Advocacy
Neighborhood Villages drives systems transformation by amplifying the voices of families and early educators to advocate for policies, practices, and resources that meet their needs
We’re Fighting For a Transformed Child Care Sector
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A high quality early education and child care system is equitable, affordable, and accessible for ALL families. Learn more about our vision for reform. Learn more about our vision for reform.
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Early education and care is a public good and must be funded as one. Learn more about our vision for effectively funding child care and our current budget priorities.
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Educators are at the heart of high-quality early education and child care experiences for children. Having enough well trained and well compensated educators is key for access for families . Building a system that develops, and appropriately compensates educators is crucial. Learn more about our vision for sustainable careers in early education.
Our Current Priorities
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FY25 brought historic policy reforms and funding for early education and care in Massachusetts. However, there is still work to do to ensure those policy reforms are adequately funded. In the FY2026 MA state budget, we are fighting for sustained – and increased – funding for key elements of the Commonwealth’s early education and care sector including:
Increasing funding for Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants to ensure this program can continue to improve wages for educators without increasing tuition to families.
Increasing the supply of quality early education and care for vulnerable and lower income families by increasing funding for Child care Financial Assistance
Continuing to prioritize the child care needs of early educators by increasing funding for child care financial assistance for child care educators.
Increasing funding for apprenticeships to bring more committed and well trained educators into the field
Continuing funding for higher education opportunities for early educators
And more
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Neighborhood Villages advocates for reforms to create a child care sector that works for everyone. This means affordable, accessible high-quality care for families, sustainable careers for educators, and sufficient public funding. This includes:
Increasing funding for direct-to-provider C3 operations grants with appropriate guardrails to ensure that grants improve the quality of care, compensation for educators, and affordability for families.
Supporting well qualified and well compensated early educators through career advancement, educational and professional development opportunities, improved benefits, and increased salaries.
Improving families' ability to obtain subsidized child care through the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFA) including increasing funding to reach all eligible families.
Advocate With Us!
Attend a Community Advocacy Call
Community Advocacy Calls are open spaces for parents, educators and anyone who’s interested in learning about and advocating for child care change. Stay tuned for our next call!
Share Your Story
Review our Advocacy Guide and Contact Your Legislators to make your voice heard with key policy makers.
Learn More About Current Policy Priorities
Neighborhood Villages authors and promotes evidence-based policy solutions informed by research. Discover our research and resource portfolio - which includes fact sheets, research reports, and case studies and more!
Join Us at a Neighborhood Villages Event
Neighborhood Villages hosts forums and events to elevate the conversation about the urgent need to fix the child care crisis. See our full list of upcoming and past events here.
Read the latest on what to know, what to do, and what’s next in early education and care in our latest Policy Pulse here!
Sarah Muncey is with Neighborhood Villages, a non-profit that advocates for early education reform. She said “One of the really amazing things about the busses are that what we’re showing is that you can bring play based social emotional learning anywhere. There’s no excuse for us not bringing these experiences to children.”