Exciting news:  New York was selected as one of five states by a national funder consortium with the Alliance for Early Success to receive a $1.2 million grant over the next 3 years called “Child Care NEXT” to support the state’s efforts to transform child care.  The competition was fierce – 36 states applied, and all of the applications were strong. We know one reason New York was chosen was the hard work and ambitious recommendations of the Child Care Availability Task Force. 

The New York State groups who led this proposal on behalf of the larger Empire State Child Care Campaign are The Children’s Agenda, the Schuyler Center for Analysis & Advocacy, and the Alliance for Quality Education.  

This funding support over the next 3 years is significant for a number of reasons.  First, it means NY will be receiving sustained financial and technical support for the Empire State Child Care Campaign’s efforts to transform our child care system. The funding from this grant alone is not enough to fund a full campaign for transformation, but it provides a strong start.

More importantly, by awarding this grant to New York, national experts have signaled their confidence that our state is poised to transform its child care system.  As the Alliance for Early Success stated in the press release announcing the grant awardees, the states chosen demonstrated “their readiness to successfully pursue an ambitious agenda, and their capacity to bring to life all of the Child Care NEXT Core Principles.”  The Child Care NEXT Core Principles are: building and sustaining political power, organizing, and advocacy capacity at all levels; transforming child care policies and systems in states so that they serve all children, families, providers, and educators effectively; ensuring those who are most impacted by child care policies and programs to have a meaningful role in shaping the solution and campaign; and centering racial equity in the work. 

Click here for the full statement from the Alliance for Early Success.  Of note: the core funders of this initiative are prominent, bold thinkers.  Among them:  Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda French Gates, which made the seed funding commitment in 2020. Child Care NEXT is also funded by Imaginable Futures, Spring Point Partners, and the Goldman Family Fund.

We don’t have many more details yet on the grant, but we did not want to delay in sharing this news!  We will provide more updates soon. In the meantime, please reach out to The Children’s Agenda with any questions.