Happy birthday, Common Start! – Eye On Early Childhood

This week, the Common Start Coalition celebrated the first birthday of “the passage of Common Start policies for high-quality, accessible, affordable early education and child care!” The event was held in the Tadpole Playground in Boston Common’s Frog Pond.

As the coalition explains in an email sent after the party:

“We heard from advocates including parents, early educators, child care providers, and Education Committee Chairs Representative Gordon and Senator Lewis (our legislative champions for the Common Start Vision), highlighting the accomplishments we’ve made together:

• Massachusetts now has 15,000 more licensed child care spots than we did pre-pandemic.
• Wages for Massachusetts center-based early educators have increased by 20% over the past three years.
• More than 65,000 children are now receiving child care financial assistance — up from 48,000 in January 2022.

“But none of these accomplishments would have been possible without the support, advocacy, and dedication from the over 170 organizations and thousands of individuals in the Common Start Coalition focused on establishing a system of high-quality, affordable, and accessible early education and care for all families in Massachusetts since 2018.”

If you missed the party, don’t worry. You can still treat yourself to a piece of cake, reach out to your state legislators, and thank them for investing in early education and care!