At Start Early, we understand that a path forward must involve listening to and partnering with families and early childhood practitioners. We can get it right for all children from the start by shaping futures together with teachers, support staff, doulas, home visitors, child care providers and other early childhood staff. That’s why as we watched President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union, we were listening out for opportunities to prioritize the early care and learning policies, research and investments that families and providers shared as high priority during the development of the Shaping Futures Together Agenda, our new research and policy agenda. Here’s how the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities stacked up to what we heard from those on the front lines of narrowing the equity gap for our nation’s youngest children:
Healthy Births and Thriving Families
The families and providers we spoke to as we developed the Shaping Futures Together Agenda made it clear: they need and want greater access to the financial security, supports for new parents, and paid family leave benefits that every family deserves in order to get off to a strong start. President Biden’s points during the State of the Union about the cost of housing and food, student debt, and the many economic factors affecting families today speaks to the need to make it easier for families to have the financial resources they need to thrive. We applaud his reminder that the Child Tax Credit (CTC) the Biden-Harris administration passed during the pandemic supported “millions of working families and cut child poverty in half”, and his call to action to restore the credit because “no child should go hungry in this country.” We look forward to advancing this priority by working to eliminate the restrictive policies and eligibility criteria of federal early childhood and financial assistance programs that limit a family’s ability to improve their financial circumstances and advance policies like the CTC and Universal Basic Income that can help ensure consistent access to basic needs for families with young children. We applaud the House for its recent passage of a bipartisan tax package that included an expanded CTC, and urge the Senate to take action on this important support for families.
Positive Early Learning and Development
Across the country, families face a diverse array of life situations that are made more complicated by the challenge of finding quality, affordable child care. We—and the families and providers we spoke to in the Shaping Futures Together Agenda listening sessions – share President Biden’s vision on this: “Imagine a future with affordable child care. Millions of families can get [the support] they need to go to work to help grow the economy.” We applaud the priority placed on child care at the State of the Union as well as the administration’s most recent efforts to expand affordable child care for families accessing child care assistance, which included capping families’ co-payments, encouraging states to eliminate co-payments for families with the greatest need, and streamlining the process for families to access child care subsidies. These policies provide parents the opportunity to work, helping increase family economic security and building a stronger economy. As parent Hazel shared with us, “If you’re a parent, your ability to show up fully to a job is dependent on being confident and comfortable with who is watching your child.” We look forward to partnering with the Biden-Harris administration to ensure that all parents have that confidence and comfort by further expanding access to child care and making it easier for all families to access Early Head Start and Head Start and Early Intervention services.
