2. The Foundation believes that the path to high school graduation begins with high quality early education and works to ensure that all children start out with a chance for success
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7. Children and families at risk for adverse outcomes Improved access and increased quality CHILDREN AND FAMILIES MORE LIKELY TO SUCCEED Limited access and inconsistent quality / 16 How We Do Our Work Research Advocacy and Communication Policy Implementation
8. An Example of Our Work Keeping the Promise: A Study of the Massachusetts Child Care Voucher System Study findings released, including 19 recommendations for improvements to voucher system Jan. 06 Dept. of EEC implements automated translation system Nov. 06 Study confirms success and urges action to support families with Limited English Proficiency Jun. 08 Dept. of EEC extends voucher certification period from 6 months to 1 year Dec. 08 Study launched, tracking 3,200 children who receive vouchers Jan. 05 Follow up study to evaluate impact of policy change 2007 Advocacy work: Op-Eds in newspapers, meetings with legislators, testify at hearings on Beacon Hill 2006 2008 Advocacy work: Op-Eds in newspapers, meetings with legislators, testify at hearings on Beacon Hill Results Work of BTWCF
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12. Three- Year Action Strategy: Early Education Workforce Access and Advocacy Initiative Research Advocacy and Communication Policy Implementation 2008 Initial research, focus groups, and interviews Initial Study Findings Released 2009 Conduct 6 regional town meetings to gather data and test assumptions Produce Policy Paper including set of recommendations for action Engage in communications to publicize findings and build awareness for critical issues Based on research and political environment, articulate specific change desired 2010 Conduct Advocacy and Education to achieve change Monitor results of change to ensure desired outcomes
13. Organizational development has begun, and will expand capacity for the Foundation’s advocacy work Staff/Office Technology Fundraising 2009 Hire full-time Administrative Assistant Move into new office Hire Director of Research Install computers and basic software Raise support for dissemination and legislative education for Workforce Initiative 2010 Redesign and update website Expand Development Manager to full-time position
15. Ways to Invest Financial Support In-Kind Support $1,000 – Supports outreach to 500 early educators and families Printing and marketing support $5,000 – Funds compilation and analysis of data from grassroots research Technology – Computers, network infrastructure, IT support, Website Design/Support $25,000 – Funds follow-up work and accountability studies to ensure that positive results of reform are sustained Space to convene large – scale meetings and other events
16. The Foundation believes that the path to high school graduation begins with high quality early education and works to ensure that all children start out with a chance for success
Editor's Notes
Thank you for your introduction Overview of BTWCF – We work through grassroots research and advocacy to improve accessibility and quality of early education and care, with a particular emphasis on low-income children across Massachusetts. What is early education and care? For 0-5 year olds, children are cared for centers, family day cares, preschool settings when their parents are either at work or in school. We know that high quality early education improves outcomes for children, 40 years of studies show this – more likely to have a job, own home, less likely to need remedial education, public support, or be involved with criminal justice system – and we know that those children who are most at risk stand to gain the greatest benefit from early education and care Because high quality early education has been shown to improve outcomes for young children, leading to success in school and later in life, it is a critical field of work. Before I talk more specifically about our work in the field , I want to give you some context about the state of Massachusetts overall
For now, I have used the vision statement as a closing – you could go back to this to reiterate what the Foundation does and why – we can work on other options for the closing
Massachusetts is a leader Number 3 of 50 states in Kids Count survey, which measures ….. So, we have much to be proud of in our state
However, MA is not great for all kids Discrepancies between rich /poor and along racial lines – 50 of 50 in how we treat the poor And, this is particularly true for early education and care, where low income families do not have a level playing field.
This slide is a chance to talk about the voucher program – briefly what it is/how it works, then to give example of how it fails to provide access to high quality early education MA does have a state program through the Dept of EEC that helps low income, working families find and pay for early education and care. Most commonly they do this by providing a voucher to the family to subsidize the care. The program was designed to improve quality and accessibility through choice, however, this program has many limitations – Access: Quality: I mentioned before that early education improves outcomes. It only works if children are receiving consistent, high quality care. We cannot get the positive results research finds if we do not provide accessible, high quality early education (I know this firsthand – tell story – child on a voucher who had to be dropped from the program or you could tell the story above to illustrate what it’s like to be in this system)
The foundation works to improve access to quality care for low income children, so that they will be able to benefit from high quality early education and care.
Describe our work Three main components: RESEARCH: Learning and understanding the key issues in the field, building partnerships, identifying what changes will make a difference Grass roots research through town meetings in each of the six EEC regions across the state Work with partner research organizations (Wellesley, Wheelock) to ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATION: Distilling findings into a set of recommendations for action; then engaging in advocacy and education to make those actions into reality Publish and disseminate results of research in the form of reports and papers Op-Eds in publications (examples) Advocacy work on Beacon Hill and with key policy makers in state government POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: Follow through on policy goals to ensure that implementation yields the outcomes desired And continue to identify critical issues to work on in order to improve – this is a quilt, web of issues that are intertwined to produce the system (and results) that we have. Need to choose issues where we can make a difference and work on each to affect the whole
Briefly talk about the major steps and milestones in the voucher study
Point out results of voucher study: Certification period extended Elimination of double documentation Implementation of automated translation system Follow up study found that 42% of programs reported vouchers are more likely to help families achieve stable employment or education
This slide is transition to talking about workforce initiative – using this quote, you can connect the work with quality care for children
Standards are increasingly requiring early educators to have at least a bachelor’s degree, if not a master’s, and it is very difficult for teachers, especially those working with low-income children, to access higher education. From the town meetings, we are confirming that these are the critical issues: Loan forgiveness Access to state scholarship prgm Increased compensation Addressing these (or even one of these) can improve access to higher ed for teachers, improving quality and consistency for children
Describe the work already done in 2008, what you are working on now in 2009, and what’s to come next year
Describe how voucher study work was done without staffing and organizational support, and how putting these pieces in place will allow the Foundation to move the work along faster and address additional issues that can have an important impact
We have had a solid core of support from corporations and foundations that we will work to maintain and grow, but we also recognize that we need to develop other sources of support such as individuals to expand our capacity to do our work Ideally, we would be able to establish an endowment that would support our ongoing work and provide financial sustainability to the Foundation
Right now, we have specific needs to support our workforce initiative, including support of Town Meetings (tell story of how you’d like to go back to Springfield because they have important issues, but it will cost $1000) Also, we had in-kind support of printing and are looking for new support of that important part of our work
For now, I have used the vision statement as a closing – you could go back to this to reiterate what the Foundation does and why – we can work on other options for the closing
