Posted on November 1, 2021
Invite Your County and Town Reps to Learn How to Maximize ARPA Funds for Kids!
What’s New?
Tell Our U.S. Senators: Our Young Learners Need Us to “Build Back Better”
Posted on December 10, 2021
On November 19th, the United States House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act which will provide $400 billion for child care and preschool—the largest federal investment of its kind. The funding will provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for New Jersey’s children, families and educators by:
- Making child care affordable for all families with children from birth through age 5
- Creating and supporting more jobs—both additional child care jobs and jobs for parents
- Raising wages to a “livable wage” for the child care workforce
- Increasing the availability of high quality care option
- Providing universal preschool services for all 3- and 4-year-olds
The bill is now before the United States Senate and every vote counts! We need to urge New Jersey’s U.S. Senators to support the Build Back Better Act and its unprecedented investments!
Take Action!
Your advocacy is critically needed NOW! Please email Senators Menendez and Booker and urge them to vote for the Build Back Better Act and its unprecedented investments in children, working families and the early learning workforce!
Tell Congress to Pass the Build Back Better Bill
Posted on October 29, 2021
Tell Your Members of Congress to Get the Job Done!
On Thursday, President Biden announced a final framework for his Build Back Better bill, which will provide transformative change for our nation’s children and families. The bill is described as the most important federal legislative win for children since the 1960s and 1970s, when Medicaid, TANF and Food Stamps (SNAP) became law.
Highlights of the bill include:
- A $400 billion investment in child care and preschool, considered the centerpiece of the legislation.Quality Child Care: Families will not pay over 7 percent of their income for child care if they make under 2.5 times their state’s median income. The amount of support will be based on a sliding scale. The provision is currently funded for 6 years and only applies to children under 6 years old.Universal Preschool: Funding will provide universal, free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, implemented through a mixed delivery model. The provision is currently funded for 6 years.
- The Child Tax Credit Expansion was extended for one year with no work requirement and will provide $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and $3000 for children between the ages of 6 and 17.
- Funding will be available to expand free school meals and will provide $65/month/child for the purchase of food during the summer.
- Additional funding will be available to close the Medicaid gap for 4 million people living in states that did not enact Medicaid expansion by reducing their exchange premiums to $0.
- While the final version of the bill also includes some disappointing reductions compared to the initial proposals, such as paid family leave and free community college, the bill’s passage will be a monumental win for children and their families.
View White House fact sheet on how the Build Back Better framework will benefit New Jersey.
The next step is for the bill to pass both Houses of Congress. The President is urging Congress to move quickly on this bill and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
And we all need to do the same!
Tell your members of Congress to support the Build Back Better bill so that all children and families can benefit from high quality preschool AND child care!
Register – ACNJ/NJ DCF 2021 Virtual Fall Forum
Posted on October 27, 2021
Register for the Viewing – Pandemic Stress: Supporting Young Children, Families, and the Early Childhood Workforce
Posted on October 21, 2021
To kick off Celebrate Babies Week, ACNJ hosted the webinar "Pandemic Stress: Supporting Young Children, Families, and the Early Childhood Workforce". This webinar featured a special presentation from Dr. Walter Gilliam from Yale University Child Study Center on his recent research on the impact of the pandemic on young children, their families and child care providers. Following the presentation, voices from the early childhood field joined a panel discussion to talk about the Social-Emotional Formation Initiative (SEFI), which provides mental health consultation to early childhood programs to support staff, young children and their families.
