SACCN Public Policy
The Child Care Network is Your Community Advocate:
- We educate individuals on what quality child care is and why it’s so important.
- We develop and promote policies that aid in the expansion of quality child care services locally, statewide and nationally.
- We work closely with organizations that are proven leaders in state and national early care and learning advocacy efforts
Information on the status of child care locally can be found in the 2022 Washington County Community Needs Report and 2022 Warren County Community Needs Report.
Why Advocacy Matters
The first three years of life are a period of incredible growth in all areas of a baby’s development. By age three, 85% of the core structures of the brain have been developed. Children, who start behind, stay behind. Studies show that children with high quality early learning experiences have an advantage. They include:
- 40% less likely to need remedial services
- 30% more likely to graduate from high school
- 200% more likely to go to college
Stay connected to the public policy issues that impact children and families in our region- and let your voices be heard. To receive public policy updates and action alerts from the Southern Adirondack Child Care Network contact Liz Mahon-Laidlaw at [email protected] or call 518-798-7972.
Early Care and Learning Advocacy Organizations
The poor state of the economy is hurting millions of Americans. Working families with children depend on child care to get and keep a job.
- More than 11 million children, under age 5, are in the care of someone other than their parent.
- Millions more school age children are in after-school programs.
- Child care often is difficult to find, especially for infants and toddlers. It is challenging to afford and often can be questionable in quality.
2022 Winning Beginning Child Care Budget Request
The Early Care and Learning Council believes that investments in early childhood education has both short and long term economic benefits for our state, its families, and current and future workforce.
How to Use the Messages to Affect Change
- Legislative Materials and Advocacy Handbook
- Child Care Aware of America A comprehensive list of advocacy tools, information and resources including featured alerts and campaigns.
- Save the Children Video: An Advocate’s Guide to the Appropriation’s Process
- Empire State Child Care Campaign Their mission is to achieve equitable access to quality child care for all children and working families in New York State. The web site contains tools, action steps and facts to use when advocating with New York State Legislators.
Action Center
Links to contact information for your:
Empire State Campaign for Child Care http://www.empirestatechildcare.org/
Founded in the summer of 2017, Empire State Campaign for Child Care may be young, but the organizations and individuals who make up this team have decades of experience and expertise in child care, advocacy, and early education. The mission of the Empire State Campaign for Child Care is to achieve equitable access to quality child care for all children and working families in New York State.
New York State Early Care and Learning Council www.earlycareandlearning.org
ECLC is a statewide organization that works to increase the quality, affordability, and capacity of the early care and learning field and does so through training and technical assistance, data management and advocacy initiatives. Its programs are provided to and in partnership with a network of 35 local Child Care Resource & Referral programs across New York State.
Winning Beginning NY https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/898-winning-beginning-new-york
Winning Beginning NY is New York’s statewide coalition working to inform policymakers about the many benefits of early care and learning for children from the prenatal period through age eight.
New York Association for the Education of Young Children https://nyaeyc.org/
This organization promotes excellence in early care and education services for New York State children and families, through education, advocacy, and the support of the profession.
Its mission is for all children in New York State to have access to high-quality early care and education programs with sufficient resources to meet children’s physical, educational, and social/emotional needs in environments that support diversity.
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy https://scaany.org/
The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy strives to ensure that New York’s policies benefit everybody, not just those with money or power. We are a statewide, nonprofit, policy analysis and advocacy organization working to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially those who are poor or vulnerable.
Child Care Aware of America https://www.childcareaware.org/about/child-care-aware-of-america/
Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) works with a national network of more than 400 child care resource and referral (CCR&Rs) agencies and other partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, conducts research, and advocates for child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families.