Tuned In will be taking a break next Friday and will return on July 10. But we hope to see you next week for this  webinar . 
Quotable and Notable
"The pandemic is hammering home the utter unsustainability of American working family life. It is forcing many parents and caregivers to confront the precarity we have been living with for so long. The depth and breadth of the crisis facing all sorts of working families right now creates an opportunity for new political alliances that could push for policies to lessen the pressure caregivers face in the United States today. Economic inequality and instability have made nearly all families’ lives  tangibly worse ."
 
-Conor P. Williams in Dissent Magazine’s “ Could COVID-19 change parenthood? ”
Fact of the Week
The percentage of Ohioans facing food insecurity during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. This is up from up from 14% previously .
Policy Radar
Nutrition  
A new federal program called “Pandemic EBT”  will provide $300 cash  for each eligible child who missed school lunches during the closures. The  Dispatch  describes more  here . Note, families whose children are enrolled in districts like Columbus that participate fully in free- and reduced-price lunch through the “community eligibility provision” (CEP) will also receive funds – regardless of income status.  

Also on the topic of nutrition,  OH-Go! Lunch  is offering free lunches to children in Franklin County and the entire state of Ohio across  185 sites .
 
Reopening schools  
Members of the Ohio 8 coalition (representing Ohio’s eight largest urban districts) are calling on the state  to issue reopening guidelines as soon as possible, and to urge caution with school funding cuts. (See also  this memo  written to Gov. DeWine, by the coalition.) Some of the group’s main concerns including internet access, availability of masks and PPE, and learning gaps that may have been exacerbated during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Senate Ed Committee is holding hearings  on a bill  that would grant schools the ultimate authority in deciding whether to open or close (prohibiting the state from being able to do so). 
 
Broadband  
On the topic of what’s needed to get back to school in the fall, internet access is at the forefront and will likely continue to be. The governor could opt to use  federal CARES Act money  to help improve access (one request made by the Ohio 8 coalition). 
 
New America  suggests  that some of this CARES money should go toward OER, or open educational resources. 
 
Just-signed legislation  
Cleveland.com has a good run-down of several proposals just signed into law,  here  and  here . Among the new provisions are: 
  • HB 11, which passed unanimously and offers new grant funding for prenatal healthcare services funded through Medicaid; 
  • HB 65, which specifies a timeframe within which child care providers must notify parents in the event of safety violations; 
  • HB 164, initially a “religious freedom” bill for student expression but which was amended to include a guarantee that would limit school funding cuts (to 6%). 
Beyong the Buckeye State
New America discusses “ FFN child care ” (family, friend, or neighbor) through the lens of one Napa County, California grandmother who continues to care for her grandchildren, even though she fears getting sick (the children’s parents are frontline workers). Especially in areas with a high cost of living, families increasingly have to rely on loved ones and informal care for their children.  
 
And another story from California along the same lines, " Parents are ready to return to work, but where will their kids go ?"
Events & Happenings
Join us on July 1st at 11:00am for a live webinar discussion on what’s at stake in rebuilding Ohio’s early childhood system in the days, months, and years ahead. The one-hour discussion will be moderated by Dr. Laura Justice, who will be joined by panelists: State Senator  Peggy Lehner ; State Representative  Allison Russo ;  Robyn Lightcap , executive director of Learn to Earn Dayton; and Kim Jarvis, owner and director of  On Purpose Academy and Mentoring Center . This event is free and open to all, but  registration is required .  
What We're Reading
Center for American Progress has updated its  maps of child care deserts  around the country, based on a “new, cutting edge technology” for measuring supply of child care spots. This  article  explains more. 
 
Here's a thoughtful and  important piece  in the 74 Million about the importance of accurate and culturally responsive curriculum in schools, which reminds us that “the national dearth of culturally responsive education is one of the reasons this country still hasn’t confronted its history of race-based oppression.” 
 
Two good reads here from Edutopia: the first, a  summer reading list  put together by two teachers; the second, a timely article about how  children process grief and loss through play . 
 
As states continue discussions on whether schools will be in-person or online this fall, NPR has tips on what we  can learn from child care centers that stayed open during lockdowns . 
Research Round Up
A new  Developmental Psychology  article  examined how different kinds of home-based learning activities influenced children’s academic skills before kindergarten – specifically, constrained skills (those that can be taught and assessed more directly, like alphabet knowledge), and unconstrained skills (e.g., deeper knowledge and vocabulary acquisition). The data studied came from reports by parents whose children were enrolled in Boston’s prekindergarten program. Interestingly, the study found that unconstrained language activities, like talking about new words or reading books, predicted children’s language gains more than activities more than the constrained activities did. Lead author Meghan McCormick  said  that the group’s findings “suggest that parents don’t need to be formal teachers to help their prekindergartners develop academic skills — storytelling and reading and playing together can make a difference. Busy parents with increasingly limited time may find this particularly encouraging because these are activities that can be integrated into many parts of the day and don’t require formal lessons or planning.” 
 
This  research brief  published by The Conversation suggests that when young children spend time with screens, it may actually help them distinguish the emotional states of the faces they see. (Good news for those of us feeling guilty for the kids’ increased use of screen time during lockdown!) 
This edition written by: Jamie Davies O'Leary, Associate Director of Policy and Caitlin Lennon, Communications & Policy Specialist
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