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From the Desk of Neighborhood Villages
Top 5 Takeaways From the Massachusetts Senate Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Proposal
On May 22, 2025, the Massachusetts Senate finalized its $61.4 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). The Senate demonstrated strong support for early education and child care, dedicating $1.7 billion to the sector. This is almost a $200 million increase than in the final Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) state budget.
Mental Health Awareness Month: “Early Relational Health Belongs to Us All”
When Mental Health Awareness Month arrives each May, it’s an opportunity to highlight the importance of early relational health (ERH) to a child’s development. We sat down with Lisa Garcia, licensed mental health counselor and Neighborhood Villages’ Director of Early Relational Health, to continue our conversation on early relational health.
RECAP of the May 14, 2025 EEC Board Meeting: Updates on the State Budget, CPPI, and the New Educator Credential
At Neighborhood Villages, we prioritize keeping up with the policy landscape in the early education and care field, both across the country and in Massachusetts. That includes tuning-in to the monthly meetings of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care (“EEC Board”), to stay apprised of updates and to identify opportunities for how we can work with government and other stakeholders to improve our early education and care system.
Beyond The Pod: S5E4: Make Child Care Supportive of Children, Families, and Educators
In the Season 5 finale of “No One Is Coming to Save Us,” listeners get an in-depth look at Neighborhood Villages’ extensive efforts to reform early education and child care in Massachusetts and beyond. Our very own Co-Founders, Lauren Kennedy and Sarah Muncey, and Chief Program Officer, Binal Patel, join host Gloria Riviera to discuss what a child care system can and should provide to children and families and to the educators nurturing our littlest learners.
Beyond The Pod: S5E3: How We Make Child Care More Accessible
In Episode 3 of our nationally acclaimed hit podcast, ”No One Is Coming to Save Us”, Dr. Jeffrey Liebman, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, joins veteran reporter and host Gloria Riviera to break down the root causes of the child care crisis, how it impacts families nationwide, and what a better system could look like.
Beyond The Pod: S5E2: What Defines High-Quality Early Childhood Education?
In the second episode of Season 5 of our hit podcast, “No One is Coming to Save Us,” host and veteran reporter Gloria Riviera is joined by Dr. Junlei Li, Saul Zaentz Lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Faculty Co-Chair of The Human Development and Education Program, to explore what is truly at the foundation of high-quality early learning and to spotlight the many places where children can experience it.
Top 5 Takeaways From the Massachusetts House Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Proposal
On April 30, 2025, the Massachusetts House finalized its $61.5 budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026.
Beyond The Pod: S5E1: What Guaranteed Child Care Really Looks Like
Season 5 of our hit podcast “No One Is Coming to Save Us” with Lemonada Media is out now, and we’re excited for you to tune in! In the first episode, we explore what guaranteed child care really means and the systems needed to make it a reality nationwide.
Potential Cuts to Medicaid/MassHealth Will Harm Children, Early Educators, and Child Care
Medicaid or MassHealth is important to the early education and child care sector in Massachusetts. A reduction in Medicaid will directly impact children and the underpaid educators who care for them.
Two Years In, How Neighborhood Villages’ Apprenticeship Program is Addressing the Early Ed Crisis
In January 2023, Neighborhood Villages launched its Registered Apprenticeship Program to address the early educator workforce crisis in Massachusetts. We checked in with Lauren Cooke, Neighborhood Villages’ Director of Apprenticeships, to assess the program's impact so far.
RECAP of the April 9, 2025, EEC Board Meeting: Updates on the KPI Dashboards, PDG, EEC Capital Investment Programs, and C3
At Neighborhood Villages, we prioritize keeping up with the policy landscape in the early education and care field, both across the country and in Massachusetts. That includes tuning-in to the monthly meetings of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care (“EEC Board”), to stay apprised of updates and to identify opportunities for how we can work with government and other stakeholders to improve our early education and care system.
How Family Child Care Providers are Utilizing Neighborhood Villages’ Play-Based Toddler Curriculum
Last year, Neighborhood Villages introduced Learning Through Exploration, our free, play-based curriculum developed in collaboration with educators, curriculum experts, community members, the LEGO Foundation, and Boston Public Schools. We recently spoke with Edna Cabral – a Massachusetts FCC provider of 22 years and a participant in our Learning Through Exploration pilot program – about her experience with the curriculum.
Neighborhood Villages’ Budget Bootcamp Recap: Empowering the Community to Advocate for Change
Have you ever wondered how the state decides to spend public money in your community?
At Neighborhood Villages, we set out to empower community members to learn more about this process and to advocate for the change they’d like to see.
Inter-Agency Task Force on Early Education and Child Care Releases Goals and Year 1 Report
In January of 2024 Governor Healey created an inter-agency task force on Early Education and Child Care to form a whole of government response to increase access to affordable, high quality child care. Read more about their goals here.
Early Ed Act reforms being implemented: Department of Early Education and Care is updating regulations for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program
In 2024, the Massachusetts legislature passed a suite of policy reforms through the FY2025 budget which advocates had been pushing for since 2020. Here are the proposed regulation changes and what they mean for families in practice.
New Program Brings Early Education to Kids Living in Shelters in Massachusetts
In 2024, Neighborhood Villages partnered with Amal Alliance, Horizons for Homeless Children, and the Healey-Driscoll Administration to launch Colori Express, an innovative mobile early learning initiative that provides developmentally appropriate and trauma-informed care to young children living in shelter and respite centers across Massachusetts.
