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 care and education.

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2025 Legislative Agenda Application Open

We’re excited to announce that the Alliance is now accepting applications for our 2025 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 2025 Legislative Agenda. The proposing organization will be established as the “lead organization” on legislative and advocacy strategy.

Visit the Legislative Agenda Setting Process page to download the application and supporting documents.

The 2024 Legislative Agenda is available as a downloadable PDF here.

2024 Legislative Agenda Results

The 2024 legislative session saw a return to the State House’s pace and politics of the pre-pandemic era, with budget pressures and competing House-Senate positions dictating many outcomes. The results for the state’s early childhood community were mixed. While two issues on the Alliance’s 2024 Legislative Agenda had solid success, several had only partial victories and others had disappointing results. A number of issues did make important progress in developing their organizational strength, setting them up for more success in the future.

Without question, issues of pressing concern to Vermont’s young children and their families – housing, economic security, high quality education, health care, etc. – continue to be prominent in policy discussions in the State House.

Looking ahead, Alliance members will be hard at work over the summer and fall building support for ongoing campaigns, tracking implementation of programs that have passed, and preparing a full slate of issues for advocacy in ’25.

The 2024 Legislative Agenda results are available as a downloadable PDF here.

Alliance 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. Our next session is coming up on Friday, September 6, at 1:00 pm.

We will be talking about using data to shape DEI-informed policy and program implementation. The discussion will be led by Cynthia Greene, the Farm to Early Childhood Partnership Coordinator at Shelburne Farms. Cynthia is a long-time partner with many of us in the state’s early childhood community, and will be talking about her work using data to help make grantmaking and service delivery more responsive to equity and inclusion issues in our communities. She will highlight the Farm to Early Childhood Coalition’s recently updated CACFP Participation Map as an example and resource in this work.

Please reach out to Matt Levin, Alliance Executive Director, at matt@vecaa.org if you have suggestions for future topics.

2024 Alliance Annual Membership Meeting

The Alliance’s tenth Annual Membership Meeting was on May 28 at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich. The event focused on networking and information sharing, and brought together over 30 members of the Vermont early childhood community.

The Day featured workshops, including an introduction to the Alliance and an overview of what happened in the State House on the legislative issues on the Alliance’s 2024 Legislative Agenda, and a panel discussion about multi-year advocacy campaigns that included Sarah Kenney from Let’s Grow Kids, Charlie Gliserman from AARP Vermont, Anika Heilweil from the Fund Vermont’s Future Campaign, and Teddy Waszazak from Hunger Free Vermont.

For a full recap of the Day, visit the Annual Meeting website.

2025 Early Childhood Day at the Legislature

Stay tuned for information about next year’s event on Wednesday, March 12, 2025!

Thank you to all of the attendees and Legislators who joined us in Montpelier for the 30th Annual Early Childhood Day at the Legislature (ECDL)!

The Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance hosts ECDL to bring together, early childhood professionals, parents, employers, and policymakers in person to:

Meet with legislators about early childhood issues
Attend workshops on current topics
Take action at the State House
Network and exchange information

To read a full recap of ECDL 2024 year’s event, visit our ECDL website.

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Recent Newsletters

ECLI Applications Open – Due 9/1; Primary Election Results, General Election Ballots to be Mailed; 2025 Legislative Agenda Process Open

ECF Grant Applications Open – 8/12; Alliance Monthly Equity Discussion – 9/6; VTAEYC Conference – Registration Open; Join the Alliance

ECF Grant Applications Open – 8/12; CCFAP Focus Groups – Apply by 8/16; ECLI Applications Due 9/1; Registration Open for Vermont Afterschool Conference – 10/24 and 10/25

2025 Legislative Agenda Process Open

Early Voting has Begun for the 8/13 primary election; VTAEYC Roundtable Event – 8/6; BBF Families and Communities Committee Monthly Meeting – 8/1; Join the Alliance Today

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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