January 2023 Monthly Update
Dear Friends and Partners,
Happy New Year from the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children!
To kick off the new year, we released the Local Funding Toolkit for Strengthening Early Care and Education in Louisiana Communities which is designed to help cities and parishes understand potential funding levers for strengthening their local early care and education systems regardless of how well-established their current early care and education system is. Each toolkit section provides background information and guidance to support communities that want to expand access to quality early care and education programs in their area. Access the full toolkit here.
In addition to the toolkit release, we are excited to share that Wednesday, February 1st, we will kick off our second annual Louisiana Early Ed Month sponsored by our title sponsor Entergy. This year, Early Ed Month will be hybrid, providing us with a chance to reach even more people than under normal circumstances. We are hosting several events throughout the month of February for everyone: advocates, parents and families, child care providers, elected officials and business leaders, all of which are designed to highlight the condition of early care and education in our state.
Highlights include our keynote speaker, Dr. Dana Suskind, Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago; parent poll press conference; a social media day of action; and a parent advocacy training that will be co-hosted with the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. Find a full schedule of events here.
We also want to give a special thanks to our other sponsors of this year’s Early Ed Month: Jones Walker LLP, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company, Committee of 100 for Economic Development, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Geaux Far Louisiana, Cartel Strategies, Clara’s Little Lambs, Save the Children Action Network, ResourceFull Consulting, Agenda for Children, Gambel Communications, For Providers by Providers, Pelican Partners, Urban League of Louisiana, Power Coalition For Equity and Justice, Emergent Method, Mele Printing, and Baptist Community Ministries.
We hope you can join us Wednesday as we head into Early Ed Month!