A new online tool in Montgomery County, Ohio, is connecting families to resources that can help their children’s early development. The website provides a comprehensive screener so that families can find the extra resources they qualify for.

QUOTABLE & NOTABLE

“When the care economy fails, entire neighborhoods and businesses suffer. To be clear, the care economy is the collection of workers who provide care; early childhood educators, home health care aides and others.

“As it presently stands, care economy educators are underpaid and worse, undervalued. When care economy educators are underpaid and undervalued, so too are our children and our communities.

“The bottom line is we are all impacted when the care economy is in crisis. Fortunately, our elected leaders have an opportunity through our state budget to resolve it.”

Who:

Tamara Lunan

Where:

“DeWine is working to fix Ohio’s child care issues. Lawmakers must help,” an op-ed published in The Columbus Dispatch

FACT OF THE WEEK

In a national poll of registered voters conducted by UpONE Insights on behalf of the First Five Years Fund (FFYF), nearly four in ten (36%) parents reported that they could not save money or get ahead financially because of child care costs. FFYF discusses this data point and more with polling expert Robert Blizzard.

POLICY RADAR

Ohio

In his 2025 State of the State address, Gov. Mike DeWine underscored the importance of child care in supporting a healthy workforce.

BEYOND THE BUCKEYE STATE

Mayoral candidates and an advocacy group in New York City are outlining plans to offer universal child care to children under age 4. New Yorkers United for Child Care created a five-year plan to achieve this goal, starting with expanded access in the city that would eventually spread across the state. The cost would entail $12.7 billion a year, with a proposal to fund the program through taxes on capital gains, corporations, or high-income earners. Several candidates running for New York City mayor have made expanding access to child care central to their campaign.

WHAT WE'RE READING

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio published a data snapshot about Ohio’s recently proposed Child Tax Credit (CTC). The brief outlines its likely benefits — including reduction in child poverty — as well as a map showing which other 16 states have a CTC.

An important commentary published by The Century Foundation spells out how possible Medicaid cuts could affect young children and families — not only in terms of children’s health coverage, but also the impacts to the child care workforce and state budget forecasts.

Cleveland.com speaks with Ohio Department of Children and Youth Director Kara Wente about strides made to reduce infant mortality, highlighting several efforts to mitigate the state’s troublingly high infant mortality rate.

RESEARCH ROUNDUP

Child and Family blog summarizes research on how parents reminiscing about events with their child can help build the child’s memory skills.

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

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