Neighborhood Villages

Neighborhood Villages Apprenticeship Program Graduates First Cohort and Continues to Grow

Daycare costs parents a small fortune, yet many providers still don’t even make a living wage.

Neighborhood Villages is pleased to announce that it has received Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Community Health Impact Funds to support Neighborhood Villages’ work with Ellis Early Learning in Jamaica Plain in piloting a multi-layered, comprehensive behavioral health model for ECE settings that can be scaled across the state. 

“Because the program has been so successful, more and more [child-care providers] are participating. And as programs open new classrooms or bring on more teachers, they become eligible for more money in their grant,” said Lauren Kennedy, cofounder of the early-education advocacy nonprofit Neighborhood Villages.

Binal Patel, chief program officer at Neighborhood Villages, previously helped launch and then ran an early childhood program for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in Watertown, MA.

Neighborhood Villages Senior Director of Advocacy Latoya Gayle said the industry is “inherently broken” with families struggling to find spots for their children.

Neighborhood Villages – a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector – today applauded the Massachusetts Senate today for passing a comprehensive early education and care reform bill.

The state Senate is introducing a comprehensive early education and care reform bill that will help teach our youngest learners and stabilize this crucial sector of our economy.

Neighborhood Villages applauded the Massachusetts Senate today for introducing a comprehensive early education and care reform bill which will be taken up next week.

As the child care workforce struggles, so do the families that rely on it. Half the problem for working parents is the cost, which can compare to a second mortgage. On average nationally, child care runs about $11,000 dollars a year per child.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) today announced $5 million in Apprenticeship Expansion and Opportunity Grants to 25 organizations to train and place 1,000 new apprentices across the state. The grants leverage $2.4M in state funding complemented by remaining support from federal funds to train apprentices in high growth industries like clean energy, early childhood education, and more.

Neighborhood Villages – a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector – applauded the Legislature today for advancing legislation to improve early childhood education and care in Massachusetts.

The C3 grant program also allows the state to collect important information about the sectoral landscape. According to state data, as Neighborhood Villages recently summarized, “50% of center-based providers and 47% of [family child care] providers reported that C3 allowed them to delay tuition increases; while 66% of center-based providers and 57% of FCC providers reported that they would increase tuition in the absence of C3 grants.”

Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — applauded Governor Maura Healey for committing more than $1.6 billion in early education funding in her proposed fiscal year 2025 budget announced today.

Childcare advocates said they will be lobbying state lawmakers to keep childcare a priority as they debate and vote on Healey’s proposed state budget, which she will unveil next week.

Gayle explained the role Neighborhood Villages can play in the political realm. “Politics and budgets are a process every year. It’s up to us to really just advocate so our legislators understand the importance of our issue.”

The largest investment in childcare in American history expired this September. As Congress continues to negotiate a budget deal, the need for $16 billion in emergency childcare funding—requested by President Biden and congressional Democrats—remains top of mind for parents, early educators, childcare owners and directors, and employers across the nation.

Mass. Gov. Maura Healey is proposing to expand free or low-cost preschool in certain areas by 2026 and broaden income eligibility for families who receive a state child care subsidy.

Governor Maura Healey proposed a major expansion of child care in Massachusetts on Tuesday, saying she would include nearly $590 million in additional funding in her proposed budget for the next fiscal year while signing an executive order to explore partnerships with employers to increase access to early education statewide.

Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — applauded the Healey-Driscoll Administration for the landmark investment in early education announced today. The Administration’s child care agenda will also be featured in the State of the Commonwealth address this week and funding will be proposed in the FY25 budget next week.

Advocates and lawmakers are pushing for more government funding for families and child care providers in Massachusetts, warning that without it, child care centers could close and the cost for families could increase.

Of the 7,500 families in temporary shelters across the state, officials estimate the population of children younger than 5, or younger than school-age, to be around 5,000. The partnership, also comprising Neighborhood Villages, Cradles 2 Crayons and Horizons for Homeless Children, is planning a second delivery of items including “seasonally appropriate” clothing, pajamas, socks, underwear, sneakers and a hygiene kit for the spring.

Many early education providers in the state have already reached a breaking point. The loss of additional state funding in June could be devastating.

Neighborhood Villages, in partnership with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce and City of Boston, launched the program one year ago to help address early education workforce crisis.

Amid a nationwide child care crisis, Massachusetts struggles to retain and bring in early educators due to the state’s high living costs and the industry’s low wage and benefits.

Parents, teachers and advocates are sharing their support for legislation in Massachusetts that would help make child care more affordable for families — and increase pay for early childhood educators in the state.

Neighborhood Villages–a Boston-based systems-change nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector–rallied at the Massachusetts State House in support of two child care bills (H.489/S.301) that would help make child care more affordable for more families.

Today, Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — celebrated the Massachusetts’ State Legislature’s FY24 budget veto overrides to restore critical funding for early education and care resources, and resulting in a FY24 state budget that prioritizes children, parents, and providers.

Like many industries that have faced a worker shortage since the pandemic, the child care industry is in an ongoing nationwide crisis.

Figuring out what to do with kids after school is out and the workday ends is mentally and financially draining—but it doesn’t have to be. As for a solution, all three experts agree that what we need is more public funding. Herbert recommends that parents find organizations that are advocating to improve the system (Neighborhood Villages is one of them) and then find ways to get involved.

Early childhood nonprofits that recently received gifts in amounts ranging from $1 to $10 million include Alliance for Early Success, Parent Possible, Neighborhood Villages, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, Early Edge California, Raising Childcare Fund, Parents as Teachers, Start Early and Zero to Three.