TONIGHT: Attend your Precinct Caucus and Submit a Resolution
A message from Think Small (the new Ready 4 K)
This evening, Minnesotans across the state will gather with their neighbors to participate in the political process and discuss issues important to them. You can join them at your Precinct Caucus.
Precinct caucuses are the beginning of the process that Minnesota’s major political parties use for choosing the candidates and the issues they will support in elections. Caucuses are hosted by the major political parties and are open to the public. You can find your Precinct Caucus though the Caucus Finder on the Secretary of State website.
I hope you will attend your Caucus and bring with you our sample resolution on early care and education. You can learn about what to expect by checking out our toolkit on Attending a Precinct Caucus.
And remember, this process is about grassroots participation. This is YOUR opportunity to bring forth the issues YOU care about and encourage your neighbors to Think Small and remember our smallest Minnesotans.
Kat Kempe
Senior Policy Advocate
Think Small
What’s in a name?
Not too long ago we passed on the announcement that Ready 4 K was merging with Resources for Child Caring (RCC). Today RCC announced they’re changing their name to Think Small. (Their thinking was RCC was too flat, didn’t reflect their bold and innovative work in early learning.)
- “Too many didn’t recognize our brand, or confused us with others. The bottom line was this: Our brand was not working hard enough to help us achieve our mission, and that was not okay with us.”
If you’ve been relying on Ready 4 K to keep you up-to-date on policy changes impacting early learning, this might be a good time to check them out!
Visit Think Small today!
Child Care Policy Update: Child Care Bills Moving This Week
from Child Care WORKS
Child care bills are already moving through the process! See www.childcareworks.org/policy for links to key committees and to check out our Child Care Bill Tracker, a handy guide to child care bills that we publish weekly during the legislative session.
The new Minnesota Office of Early Learning presented an implementation plan for Early Childhood Education Scholarships to the legislature last week. The scholarships, to be awarded in targeted areas on a first-come, first-served basis, will help low-income families with 3 or 4 year old children access high-quality preschool learning opportunities. Read the plan here.
Many legislators will be returning home for next week’s political party caucuses. We encourage you to touch base with your Senator or Representative in person at your neighborhood caucus or be in touch online to highlight child care issues. See more information on participating in caucuses below!
Finally, please plan to join us next week for our Child Care Policy Hour on Tuesday, February 7 at noon. Barb Yates, Chair of the Minnesota Early Learning Council will be our featured speaker at that meeting. No RSVP necessary and you are welcome to bring your lunch. Miss a meeting? Notes from this year’s Policy Hour sessions are available here.
ELECTIONS 2012February 7 is caucus day for Minnesota’s political parties - we encourage you to participate in these evening neighborhood gatherings!Caucuses kick off the process of nominating candidates for office and creating issue platforms for each political party. Elected officials and candidates often make the rounds of caucuses in their districts, so it’s also a great way to connect face to face with your representatives.Never been to a caucus? Get the FAQs here and find your caucus location here. Political parties also have some great caucus “how to” information on their websites - get a complete listing here. |
Ready 4 K Joins Resources for Child Caring
The youngest Minnesotans deserve all of us working together.
That’s why we’re excited to share that as of January 1, 2012, Ready 4 K was acquired by Resources for Child Caring, allowing both organizations to build on our strengths and focus on keeping Minnesota strong. In these lean economic times, it is critical that we maximize our resources to do what’s best for our youngest Minnesotans.
The work of Ready 4 K will continue in our new home. We will be a voice for our youngest Minnesotans to build the foundation for our future through quality early care and education. With the addition of Ready 4 K’s grassroots organizing, past successes, leadership and lessons learned, RCC will be able to expand its reach statewide.
We could not have had such success without you. Read Todd Otis’s message to the Ready 4 K network.
Look for more news in the weeks ahead, including an exciting new agency name that reflects a bold new direction for our combined work.
And don’t forget to mark your calendars: Voices for Children Advocacy Day will be April 24, 2012.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of our youngest Minnesotans. We look forward to new opportunities in the future.
The Ready 4 K team,
Todd Otis
Jesse Lee
Kat Kempe
Minnesota Wins Early Learning Challenge Fund Competition! - December 16, 2011
From Child Care WORKS:
The official announcement will be made by the U.S. Department of Education later this morning, but the AP is reporting that Minnesota is one of nine states to win significant federal funding to strengthen our early care and education system.
Quick Links:
Associated Press Report
(at Minnesota Public Radio)
Minnesota’s Race to the Top Early Learning Application
More details will be forthcoming as the official announcement is made today - and mark your calendar for Tuesday, January 3 to join us for a Policy Hour conversation with Minnesota Director of Early Learning Services, Karen Cadigan, to learn more.
Congratulations Minnesota Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge team!
Child Care Policy Update
The Minnesota legislature is currently on recess and will reconvene on January 24, 2012.
Thanks to all who have given feedback on our 2012 Policy Agenda - our Board of Directors will be approving a final agenda in early January, so let us know if you have any additional comments or questions (email mary@childcareworks.org)!
NEW LOOK & LOCATION COMING IN JANUARY!
We are very pleased to announce that Child Care WORKS is moving to a new office AND a new website this January! Please update your files with this information. Our website address will remain www.childcareworks.org but will offer many new ways to connect with our work!
As of January 3, 2012 our office will be located at:
Child Care WORKS
709 University Ave W
Saint Paul, MN 55104-4804
Phone: (651) 265-2322
Fax: (651) 227-0621
Please note that our office and website will be closed from December 19, 2011 to January 2, 2012 for the move. We will reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
Quality Early Learning Online Convening Space - Join and Participate!
Minnesota is eligible for up to $50 million over four years through the federal “Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge” (RTT-ELC) to implement a high quality plan that will “Promote School Readiness for Children with High Needs” throughout Minnesota. While time frame is very short, the State is sharing the process and seeking input via an online convening space hosted by United Front Minnesota, a collaborative effort to address the challenges facing Minnesota. Parents are encouraged to take a look and to post comments on the aspects of the emerging plan—join the conversation!
Additional resources
- September 15th blog post announcing the online space
- October 6 United Front Minnesota conference: The Power of Collective Impact, Saint Paul
- Cool YouTube video from the conference page (direct link)
MinnPost: Who killed the Legislature’s bipartisan, leadership-backed early-ed initiatives?
For the first few months of the recently concluded legislative session, a handful of early-childhood-education initiatives enjoyed near-universal acceptance. Backed by stacks of research, requiring exceptionally modest funding or none at all and blessed with the endorsements of both political parties as well as a power-packed roster of business and civic leaders, the measures seemed the only likely shoo-ins of the session.
House and Senate GOP leaders weren’t crazy about aligning themselves with an issue high on Gov. Mark Dayton’s agenda, but the party was helped over its discomfort by the backing of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and current and former executives from Best Buy; General Mills; Cargill and the Cargill Foundation; UnitedHealthcare; Ecolab; Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi; Blue Cross; 3M; Medtronic; and Piper Jaffrey, as well as a host of foundations.
Still, in the wee hours one night in late March, the early-ed initiatives were stricken from the state House of Representatives’ omnibus education bills. With such controversial items as vouchers, an end to traditional teacher tenure and tectonic shifts in school funding also in the air at the time, their spiking generated scant notice.
Now, with dents made in their sleep deficits and a fresh round of sausage-making on the horizon, policy advocates, lobbyists and reporters have had a chance to ask, with seeming consensus about the importance of pre-K, just where did the opposition come from?
May 31, 2011 - 2011 End of Session: Government shutdown coming?
From Ready 4 K
On Monday, May 23 the 2011 Legislative session came to an end with the Legislature and Governor Dayton unable to reach an agreement on solving the state’s $5 billion budget deficit. The governor has been clear that he would not sign an all-cuts budget, which is what the Legislature proposed, and thus he vetoed all of their budget bills (see our end-of-session summary, including the vetoed early childhood provisions).
What does a government shutdown mean for early childhood?
A government shut down will have a direct impact on families and children. Based on the 2005 government shutdown, we know that it could mean the suspension of key services for child care providers and the families they serve, including child care licensing, training for child care providers, and quality improvement services provided by the child care resource and referral network.
To avoid these drastic measures, it’s crucial that legislators compromise on a budget solution that includes new revenue. Governor Dayton has already significantly reduced his income tax proposal, and thus far the legislature has not moved from their cuts-only budget. Your action is needed now!
1. Call your legislators and tell them it’s in the best interest of Minnesota’s future that a compromise be reached that includes revenue. Ask them to tell the leadership of their caucuses that compromise on a budget solution is in the best interest of Minnesota’s children and families.
2. Meet face-to-face with your legislators now that they’ve returned to their districts.
Click here to find your legislator.
Ready4K will continue to keep you updated as budget negotiations take place. Thank you for taking a moment to contact your legislators, and for your continued support of early care and education!
April 29, 2011 - Balanced Approach needed to Build Minnesota’s Future Prosperity
From Ready 4 K
The Legislature is in the final weeks before the constitutional deadline to reach an agreement on the Minnesota budget. Currently, there remains a $5 billion deficit over the next two years. It’s important that legislators continue to hear from you as they make important decisions on how to resolve this deficit.
The House and Senate have stated that they aim to resolve this deficit without raising revenues. This all-cuts approach would be devastating to Minnesota children and families. Invest in Minnesota is promoting a campaign, “20 Ways in 20 Days”, to share the potential impact of an all-cuts approach. On Thursday, the story related to child care. You can read the story here.
All legislators are getting a paper copy of the story every day, so you can reference this when you connect with legislators.
Currently, the House and Senate are proposing significant cuts to child care and other programs that support early learning. See our side by side comparison of Governor, House and Senate budget proposals.
We need you to contact your legislator and tell them that providing for our youngest Minnesotans is vital to our future prosperity.
Feel free to use your own words and share from your own perspective. The message we want to convey is that we want to maintain investments in early childhood and Minnesota’s future and that we need a balanced approach to resolving the budget deficit that includes revenues in order to do that. Here’s an example:
“The path to Minnesota’s future prosperity begins with the well-being of all our children, and the state is wise to continue investing in high quality early childhood programming and services. Quality settings and positive adult interactions lay a strong foundation in the early years and increase the probability of successful outcomes in school and life, in turn giving the state a 16 to one return on its investment. Conversely, a weak foundation increases the odds of later difficulties and raises costs to the state. We need a balanced approach to the budget deficit that includes revenues so that we can invest in our future prosperity. We can either lay the foundation now or pay the price later.”
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to support our youngest Minnesotans.
This week only: Add Your Voice to MPR online debate on quality rating systems
Starting today, Minnesota Public Radio is hosting a week-long debate about early childhood education on their online public square, Insight Now, at MPRNews.org.
The assertion for this debate: The state should adopt a rating system for early childhood programs – the so-called Quality Rating System.
MPR invited Ready 4 K to argue the pro side of the debate. Karen Effrem, president of Education Liberty Watch, is arguing the con side.
Opening statements from Todd Otis and Karen Effrem are available on the InsightNow website today. Ready 4 K will have a chance to post their rebuttal on Tuesday and Wednesday and make a closing statement on Thursday.
Ready 4 K needs you to participate in the debate! You will have an opportunity to comment every day. Please take a moment, read through the statements each day and add your voice by making a comment online. To make a comment, you must create a profile on the site. It’s simple and guarantees that an actual person is making the comments. On the InsightNow website just click on the link just below the header that says Apply for Membership and you’re on your way.
As you know, establishing a quality rating and improvement system has long been a goal of Ready 4 K and the early childhood community. This is a great opportunity to inform the public about why this is an investment our state should make.
Thank you for participating in this effort to foster a healthy discussion on this important issue. And thank you for everything you do to support the healthy development of the youngest Minnesotans and the future prosperity of our state.