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The Early Educator Investment Collaborative COVID-19 Response: Grantee Updates
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the social movement against longstanding systemic racism exposed persistent structural inequities, particularly for the early care and education (ECE) workforce. The Early Educator Investment Collaborative’s (The Collaborative) response is advancing its long-term vision to prepare and compensate the ECE workforce fairly and equitably. Below are updates on two of the four grants The Collaborative issued to organizations working towards policy change and advocacy to build a better and more equitable ECE system in the wake of COVID-19.
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The Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF), an initiative of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, supports groups that lift up the voices of families, early educators in centers and homes, and allies—helping them advocate for effective and equitable solutions that help all early educators thrive and rebuild ECE systems in states and localities. With the COVID-19 Response Grant from The Collaborative, RCCF is building upon the inspiring work of their current and new grantees in select states, particularly by supporting grassroots activities such as trainings, organizing public forums, and developing new partnerships in year one.
Strengthening Home-Based Care in Georgia
With support from The Collaborative, RCCF is working with grantees in Georgia to hear from home-based care providers in the Atlanta metro area and beyond. By elevating provider voices, Georgia 9to5 and its partners are ensuring that their concerns about issues ranging from zoning requirements to licensing to QRIS are heard and that they are able to weigh in on local decision-making processes.
COVID-19 Relief for Providers in New Mexico
Another RCCF grantee, the OLÉ Education Fund in New Mexico, is leveraging funds from The Collaborative to advance issues tied to the career ladder and provider wages—including securing hazard pay directly to ECE providers during the pandemic and furthering state legislation for greater investments in education. To date, OLÉ has engaged with over 182 activists in leadership development activities and continues to build partnerships with elected officials, advocates, and immigrant-led organizations in this work.
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Through support from The Collaborative and other funders, the national Child Care Relief public education campaign, a network of more than 20 partners coordinated by First Five Years Fund, was able to quickly raise the profile of child care as an essential service during the pandemic, educating members of Congress on the need to support early learning and care professionals who were economically devastated by the crisis.
Child Care Relief’s efforts included:
- Surfacing overwhelming demand among the public for Congress to prioritize emergency relief funding for child care providers in upcoming COVID-19 recovery packages.
- Developing and disseminating a campaign toolkit that aligned the field and generated significant contact with Congress.
- Ensuring that meaningful funding for child care was included in every relief proposal throughout the pandemic—from both Democrats and Republicans, demonstrating bipartisan understanding of the need to save the industry.
As a result of this collective public education effort with both the House and Senate on a child care stabilization fund bill, the pandemic relief package passed by Congress in December 2020 included $10 billion in funding to stabilize the child care industry and an additional $250 million for Head Start. Through the COVID-19 crisis, the campaign has catalyzed transformative change and strengthened support for early care and education in the U.S. Ultimately, Congress approved over $50 billion in child care relief funding through the pandemic as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, in a year-end relief package tied to an annual appropriations bill, and through the American Rescue Plan Act.
As this effort moves ahead to its next phase, coalition partners continue to convene and fight challenges in the child care industry as a united front. They are leaning on their individual and collective strengths, allied around the rallying cry that was critical to securing child care relief during a global crisis.
We look forward to sharing continued progress from all of The Collaborative's grantees.
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ABOUT US Research, policy and practice—we connect these pieces to help build early childhood systems that enable children to reach their full potential. Founded in 1900, the Foundation for Child Development identifies needs, fills gaps and integrates knowledge for successful implementation and continuous improvement. Learn more about our focus areas and download resources by clicking these links.
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