Since last summer, the state has been ramping up a program to provide free COVID tests for thousands of daycare operations, but the contract for that program is up in the summer, and the state has not yet committed to extending it. That worries some experts who fear that COVID cases may rise again in the fall. | WGBH

Yesterday, Neighborhood Villages, a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector, hosted a virtual discussion on the impact of the child care crisis on Black children, families, and educators, centering the voices and experiences of Black mothers. | Press Release

Lauren Birchfield Kennedy, Co-President and Chief Strategy Officer at Neighborhood Villages, a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector, issued the following statement after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced the creation of a new Office of Early Childhood. | Press Release

While the women behind Neighborhood Villages do what they can to keep childcare centres open, co-president Lauren Kennedy warns the pandemic has only exacerbated existing problems confronting the sector. | ABC Australia

"We don't look at parents and ask them how they're going to afford the cost of their education for their 8-year-old," Lauren Kennedy, co-founder of Neighborhood Villages, told CBS News. "Why should they bear the full responsibility for the cost of their 2-year-old?" | CBS News

Neighborhood Villages is administering Massachusetts' new COVID-19 testing program at child care centers, which are now eligible to receive free antigen tests in an effort to keep facilities open | NBC 10 Boston

Licensed Massachusetts child care programs can start receiving COVID-19 rapid antigen tests later this month, Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Wednesday afternoon in a growing effort to protect the state’s youngest residents from the surging omicron variant. | MassLive

The Baker Administration on Wednesday unveiled a new, statewide COVID-19 testing initiative for child care centers that officials touted as a “first-in-the-nation” approach to help keep more kids safely in programs as virus spread remains high. | Boston.com

A new program in Massachusetts will give more COVID-19 testing flexibility and get rapid antigen tests in the hands of early education centers, part of an initiative to make testing widely available and keep staff and students in school and child care programs, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday. Programs can sign up through the nonprofit Neighborhood Villages, which has been partnering with the Department of Early Education and Care to give child care centers access to testing options. | NBC Boston 10

Massachusetts child care centers will soon begin to receive allotments of COVID-19 rapid tests, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday. "Rapid tests for these two programs will be free and the distribution will be supported by Neighborhood Villages. Programs must be enrolled with Neighborhood Villages to receive free tests," Baker said. | WCVB

Early education leaders are working with the state Department of Public Health to craft protocols for the test-and-stay program that will look different from how it works in public schools. The state partnered with Neighborhood Villages, a Boston-based nonprofit that provides scalable solutions for early education providers, to distribute 40,000 rapid tests for child care workers this week. | Boston Globe

“We are excited about these enhancements to the testing program. They will offer child care providers across the state multi-pronged testing strategies and additional support,” said Neighborhood Villages Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Sarah Siegel Muncey. “Testing in early childhood is one of the fastest, most effective investments we can make right now to keep child care centers open and our educators, children, and families safe - while also allowing our parents to continue to work. I want to thank Governor Baker and his Administration for their ongoing partnership and commitment to this important issue.” | Press Release

A Boston nonprofit, Neighborhood Villages, has been enlisted to help the state distribute 40,000 rapid tests to child care workers. As of late last week, about 2,100 of the state’s 7,000 child care providers were enrolled to receive the tests. | Yahoo Finance

“We know that our families are relying on child care to go to work,” said Samantha Aigner-Treworgy, Massachusetts’ commissioner of early education and care. “So we do want to provide alternatives to pulling children out of care for quarantine, but making sure we do so safely.” | Boston Globe

As the testing crisis stretches on in Massachusetts, there is new help for early child care providers across the state. Most educators in K-12 schools got rapid test kits already, and now tests are being made available at no cost to people who work in licensed Massachusetts early education and childcare. | WCVB

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and exacerbated long-existing problems in early education and child care, from labor shortages to the industry’s low pay scales. Lauren Kennedy, the co-founder of the affordable child care advocacy group Neighborhood Villages, joined Boston Public Radio to share how early education and child care workers and advocates have fared throughout the pandemic. | WGBH

Every employee at Ellis Early Learning, an early childhood education and care provider serving more than 250 kids in the Boston area, is tested weekly for the coronavirus. The free screening has paid off: In part by detecting positive cases early, Ellis has managed to avoid internal spread at its centers since it started regular testing about a year ago. The screening, possible through what's now a statewide child care testing program in Massachusetts, has proved especially valuable given the omicron-driven surge in cases – as well as the challenge of working with young children who struggle to maintain social distance and wear masks. | USA Today

During our recent visit to Ellis’ new Jamaica Plain location, Tasha shared a gut-wrenching decision she is facing. Because teaching wages are so low, Tasha worries that she cannot afford to start a family of her own. She lives with her parents and has taken on second and third jobs. But it’s not enough. Choosing a career caring for others’ children means she can’t afford to have her own. Tasha’s experience as an early educator is unfortunately not unique. Not by a long shot. | WBUR Cognoscenti

Following the dramatic expansion of a first-of-its-kind, free COVID-19 pooled testing program for early education and care programs, more than 40,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered to teachers, staff, and children at Massachusetts child care facilities since September 2021. Since the September expansion, the program has tested 42,431 teachers, staff, and students, with 33 positive results, a .077% positivity rate. | Press Release