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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2022 Legislative Agenda

The Alliance’s 2022 Legislative Agenda is crafted annually in partnership with early childhood organizations that are advancing policy solutions through the legislative process that are related to health, safety, food security, economic security, and early care and education. Each year, issues are selected by the Alliance’s 21-member Steering Committee. One or more lead organizations will direct legislative and advocacy strategy on each issue.

2021 Legislative Agenda Results Summary

Pandemic response dominated the 2021 legislative session, as expected. Virtual advocacy and virtual legislating posed many challenges, but the Legislature continued to respond to our community and showed strong support for our community’s priorities. The Legislature’s FY22 Budget included substantial investments in many early childhood programs and initiatives on the Alliance’s 2021 Legislative Agenda.

We will continue to monitor legislative activity over the summer and fall, as more decisions are made on the allocation of federal pandemic relief funding. Look for updates in our weekly newsletters in the coming weeks.

Monthly Equity Discussion Group

Many early childhood community members have renewed their personal and professional commitment to antiracism and diversity, equity, and inclusion – and want to engage in sustained learning. To support this, the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance and its partners are convening a monthly, salon-style Equity Discussion Group via Zoom. The next session is coming up on Friday, May 27, at 1:00 pm.

We are excited to announce that this session will be facilitated by Ali Dieng from Building Bright Futures and Zoraya Hightower, the Executive Director of the Vermont Peace and Justice Center. We will be discussing how to teach young children about Juneteenth and how to talk about race more broadly.

If your organization would like to co-host one of these events, or if you have suggested topics or discussion materials to offer, please contact Dan Brown at dan@vecaa.org.

Early Childhood Day at the Legislature

ECDL ’22 was a great success! Over 150 early childhood advocates attended Early Childhood Day at the Legislature (ECDL) virtually on March 9, 2022. People from all over the state logged in to ask the 52 participating legislators to support Vermont’s young children and families.

You can read a longer summary of the Day’s highlights here. If you have any questions, please contact taylor@vecaa.org.

We look forward to seeing you in-person next year Wednesday, March 15, 2023!

COVID-19 Resources for the Early Childhood Community

The Alliance has created an evolving list of relevant COVID-19 resources for Vermont’s early childhood community.

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Recent Newsletters

Alliance Annual Membership Meeting – 5/24; Alliance Monthly Equity Discussion on Juneteenth and Early Childhood – 5/27; VTAEYC Survey Results; VFN Seeking Support Parent Volunteers; Volunteers Needed for STARS Revision Stakeholder Group – Deadline 5/11; Join the Alliance

Alliance Annual Membership Meeting – 5/24; Save the Date for 2022 Virtual Alliance Annual Membership Meeting!

BBF VECAP Summit – 5/23; Landon Innovation Awards – Applications Open; Data Brief on Exclusionary Discipline in Vermont; VT Afterschool Program Map

VBSR Hosts ‘Vermont’s Declaration of Inclusion: Why it Matters & What it Means for Your Organization’ – 4/26; LGK Hosts ‘Child Care is Everyone’s Business Press Event’ – 4/27; BBF Systems Analysis Survey – Deadline 5/5

HFV Hosts “Lunch on the Lawn” – 4/20; VTAEYC Student Loan Webinars – 4/26 and 5/3; ARPA Child Care Stabilization Grant – Deadline 6/10

See the newsletter archive

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events at this time.

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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