Preschool

  Head Start is our country’s most successful early learning program. It has been the most important social and educational investment in children, families, and communities the United States has ever undertaken. But now, Republicans in Congress are considering hurting families by cutting funding for Head Start by $750 million—depriving roughly 80,000 children access to this critical program. Moms Rising     Head Start was launched in 1965 as a comprehensive child development program. Over the last 60 years, Head read more…

  “The current child care market fails families, children, and businesses. Parents are often unable to find a child care program with an open spot for their infant or toddler. If there are available options, they typically are not affordable. Infant child care costs families an average of $11,000 per year and is more than the price of public college in 33 states.” — Center for American Progress     America lacks sufficient child care, and the care that does read more…

    Guest post by childcare professional Stephanie Manhardt.      November 1st seems to have transformed into the unofficial start of the Holiday season. This is such a magical time of the year and through the eyes of children, the magic is everywhere and everything. There are so many activities and gatherings to enjoy. On the east coast the weather doesn’t always make it easy to attend those fun activities. Luckily the magic can be done within your home. read more…

    Guest post by Andrea Gibbs with Baby Steps Preschool in New York.     As a parent, you’ll want your child to have the best possible education. One way to do that is by choosing books for them to read at their appropriate reading level — but how do you know your child’s reading level? To better understand this, let’s take a look at the components of reading levels. First things first, there are two components of reading read more…

    Promise the Children was recently interviewed by a young advocate at Gonzaga University on the topic of affordable childcare. Below are a few highlights from our conversation and our work toward making affordable childcare for all a reality.     1. How does your organization view affordable childcare? What is the impact of affordable childcare? Promise the Children supports a national investment in affordable, high-quality childcare for all children. Affordable childcare is essential for women and families, and read more…

  Photo via Pixabay Guest post by Kristin Louis of Parenting with Kris     Parents play an extremely important role in the development of their kids at every age and stage. But keeping up with your kids’ changing needs can be difficult. As your children get older, they will need varying levels of support and guidance to develop the skills that will help them thrive as adults. While you may not be able to coddle your kids forever, you read more…

Access to quality early education and childcare varies enormously across income classes. Many times wealthier families have the money to spend on these services, but those with lower salaries do not. As a result, wealthier children are ready to learn in kindergarten and first grade while those lacking the experience of quality early childhood education, either in a classroom or at home, are not. Here is more information on the high cost of childcare in the United States. Sadly, falling behind in read more…

Promise the Children recently wrote about the decrease in public school funding—and the simultaneous increase in the number of students—that makes teaching so challenging today. Fortunately there are many charities that have dedicated themselves to helping with homework and strengthening the literacy skills of our nation’s children, like the Boys & Girls Clubs, Girls Inc., The YMCA, The YWCA and many others. One of our favorite partners focused on literacy is The REAL Program, a charity that works closely with Brickett Elementary read more…

One year ago, my son E. was struggling with language development. The school district evaluated him and the speech language experts felt he was in a grey area where his delay was significant, but not severe enough to get him special education. He qualified for Head Start due to the language delay, but we were not high on the wait-list because of our family income status and college-education. Our pediatrician strongly felt he would benefit from the social interaction and read more…

Please contact your legislators locally before April 23rd. Congress is recessed from April 8th to April 23. Phone or email him/her, or send a post card locally. Attend a local meeting with your legislator, if possible. Half of our families earn the median income or less (about $50,000 annually). This is not enough to pay for basic needs. The President’s budget subsidizes childcare for those with high salaries, but leaves those struggling financially with no support.  Also,the republicans talk of read more…