 2023

2023-KIDS-COUNT-data book National Cover

New Jersey ranks seventh in the nation in child well-being, according to the 2023 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent household data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how children and families are faring. However, our country’s lack of affordable and accessible child care shortchanges children and causes parents in the Garden State to frequently miss work or even quit their jobs, while those who can find care are paying dearly for it. These child care challenges cost the American economy billions of dollars a year and stymie women professionally.  Read more

Survey for Center-Based Child Care Facilities on ARPA Stabilization Funds

Posted on June 1, 2023

ATTENTION CENTER-BASED CHILD CARE PROVIDERS!

Stabilization Funds:  How did you use it, how did it help, and what will happen once you have spent it?

ACNJ WANTS TO KNOW!

In March 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act) (Pub. Law 117-2) into law which included nearly $24 billion of child care stabilization grants. The grants were aimed to provide financial relief to child care providers by helping with unexpected business costs due to the pandemic and providing financial stability to these businesses in order to continue to provide care. 

Two years later, the money has been distributed to New Jersey child care providers and there has been little conversation in Washington as to the importance of the funding and the need for additional dollars to help an industry that continues to struggle.

In order to better understand the impact that this funding has had on child care programs and the consequences of the funding ending, we are asking center-based providers to complete this survey.  Your input is critical to supply ACNJ and its partners with the information we need to make the case with New Jersey’s Congressional delegation that child care providers need additional funding to support their programs and the children and families in which they care for and educate!

DON’T WAIT TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY!  ACNJ is headed to Washington, DC on June 5th to make the case for child care, so please complete the survey before then! It will take just a few minutes of your time but your input is so important to these advocacy efforts!! 

THANK YOU!

Assemblywoman Dunn (R) Reimagines Child Care in New Jersey

Posted on May 31, 2023

Recently, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R) District 25, assistant Republican whip, appeared on Think Tank with Steve Adubato, sharing her vision of what child care can be in the Garden State.

Child care impacts so many facets of our state’s economy that improving the system can create a domino effect of positive change. When we prioritize families in New Jersey, the workforce is strengthened and communities are given a chance to thrive.