The Desktop
From the Desk of Neighborhood Villages
How Neighborhood Villages is helping children and families through the migrant crisis
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is facing an unprecedented crisis in its shelter system, which, for the first time, has reached its capacity. This population includes an estimated 5,000 under-school-age children (0-5). They are in need of nurturing, trauma-informed learning environments where they can play, seek comfort, and be in community with children and nurturing caregivers.
Neighborhood Villages rallies with partners to fix child care at the Massachusetts State House
Today, Neighborhood Villages came together with parents, providers, educators, and partner organizations to support vital reforms in child care and early education at the Massachusetts State House.
Where to start? Looking to the Reggio-Emilia approach to meet the needs of toddlers
Neighborhood Villages, in partnership with the Lego Foundation and the Boston Public Schools, has created an innovative, first-of-its-kind curriculum resource explicitly designed for the developmental needs of toddlers. Being Reggio-inspired, it is driven by documentation and children’s interests, centering play in every interaction and learning experience in which toddlers engage.
How we’re tackling the children’s mental health crisis
We’re facing a children’s mental health crisis and our child care system cannot be left out of the solution. Fortunately, here at Neighborhood Villages, we’ve created a pilot to address these issues.
ICYMI: Co-Founder, Lauren Kennedy, Testifies at the Joint Committee on Education Informational Hearing
Early education and care play a critical role in shaping a child’s future and supporting working families. However, in Massachusetts, and across the country, the child care system has faced numerous challenges and shortcomings, leaving families struggling to access affordable, high-quality care for their children.
Our work to address the children’s mental health crisis
Right now, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis that is affecting even our youngest children. Made worse by the pandemic, long delayed or absent mental health services have resulted in an urgent need for mental health supports in early childhood education (ECE) settings. That’s why here at Neighborhood Villages, we’ve prioritized creating an innovative, scalable model for how centralized and multi-layered mental health supports can be delivered in ECE settings in Massachusetts.
No One is Coming to Save Us: Pushing change forward in D.C.
In this episode of No One is Coming to Save Us, veteran reporter Gloria Riviera and Neighborhood Villages’ Senior Director of Advocacy Latoya Gayle visit our nation’s capital to speak with local advocates about their successful, years-long campaign to pass universal pre-K in D.C.
Back for Season 3: ‘No One Is Coming To Save Us’ hits nationwide tour to discuss the child care crisis with local experts
America’s child care system is broken and still, more than three years after the pandemic began, no one is coming to save us. That’s why veteran reporter Gloria Riviera and local Boston mom, activist, and Neighborhood Villages’ Senior Director of Advocacy Latoya Gayle, have set out for season 3 of hit podcast No One Is Coming To Save Us.
Piloting Teaching and Learning Supports that are Critical to a Functioning Child Care System
Neighborhood Villages set out to create a comprehensive menu of ECE teaching and learning supports, including a strengths-based, educator focused coaching model, professional development workshops and webinars, and a monthly newsletter highlighting best practices and wonderful work already happening.
No One Is Coming To Save Us — A story about how to fix our broken child care system
Kate Duncan, Neighborhood Villages supporter and volunteer, writes on the Liberty Mutual blog about her child care story.
Massachusetts Governor’s Budget Sends Strong Signal of Support for Early Ed
Last week, Governor Maura Healey unveiled her Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget proposal, which includes major investments in the state’s early education and care sector – a hopeful sign of good things to come. The Governor’s budget, referred to as H.1, provides a historic investment of nearly $1.5 billion in funding for the early education and care sector.
Our Child Care Priorities for the 2023-2024 Legislative Session
To achieve our vision, we are excited to announce our immediate priorities for the 2023-2024 legislative session, which are driven by our fight for a more affordable, accessible, and equitable child care system.
Operations Grants are Critical to Sustaining and Growing the Early Ed Sector in Massachusetts
Neighborhood Villages is advocating for policymakers to make operations grants a permanent vehicle for funding the early education and care sector.
RECAP of the December EEC Board Meeting: Revising MA’s Subsidy System Regulations & New Survey Results on the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Operational Grant Program
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.
A New Play-Based Early Education Curriculum
Neighborhood Villages is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood to develop a first-of-its-kind play-based, vertically aligned curriculum for early childhood education settings.
Investing in Early Education Providers Through Business Management Trainings
At Neighborhood Villages, we know that successfully overhauling our broken early education and care system starts with assigning professional value to early educators. That’s why we are working to build an example of what a comprehensive early education workforce infrastructure can look like if we properly invest in and support early educators.
RECAP: October EEC Board Meeting—Setting Subsidy Reimbursement Rates
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. This month’s EEC meeting focused on what the new child care subsidy reimbursement rate should be for providers participating in the subsidy system.
Building a Comprehensive Early Education Workforce Infrastructure
At Neighborhood Villages, we are working to make investments in early educators and in early learning programs to address key systemic drivers of the early education workforce crisis including lack of career mobility, workforce instability, and the need for compensation reform.
Legislative Roundup: MA Delivers for Early Education and Care
As the most recent legislative session in Massachusetts came to a close on July 31, 2022, it ushered in some major progress on early education and care, while laying out a roadmap for where we must go moving forward.
From COVID Testing to Formula, Our Scalable Model for a Better Child Care System
Here at Neighborhood Villages, we implement innovative, scalable solutions that address the biggest challenges facing early education and care providers and the families who rely on them. To demonstrate exactly how this works, we’ve built infrastructure around existing child care programs in the City of Boston as part of a program we call The Neighborhood.