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Neighborhood Villages in the News
OPINION: Want a High-Quality Education for Your Kids? Then Protect Equity in the Classroom.
In Boston, Neighborhood Villages is partnering with Boston Public Schools and the LEGO Foundation to develop a new toddler curriculum resource and accompanying coaching model to support high-quality teaching practices that are rooted in anti-bias education. | Early Learning Nation
Neighborhood Villages Applauds Senate for Early Education Funding in Proposed FY24 Budget
Neighborhood Villages applauded the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee’s $1.5 billion investment in early education and care in its $55.8 billion FY24 budget proposal.
Neighborhood Villages Commends House for Early Education Funding in Proposed FY24 Budget
Neighborhood Villages commended the Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee for including up to $490 million for direct-to-provider operations grants for the early education and care sector in its $56.2 billion FY24 budget proposal.
Neighborhood Villages Commends Governor Healey for Signing Supplemental Budget with Funding for Critical Child Care Operations Grants
Neighborhood Villages applauded Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey for signing the FY23 supplemental budget, which commits $68 million to direct-to-provider operations grants. | Press Release
Why the C3 grants are so important for children
ov. Maura Healey’s fiscal year 2024 budget makes key investments to address this heightened crisis – and to pave the way for a healthier, more stable early education and care system for families across the Commonwealth. One is of particular importance: dedicating $475 million for foundational operating grants for child care providers for the entire fiscal year. | Commonwealth Magazine
Neighborhood Villages Applauds Massachusetts Senate for Funding Critical Child Care Operations Grants in Supplemental Budget
Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — applauded the Massachusetts Senate for committing $68 million to direct-to-provider operations grants in its FY23 supplemental budget. | Press Release
Neighborhood Villages Applauds Major Investments in Early Education Sector by Governor Healey and House
Neighborhood Villages — a nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — applauded Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and the Massachusetts House of Representatives for making significant investments in direct-to-provider operations grants for the early education and care sector as part of their respective budget actions. | Press Release
Statement on MA Department of Early Education and Care Board Vote to Elect Amy Kershaw as Commissioner
Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector, applauded the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Board’s vote to recommend Amy Kershaw as Commissioner. | Press Release
Neighborhood Villages: The Pathway to Professionalism is Paved with Apprenticeships
Boston’s Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit devoted to transforming the early care and education workforce, is committed not only to providing better maps to the ECE landscape, it has created a comprehensive program to help newcomers build their own paths and ladders across the terrain. | Early Learning Nation
Neighborhood Villages and Strategies for Children Urge Prioritization of Operations Grants for Early Ed Sector
Highlighting the many benefits of the direct-to-program operations grants for early education and care providers, Neighborhood Villages and Strategies for Children are urging policymakers to make these grants a permanent funding vehicle for the early education and care sector. | Press Release
Long overlooked, child care industry may finally get a permanent lifeline from Beacon Hill
“It’s really not a system at all. It’s a private market,” said Lauren Birchfield Kennedy, cofounder of Neighborhood Villages, an organization that advocates for child care reform. “The way it operates right now is too expensive for parents to afford, and too expensive for providers to provide.” | The Boston Globe
Boston’s New Office of Early Childhood Takes a Systemic Approach to Fixing a Broken System
The grantees—Bunker Hill Community College, Neighborhood Villages, Urban College and the University of Massachusetts-Boston—will provide soup-to-nuts support to childhood educators and those who aspire to be. Whatever applicants need, from tuition, books and supplies to child care, transportation, technical support and other financial assistance, will be provided. | Early Learning Nation
Neighborhood Villages Partners with State, City Officials to Launch New Apprenticeship Program for Early Education Workforce
Neighborhood Villages has formally launched its new Registered Apprenticeship Program, an urgently needed tool to help address the major workforce crisis that the early education field is facing right now. | Press Release
Healthcare facilities facing critical shortage of Children's Tylenol, amoxicillin
Anyone with young children at home has probably experienced the rampant fevers, coughs, and runny noses that are resulting from this year's tripledemic, the collision of flu, RSV, and COVID cases. Now, these respiratory illnesses are wreaking havoc on the supply chain. | CBS News Boston
Neighborhood Villages Announces Partnership with LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools to Develop a New, Play-Based Early Education Curriculum
Today, Neighborhood Villages announced a new partnership with the LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood to develop a new leading play-based, vertically aligned curriculum for early childhood education settings. | Press Release
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu invests $7 million toward city child care
Four Boston-based institutions have been listed as the recipients of the $7 million Growing the Workforce Fund, which is aimed toward supporting Boston’s struggling child care industry, Mayor Michelle Wu announced today. The organizations – Bunker Hill Community College, Neighborhood Villages, Urban College and the University of Massachusetts Boston – will use the fund’s money to recruit new early childhood educators while helping existing early educators earn additional credentials. | MassLive
Awards of $7,000,000 in ARPA Funding to Grow Early Childhood Workforce
The fund addresses early education and child care staffing shortages in the City of Boston caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by recruiting new educators and upskilling the current workforce. Together, the grantees – Bunker Hill Community College, Urban College, University of Massachusetts Boston and Neighborhood Villages – will support almost 800 degrees or certifications at no cost to the participants. | City of Boston
Neighborhood Villages Announces New Comprehensive Workforce Pathways Initiative for Child Care Sector with $1 Million Grant from City of Boston
Neighborhood Villages announced its new initiative to create a comprehensive approach to workforce development within the early education and care sector. The organization has been awarded a $1 million grant from the City of Boston to help launch its new Comprehensive Workforce Pathways (CWP) initiative, which includes establishing a Registered Apprenticeship Program for the early education and care workforce. | Press Release
Boston will use federal funds for free training for early educators
Those interested in teaching in the early education sector in Boston will soon be able to access free education and training programs at area institutions. The program will be funded by a $7 million allocation from the Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan Act and administered to three educational institutions: Bunker Hill Community College, University of Massachusetts Boston and Urban College, as well as Neighborhood Villages, an early education advocacy group. | WBUR
Staff shortages are crippling childcare centers across the U.S., and that’s only the beginning of the problem
“No one’s okay. No one is fully staffed. The people who are there are stressed out,” says Sarah Siegel Muncey, cofounder of Neighborhood Villages, a Boston-based childcare nonprofit that advocates for early education and care policy reform. | Fortune