mmf: early care & education

Not everybody can work from home: Black and Hispanic workers are much less likely to be able to telework
Working Economics Blog, Economic Policy Institute (March 19, 2020)

“Less than 30% of workers can work from home, and the ability to work from home differs enormously by race and ethnicity.”

A Pandemic within a Pandemic: How Coronavirus and Systemic Racism Are Harming Infants and Toddlers of Color
The Center for Law and Social Policy (September 3, 2020)

“This brief unpacks the impacts of systemic racism on children’s development and describes how the coronavirus pandemic has magnified pervasive inequities in health, education, employment, and other factors across race and ethnicity.”

The Coronavirus Generation
The New York Times (August 22, 2020)

“With hunger rising, classrooms closing and parental stress surging, the pandemic is a threat to low-income children of epochal proportions, one that could leave an entire generation bearing its scars.”

New Narratives and Content are Crucial for Anti-Racist Education in History Class
New America (July 14, 2020)

“As protests continue, news outlets around the country are documenting a renewed push to remove monuments and statues idolizing confederate leaders and slave owners. And as the cultural awareness about race and racism is becoming more wide-reaching, students, parents, and community members are leveraging the momentum of the moment to advocate for an increased focus on anti-racist education and culturally responsive teaching initiatives.”

Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades
Arizona State University: Center for Child and Family Success

“Millions of young children are disproportionately underserved, over-punished, and barred from high-quality education in American schools. The Children’s Equity Project and the Bipartisan Policy Center have come together to create an actionable policy roadmap for states and the federal government—as well as for candidates at all levels of government vying for office—to take meaningful steps to remedy these inequities in early learning and education systems.”

A Pandemic within a Pandemic: How Coronavirus and Systemic Racism Are Harming Infants and Toddlers of Color
The Center for Law and Policy (September 3, 2020)

“Even before the pandemic, far too many infants, toddlers, and their families faced significant adversity during the early critical years. These challenges stem from centuries of policies that excluded and disregarded people of color, many of which still exist today. The alarming disparities in health outcomes and economic stability, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic, are a direct result of systemic racism in policies—a public health crisis in its own right.”

Using the Access Framework to Guide Child Care Policy during the COVID-19 Crisis
Child Trends (August 26, 2020)

“The COVID-19 health crisis has upended the child care sector by further crippling an already financially fragile, long underfunded child care system. This is especially true for those providing care for low-income families receiving child care subsidies funded through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)—the largest federally funded child care program. The child care closures also threaten to exacerbate racial and socioeconomic inequities, affecting those who have been the most financially impacted by the pandemic and those who have historically had challenges accessing child care.”

How The Pandemic Is Upending Pre-K
POLITICO (September 14, 2020)

“It’s a tragic, tired fact of the pandemic by now — a largely lost year of learning that will set back millions of U.S. students, from kindergarten to college and hurt already at-risk kids the most. What about the children even younger than that? U.S. officials have for decades acknowledged the power of preschool and invested in it, especially for children from low-income families, and despite some lingering questions about the long-term effects of early ed. Bipartisan agreement over its value may now be the norm, but the coronavirus threatens to crush the budgetary and educational gains: Many pre-K kids are losing out on in-person learning this year, and for the cohorts to come, publicly funded preschool programs could fall victim to the strain on state budgets.”

Essential Equity Statements and Resources for Racial, Economic, and Social Justice
Foundation for Child Development (September 15, 2020)

“The early care and education (ECE) workforce plays a critical role in promoting children’s learning — especially through their interactions with children and through the enriching and nurturing learning environments they shape. Creating a coherent and equitable system that works for young children, their families, and the educators who serve them requires the ECE field to be explicit about the realities of poverty, racism, discrimination, and prejudice.”