Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance – Improving the lives of Vermonts young children, families, and providers in the areas of health, safety, food security, economic security, and early care and education.

We are supporting Advocacy that improves the lives of Vermont's young children, families, and providers

The Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance is a statewide coalition of early childhood professionals and providers, parents, and employers working together to improve public policies that impact young children from birth to age eight on issues of health, safety, food security, economic security, and early childhood education.

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2027 Legislative Agenda Process Open

We’re excited to announce that the Alliance is now accepting applications for our 2027 Legislative Agenda. The Alliance’s annual Legislative Agenda is crafted in partnership with early childhood organizations that are advancing policy solutions through the legislative process.

The Alliance’s Steering Committee invites proposals by organizations for consideration during the Agenda-setting process. Issues that are selected will make up the 2027 Legislative Agenda. The proposing organization will be established as the “lead organization” on legislative and advocacy strategy.

Visit the Legislative Agenda process homepage to download the application documents and see the process timeline.

The deadline for submissions is Thursday, September 17, at 12:00 pm.

Monthly Equity Discussion

Join a group of peers and colleagues from the early childhood community to engage in sustained learning about anti-racism, equity, and inclusion. The Alliance hosts a monthly, salon-style Equity Discussion Group via Zoom, and the next session is coming up on Friday, September 19, at 1:00 pm.

This month’s session, “Welcoming and Supporting Families from Diverse Cultures in the Classroom,” will be led by Honor Bishop Merrill, the Program Director of the Early Learning Center (ELC) at the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro. Honor was a classroom teacher in a variety of settings prior to becoming a mentor teacher at Winston Prouty. She has been Program Director for three years.

Inclusion is one of the five core values of The Winston Prouty Center and the ELC is a place where they put this value into action. With five classrooms, serving 53 children from infancy to preschool age, the ELC represents the diversity in the surrounding Brattleboro community. Currently the program has families enrolled from a whole range of family compositions, cultural backgrounds, and diverse socio-economic circumstances.

This Salon will consider the varied experiences of families with young children and invite us to consider what practices we can adopt, and what questions might be worth asking as we try to figure out how to support all families in feeling welcome and included in early childhood program and service delivery settings.

2026 Legislative Agenda Results

The 2026 Legislative session went into overtime, with adjournment not coming until the end of May. Overall, it was a moderately successful session for the early childhood community and for the issues on the Alliance’s 2026 Legislative Agenda. There were challenges resulting from budget limitations and the complexity of the issues undertaken by our Lead Organizations, but progress was made on a number of fronts. In some cases, progress came with compromises, or with funding that was one-time rather than base. And for several key issues, including the early childhood educator bill, work was not completed this year and will continue next year.

Alliance staff will be working over the summer and fall with our members to begin planning for advocacy in the next biennium. We are also offering educational opportunities to legislative candidates, and keeping an eye out for any federal funding cuts agreed to in Washington, DC.

Visit the Alliance website to see more details about the results for each issue. A downloadable PDF is also available here.

For more information on any of these issues, please get in touch with the lead organizations listed below or with Matt Levin, Alliance Executive Director, at matt@vecaa.org.

2026 Legislative Agenda

The Alliance’s Legislative Agenda is crafted annually in partnership with early childhood organizations that are advancing policy solutions through the legislative process related to health, safety, food security, economic security, and early childhood education. The issues on our ‘26 Agenda were selected by the Alliance’s 21-member Steering Committee. One or more lead organizations will direct legislative and advocacy strategy on each issue.

A downloadable PDF of this year’s Legislative Agenda is available on the Alliance’s website.

For questions, please contact Matt Levin, Executive Director at matt@vecaa.org.

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Recent Newsletters

ECLI Applications – Due 8/21; New ECE Essentials Training – 8/28; VT Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence is Hiring; 3SquaresVT Conference – 9/23; VTAEYC Conference – 10/21-10/23

2027 Legislative Agenda Process Open

BBF Documentary Video Survey; HHAV Annual Meeting – Save the Date – 9/22; 2026 Erhard Mahnke Award – Now Accepting Nominations

NAEYC 100th Birthday Celebration – 8/1; BBF Call for Policy Recommendation Feedback; PCA VT Fall Fest – 9/26; 3SquaresVT Conference – 9/23

TEACH Scholarships – Applications Due 7/17; Updated STARS Guidance Manual; NAEYC Summer ECE Workforce Survey; NOFA-VT is Hiring; NAMI VT Basics Class

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“It’s incredibly valuable to have this vast network of statewide advocates that can rally people to share their stories or reach out to their Legislator. We were successful in getting the Family and Medical Leave bill and it was in large part because of the work of the Alliance.”

– MAIN STREET ALLIANCE