Policy and Advocacy
What We Know
By age three, 85% of the core structures of the brain are formed. Children who start behind stay behind. However, children with a high quality early learning experience have an advantage. They are 40% less likely to need remedial services, 30% more likely to graduate from high school, and 200% more likely to go on to college. That's why the Child Care Council is committed to promoting quality, accessible child care for all of the region's community.
Our Involvement
Because of our committment to quality care, the Child Care Council is a member of the Early Care and Learning Council (ECLC), Winning Beginning NY (WBNY), and the National Association of Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). These organizations are leaders in state and national early care and education advocacy efforts.
Links to current messages and resources:
Current Advocacy Messages and Agendas
Advocacy Events
How to Use the Messages to Affect Change
Child Care Public Policy Reports
For More Information
Current Advocacy Messages and Agendas
Winning Beginning NY Executive and Legislative Agendas, 2013
Winning Beginning NY believes that in this time of fiscal crisis our State must preserve, protect, and increase access to high-quality early care and learning programs. These programs, all of equal priority, are essential for children’s success and our State’s economic recovery.
>>See the 2013 Winning Beginning NY Executive Agenda
>>See the 2013 Winning Beginning NY Legislative Agenda (coming soon!)
Early Care and Learning Council 2013 Public Policy Agenda
The Early Care and Learning Council believes that investments in early childhood have both short and long term economic benefits for our state, its families, and current and future workforce.
>>See the 2013 Early Care and Learning Council Public Policy Agenda
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)
The poor state of the economy is hurting millions of Americans. Working families with children depend on child care to get and keep a job. More than 11 million children under age 5 are in the care of someone other than their mother. Millions more schoolage children are in after-school programs. Child care often is difficult to find, especially for infants and toddlers. It is challenging to afford and of questionable quality. NACCRRA’s public policy agenda is both grassroots-inspired and research-based. NACCRRA recommends that Congress; reauthorize and strengthen Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), increase the CCDBG quality set-aside, require accountability for CCDBG funds, ensure affordable child care for families, strengthen rural child care, limit potentially unsafe license-exempt care, and make child care part of disaster planning.
>>See the 2011-2012 Child Care Aware of America Public Policy Agenda
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Advocacy Events
Winning Beginning Wednesday
Save the date and plan to join us for CCR&R Winning Beginning Wednesday on Wednesday, February 27, 2013!
Winning Beginning Wednesday Activities:
Join us on for Winning Beginning Wednesday on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 as we visit our elected officials to ask them to invest in early care and education.
We will meet at the Child Care Council office at on the morning of February 27 for a breakfast reception.
Then, we will carpool to the legislative office building together and go to pre-scheduled meetings with our Legislators to discuss the importance of investing in early childhood. The more people who join us, the more impact we will have. For more information and to RSVP, contact Kate Smith at 426-7181 ext. 319 or ksmith@cdcccc.org.
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How to Use the Messages to Affect Change
Advocacy 101 Webinar (from Winning Beginning NY)
Sarah Bilofsky's insightful webinar on how to effectively use the WBNY Advocacy Tools for Elected Officials for legislative visits.
WBNY Advocacy Tools
Winning Beginning NY's comprehensive list of advocacy tools and resources.
NACCRRA's Legislative Action Center
NACCRRA's comprehensive list of advocacy tools and resources including featured alerts and campaigns.
Action Center
Links to contact information for State and National Policymakers.
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Child Care Public Policy Reports
Early Childhood Education: Frozen Funding Leads to Cracks in the Foundation
A report by Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action NY, and Winning Beginning NY
The report details how funding for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten grant has been reduced drastically since 2007, despite being proven to increase the likelihood of a child going to college, earning higher income, and avoiding incarceration. The report makes the case for adding funding for pre-kindergarten and other early childhood education programs in the 2012-13 state budget.
>>See the report
Putting the Pieces Together New York Early Learning Program Data Systems
A report by National Center for Children in Poverty
This report shows that data collected by state and local agencies on young children and the programs serving them have enormous potential value. Families, service providers, policymakers, researchers, advocates and others can use these data to better understand
children’s needs, improve access to services, strengthen services, enhance the efficiency of services, and understand the short- and long-term impacts of services.
>>See the report
We Can Do Better
A report from NACCRRA
 More than 11 million children younger than age 5 spend an average of 35 hours a week in some type of child care setting. State child care licensing requirements govern the health, safety and learning opportunities for these children. State oversight requirements monitor compliance with state policies.
We Can Do Better: 2011 Update is the third in a series of reports beginning in 2007 that scores and ranks the states, including the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense (DoD) on 10 program requirements and five oversight benchmarks for child care centers. NACCRRA’s update found that states have made progress but more progress is needed.
The average score in 2011 was 87 out of a possible 150 points (compared to 70 in 2007 and 83 in 2009). Using a standard grading scale, no state earned an A. The Department of Defense earned a B, and four states earned a C. Twenty-one states earned a D. Half of the states (26 states) earned a failing grade. While we should be pleased with the improvement among the states since 2007, an 87 equates to a score of 58 percent, a failing grade in any classroom in America.
>>See the report
Leaving Children to Chance
A report from NACCRRA
NACCRRA assessed state policies for small family child care homes, where up to six children are cared for in the home of the provider for compensation. 
The maximum number of points a state could receive is 140. Seventeen states scored a zero. Of the states that scored points, the average score was 63, which equates to 45 percent - a failing grade in any classroom. Family child care in the United States is characterized by weak state inspection standards, incomplete background checks, weak minimum education requirement for providers, weak training requirements, weak early learning standards and weak basic health and safety standards.
>>See the report
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For More Information Contact:
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
www.naccrra.org
1515 N. Courthouse Rd, 11th fl
Arlington, VA 22201 (map)
Phone: 703-341-4100 (call)
Fax: 703-341-4101
Winning Beginning NY
winningbeginningny.org
Visit http://www.winningbeginningny.org/contact.php for a complete listing of WBNY contact information and an on-line contact form.
Early Care and Learning Council
www.earlycareandlearning.org
230 Washington Avenue Extension, Albany, NY 12203
Phone: (518) 690-4217
Fax: (518) 690-2887
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Contact the Capital District Child Care Council with any questions by calling 518.426.7181, or emailing Kate Smith.
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