Greetings,  We welcome your engagement in efforts to harness and align our collective assets to advance local, regional, and state action in service of a re-imagined early childhood care and education system.  With this newsletter we aim to educate and inform our community - from Greater Green Bay to Oshkosh - about the need for systems change and collectively engage in advocating for action.

State budget finalized. Governor Evers signed the 2021-23 state budget on July 8th. While it doesn’t include everything that this Alliance and many others across the state advocated for, it does include two meaningful investments in child care affordability, including: An increase of $29 million for the Wisconsin Shares subsidy that helps defray the cost of child care for low-income working families. Currently, Shares rates are at the 30th percentile of market rates statewide, meaning that Shares covers the full price of 30 percent of slots. With this increase, the Shares rate will be at the 65th percentile statewide, meaning that Shares will cover the full price of 65 percent of slots; and A non-refundable state income tax credit for child and dependent care expenses equal to 50% of federal credit starting in 2022.  The full, signed budget can be found here, and a more detailed comparison of the Governor’s initial budget proposal and the budget passed by the Legislature can be found here.

Spread the Word!

Spread the word about the new federal child tax credit.  The American Rescue Plan increased the federal Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and raised the age limit from 16 to 17. Help spread the word to help ensure that all eligible families benefit from this tax credit in place for this year. A one-page flyer designed for ECE and K12 settings, community spaces, and workplaces is available to be downloaded, printed, and shared here. More detailed information and a step-by-step guide for families that need to sign up is available in English here and in Spanish here.

Make your voice heard to your Congressional representatives.  Congress is currently debating proposals to invest in infrastructure, including child care.  The First Five Years Fund has a suite of resources to help you quickly and easily make your voice heard in this debate, complete with links to email, call, or tweet your representatives and suggested messages for each. Click here.

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