Posts by Ann McCully

The global Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of child care for children, working families, and the economy. However, even before the pandemic, years of underinvestment in the early childhood field had left the child care system stressed to its limit. Federal and state relief funds are helping stabilize the Early Childhood Education field, but…

The Great Start for All Task Force Report is here! This report was the product of 15 months of work by a diverse working group of early childhood stakeholders, including our Executive Director Ann McCully. This blueprint for comprehensive reform of the child care system focuses on three goals: Creating a system where family costs…

As lawmakers return to the Capitol this week from their spring break, their focus will be on the passage of all of the omnibus bills (packages of policy and funding proposals by topic area) and negotiating differences in those proposals through conference committees. The current House and Senate bills are taking very different approaches to…

The 2022 Legislative session began on January 31. While this is the “short” session focused on bonding and policy, there is already much activity related to early childhood issues. The current state budget is set through June 2023. A $7 billion surplus has allowed lawmakers to discuss potential additions. Later this month, the next budget…

The pandemic has revealed a lot of the underlying problems with how we structure and fund child care in this country. However, it’s easy to get so busy responding to daily challenges that we forget to stop and boldly imagine a better system. A new paper from University of Minnesota professors Liz Davis and Aaron Sojourner,…

Child Care Aware of Minnesota is pleased to announce our new mission, values, and vision. Developed from a collaborative strategic planning process over the past year, these new statements more clearly express who we are and how we view our work. Mission: We are a statewide early childhood leader driving change through partnerships to build…

Child Care Aware of Minnesota is pleased to announce receipt of a multi-year grant from the Hopkins Early Learning Center for $200,000 in support of the Katie Williams CARE Public Policy Fellowship. The CARE (Child Care Advocates Ready to Emerge) Fellowship provides early childhood and school-age care professionals an opportunity to connect their daily work…

Child Care Aware of Minnesota helps you stay informed about the latest child care and early education policy news. Each week during the legislative session, our Legislative Update provides a brief overview of bills that have been introduced, action that has been taken at the committee level or on the floor, and any other pertinent…

As the pandemic descended in March, the Minnesota Legislature funded $30 million in emergency grants to help child care programs respond to the child care needs of essential workers. An additional $10 million was added to the program in June. The Minnesota Department of Human Services, Governor’s Children’s Cabinet, and Child Care Aware of Minnesota…