Bortolotto’s journey from a family child care provider to a college graduate is a testament to the power of education and the importance of having support systems in place to achieve professional growth.

At Neighborhood Villages, we are committed to addressing inequity in the early childhood education field—and we know that begins with focusing on the needs of our youngest learners and their dedicated educators. 

Our new report, High-Quality Early Childhood Education: Opening the Books on its True Costs, unpacks what goes into offering high-quality early learning — from teacher wages, to core operating expenses, to wraparound services for families.

During Black History Month, we celebrate the achievements of the Black women and men that came before us. However, we can’t properly appreciate the weight of those triumphs without acknowledging the exploitation and marginalization of Black people that has served as a backdrop in our country’s history.

Neighborhood Villages’s Toddler Curriculum is committed to the principles of developmentally appropriate practice, anti-bias education and social-emotional learning. One of the keys to bringing these important values together is thoughtful and intentional curation of children’s books for the toddler classroom.

Dedicated educators work towards a more equitable future by practicing anti-bias education daily. By intentionally incorporating social-emotional skills into the curriculum, they provide students with a thoughtful and personalized education that recognizes and celebrates their unique identities.

This fall, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and the state legislature made significant strides in enhancing the Commonwealth’s Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) program, which provides public financial assistance to eligible low-income families seeking to enroll their children in care. These improvements will help to streamline eligibility and enrollment processes, improve user-friendliness, and ensure that all low-income and vulnerable families in Massachusetts have access to quality child care.

The Neighborhood Villages toddler curriculum project is rooted in strengths-based practice and is founded on the belief that caregivers are the true experts on children’s development and needs. As a result, family engagement is an integral piece of the work. As children’s first teachers and keepers of their unique histories, traditions, and cultures, families are engaged in a manner that aims to be thoughtful and culturally sustaining.

With the support of the Lego Foundation, Neighborhood Villages is trying to change what an early childhood curriculum looks like. We deeply believe in play for its own sake, child-directed learning, and prioritizing toddlers' social-emotional development.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is facing an unprecedented crisis in its shelter system, which, for the first time, has reached its capacity. This population includes an estimated 5,000 under-school-age children (0-5). They are in need of nurturing, trauma-informed learning environments where they can play, seek comfort, and be in community with children and nurturing caregivers.

Today, Neighborhood Villages came together with parents, providers, educators, and partner organizations to support vital reforms in child care and early education at the Massachusetts State House.

Neighborhood Villages, in partnership with the Lego Foundation and the Boston Public Schools, has created an innovative, first-of-its-kind curriculum resource explicitly designed for the developmental needs of toddlers. Being Reggio-inspired, it is driven by documentation and children’s interests, centering play in every interaction and learning experience in which toddlers engage.

Early education and care play a critical role in shaping a child’s future and supporting working families. However, in Massachusetts, and across the country, the child care system has faced numerous challenges and shortcomings, leaving families struggling to access affordable, high-quality care for their children.

Right now, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis that is affecting even our youngest children. Made worse by the pandemic, long delayed or absent mental health services have resulted in an urgent need for mental health supports in early childhood education (ECE) settings. That’s why here at Neighborhood Villages, we’ve prioritized creating an innovative, scalable model for how centralized and multi-layered mental health supports can be delivered in ECE settings in Massachusetts.