Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute started teaching parents to write lullabies for their infants in 2011. Today more than 4,000 lullabies have been written in over 40 languages through the Lullaby Project.

QUOTABLE & NOTABLE

“Yet the child care cliff was in many ways a misnomer. The entire sector didn’t fall off a financial precipice all at once. Instead, the ground underneath child care providers is being slowly eroded at different rates in different places; some have already tumbled over, while others will be able to hold on. Crucially, a number of states have stepped into the void and, so far, have found ways to avoid the cliff altogether.... Those lucky enough to be in the states trying to avert the cliff could be spared entirely.”

Who:

Bryce Covert

Where:

“Some States Have Avoided the Child Care Cliff” published in Early Learning Nation

FACT OF THE WEEK

Among Columbus families and individuals with “extremely low incomes,” only about one in four can access affordable rental housing, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. As The Columbus Dispatch describes, affordable housing in Columbus is harder to access than in other Ohio cities, especially among those with the lowest incomes. The full (national) report is available here; Ohio’s data can be found here.

POLICY RADAR

City

Columbus City Council is investing $15 million in Community Shelter Board efforts to help pregnant women and families experiencing homelessness. The city’s unhoused population has grown by nearly 7% in the last year.

State

Gov. Mike DeWine will deliver his State of the State address on April 10 at noon via Ohiochannel.org. If you plan to tune in, Groundwork Ohio has a BINGO card for early childhood advocates to follow along. Sign up here.

Federal

The federal spending bill approved late last month provides increases for early care and learning programs — $275 million for Head Start and $725 million for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (the federal funding mechanism for state child care subsidy programs). Read the links in the list below for more about the significance of this additional funding:

“Child care gets a boost in the new federal spending law, but advocates say it isn’t enough” — a discussion on the Marketplace Morning Report podcast
“Former Preschool Teacher Patty Murray Delivers $1 Billion More to Help Families Find and Afford Child Care & Pre-K” — a press release issued by the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
“Appropriations Bill Provides Unprecedented Child Care Funding” — published by Child Care Aware
“Bonamici, Kaine Praise Billion Dollar Increase for Child Care, Early Childhood Learning” — published by The Skanner

BEYOND THE BUCKEYE STATE

Lawmakers in Connecticut are proposing a bill that would invest $100 million in state funds to create an Early Childhood Care and Education Fund. The fund would help families pay for child care, supplement teachers’ wages, and provide grants for enhancing early child care programs. The vision for the fund includes the initial state investment paired with long-term investment from philanthropic donors. The proposal is modeled after New Mexico’s early education fund that was passed in 2020.

Early childhood educators and advocates are raising alarms after the latest budget proposal from the Washington, D.C., mayor eliminates salary supplements for early childhood educators. The increased wages were made possible through the Pay Equity Fund , the first of its kind to dedicate specific tax funds for early educator compensation. Some $80 million has gone toward supporting wages for 4,000 educators through PEF.

WHAT WE'RE READING

In 2023, Start Early, an early childhood support and partnership program, released several key recommendations for states to create equitable and inclusive early childhood settings for children with disabilities. This year, Start Early is highlighting several school districts as model examples in providing equitable and inclusive services for children with disabilities. Synthesizing what they learned across the districts, Start Early recommends engaging with families, creating a shared vision with families and the community, building relationships between early educators and special education providers, intentionally planning alongside community partners, supporting professional development for providers, and — as always — increasing funding and resources.

New America also recently underscored the national shortage of early intervention providers and what states are doing to support this workforce.

RESEARCH ROUND-UP

A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined the relationship between neighborhood eviction rates and Black pregnant women’s mental health. Researchers looked at eviction-rate data from neighborhoods near Detroit and maternal mental health data from the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments Study. The study found higher neighborhood eviction rates were associated with higher rates of psychological distress among pregnant Black women. Dr. Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson — lead author and associate professor at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health — told Ohio State News, “Neighborhoods matter. Nobody has connected these violent experiences over time to poor maternal mental health.... The root cause of inequities in Black maternal health has to be acknowledged and addressed or these inequities are going to continue to worsen over time.”

This edition was written by Jamie O’Leary and Janelle Williamson.

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