Strong Start

We believe every child deserves a fair chance in life, and this begins with quality early education and child care.

We know that kids who receive a high-quality early education are more likely to start kindergarten ready -- and they're more likely to go to college and get a good job. Yet approximately 40% of young children are not enrolled in any kind of early learning program.

And at it’s not that 40% of families don’t want to enroll their children -- for many, it’s just too expensive. Care for infants costs an average of $11,666 per year and preschool-aged care costs about $8,000 per year. Meanwhile, early educators and child care workers make less than dog walkers, and the field struggles to keep good teachers.

That's not only wrong; it's shortsighted. Early education is great investment, saving money for the public as students are more likely to graduate from high school and college, to be consistently employed, and to earn higher wages. They’re also less likely to use public assistance, require placement in special education programs, or be arrested and sent to taxpayer-funded prisons.

The lack of affordable early education programs makes it harder for parents to get and maintain jobs. Clearly there must be a better way.

Our Goal: Every child has access to high-quality early education

We should make sure that every family can afford a high-quality early education for their children:

• Expanding our best programs, like Head Start and Child Care and Development Block Grants, and invest in universal preschool.
• Cap costs for families at 10% of family income.
• Keep our best early educators in the field by investing in the workforce.

We are currently running an active campaign in Massachusetts, and gearing up to expand this work moving forward.