News and articles on early childhood research and policies.
“The Impacts of Inadequate Child Care on Montana’s Families, Employers and Economy”
From January through April of 2020 University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) conducted a survey to examine the economic impact inadequate child care has on Montana parents, employers and taxpayers. The survey randomly sampled Montana...
FMC Letter to Montana Relief Fund
To: Montana Coronavirus Relief Fund Task Force From: Funders for Montana’s Children April 23, 2020 Funders for Montana’s Children is a group of foundations that have come together to foster partnerships to expand quality early care in Montana. FMC Members include: AMB...
Funders for Montana’s Children Enews Archive
Just last month, Congress held two hearings on the crisis in child care and its impact on children, families, businesses, and our nation’s economy. Now, the spread of the coronavirus is making this crisis and its impacts substantially worse, threatening to put this...
First Children’s Finance, Preserving Child Care Now: Resources for State Government during Coronavirus
First Children’s Finance (FCF) has long recognized child care providers as crucial community assets and critical small businesses and non-profit organizations. In this unprecedented crisis, FCF recognizes that state governments have the opportunity to preserve and...
COVID-19 Response Letter from FMC
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed so many aspects of our lives and, I believe, brought a lot of things into focus, a focus on what really matters. For many of us, that is the adaptability and resilience of our communities, our businesses, and our families. We are...
Montana Childcare Directives COVID-19 – 4/1/20
The Governor issued an emergency order on 4/1/2020. This order provides flexibility for certain child care rules. DPHHS understands the need to balance strict adherence to the CDC guidelines to ensure we are keeping people safe and healthy with the need for child...
The Montana Education Interim Committee
The Montana Education Interim Committee hosted an open hearing/public comment session on Pre--K on January 16, 2020. Comments included: advocating for funding only for accredited Pre-K sites, funding only for public school Pre-K using public ed funding formulas, ...
Montana Child Care Leaders Roundtable Discussions in Missoula
Montana Child Care Leaders Roundtable Discussions in MissoulaJanuary 16, 2020 Business, governmental and non-profit leaders gathered to discuss local, state, and federal policy changes that would expand access to high quality, affordable childcare for employees to...
High-Quality Early Child Care: A Critical Piece of the Workforce Infrastructure
With 65 percent of children under age six having all of their parents in the labor force, most families with young children require some form of nonparental early child care. Considering trends in the familial division of labor, family structure, and the composition...
Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Child Care Tax Incentives Introduced in House and Senate
Bipartisan leaders in Congress took an important step in March towards making child care more accessible for working families across America. Representatives Stephanie Murphy (D-FL-7) and Jason Smith (R-MO-8), along with Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Angus King...