I recently visited Elizabethtown Child Care Center in Pennsylvania with the PennAEYC leadership. There, I was struck by educators’ intentionality and nimbleness. I observed bustling spaces where children were engaged in a range of playful activities. Rather than telling children how to play or paint or use classroom materials, teachers blended opportunities for children to exercise choice and agency within the context of a planned environment.

I witness this every time I spend time in a high-quality early learning program. By following children’s interests, you are finding ways to create affirming, joyful moments.

It takes a community to create these kinds of learning environments. Alongside every educator is a program leader who supports and encourages them. Alongside every educator and program are families, who desire and deserve the strong foundation that early childhood education provides for their children. Supporting all of these constituents is NAEYC.

As your professional association, NAEYC knows that in partnership with families and in all settings—small and large centers, family child care, Head Start, faith-based programs, and public schools—early childhood education is the linchpin in a child’s learning and development. It is essential to our society.

We are living through a time when child care and early learning are receiving attention in ways that are both familiar and new. We are heartened to see policymakers, members of Congress, business leaders, and others recognize and invest in the highly skilled and complex work of early childhood educators. We are proud of the work NAEYC is doing to elevate and support the early childhood workforce and drive conversations that make clear how essential, yet vulnerable, this field is in the context of our society and our economy.

During my travels to programs and my discussions with early education professionals and leaders within NAEYC’s network of Affiliates, I get to see and celebrate the joys and successes you experience daily in service to young children and in partnership with families. Yet I also hear details of the issues you struggle with. I know that you face challenges regarding wages, staffing, and operating costs—challenges that will only be exacerbated once the $24 billion our industry received in pandemic relief funds expires in September.

While these challenges are great, so are the field’s responses to them. NAEYC is working diligently to amplify your voices on behalf of child care and early childhood education. We are taking advantage of today’s unprecedented opportunities to share our collective stories as we advocate at both the state and federal levels. Consider:

• NAEYC staff is speaking to Congress. Lauren Hogan, NAEYC’s managing director of policy and professional advancement, testified in late spring before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. She advocated for increased public investments so that providers are paid livable wages and tuitions are affordable—no matter the setting a family chooses.
• NAEYC Affiliate representatives are taking their stories directly to lawmakers. For example, Carolina Reyes, owner and director of Arco Iris Bilingual Children’s Center in Laurel, Maryland, spoke to the Democratic Women’s Caucus in June. She asked for additional, sustainable funding to help provide compensation that is commensurate with educators’ skilled, difficult, and valuable work.
• NAEYC continues to share members’ experiences with political and media representatives. Thanks to several surveys we have conducted with child care workers and owners, we have concrete data that back up and illustrate the necessity of increased public support for early childhood education.

In addition, the advocacy efforts of NAEYC Affiliates are reaping successes in states across the nation:

• The Minnesota AEYC is part of a robust early childhood coalition, Transforming Minnesota’s Early Childhood Workforce. This past year, MnAEYC engaged its members in several advocacy initiatives. The state has invested $750 million in new funding for various workforce programs and to expand access for families.
• Vermont passed a comprehensive child care bill that will provide $125 million to the system annually—a historic investment. The Vermont AEYC worked with partners to ensure that legislative efforts aligned with the work of its Advancing Early Childhood as a Profession task force. In addition, VTAEYC members provided critical testimony at multiple committee hearings at the capitol.

NAEYC is committed to elevating the impact and expertise of our field and to strengthening our ties to educators, advocates, systems leaders, families, and allies. This is work we have invested in over the years; it is work that allows us to understand where you are and what your reality is so we can more responsively support your growth, professional needs, and hopes for the future. Together, we are working toward a world in which all children and all families can have access to and experience the impact of amazing early childhood educators.

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