On April 14th, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJ EDA) announced Phase 4 of the Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program, adding $85 million in funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Out of the $85 million, $10 million will be used to support child care businesses that experienced obstacles during the pandemic, including caps on capacity and increased costs. Grants can be as high as $20,000, depending on how many full-time employees work at the center. To find out how much your center can potentially receive from the grant, click here.

Centers can pre-register for the funds between April 19th and April 29th until 5:00 PM. On May 5th, starting at 9:00 AM, centers can visit the same site to fill out the application. Applications will be open for one week and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, based upon the date and time NJ EDA receives a completed application submission.

The NJ EDA also offers technical assistance and low-cost financing programs. More information is available at business.nj.gov/covid, or by calling 844-965-1125.

On April 15th, ACNJ teamed up with First Lady Tammy Murphy, the NAACP of Atlantic City, Prematurity Prevention Initiative and Family Health Initiative for a roundtable discussion taking a deep dive into the state of healthcare for Black and Brown mothers. The NAACP also launched the Maternal Experience Survey in Essex County, focusing on the experience of Black and Brown mothers with the goals of improving maternal and child health care and reducing inequities for birthing women of color. Learn more about the survey here.

On April 16th, the Star-Ledger published an opinion piece by Meghan Tavormina, President of the NJ Association for the Education of Young Children (NJAEYC), entitled, The person who cares for your child should be paid a living wage. In it, she detailed three critical points - the current child care staffing crisis is directly linked to programs' inability to pay their child care teachers what they are worth, the pandemic has added additional responsibilities to the daily work of the child care staff, with most being paid minimum wage, and programs are competing with employers that offer higher wages and benefit packages--and child care programs are losing.

Help end the child care staffing crisis and #ReimagineChildCare - write to the Governor and make your voice heard.

Home visitors have always played an important role in ensuring families have a safe, healthy pregnancy and stimulating start for their baby. During this unprecedented time, these home visitors have been even more critically important, serving as a lifeline for families navigating the additional stresses, economic uncertainties and social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This ongoing public health crisis has demonstrated just how essential home visitors are in supporting pregnant women, young children and their parents.

On March 11th, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill aimed at helping the nation recover after a devastating pandemic. Baked into this plan are initiatives that will help children and their families.

Policy Counsel Peter Chen explores the American Rescue Plan in detail and explains how children and those that support their healthy development can benefit from this legislation.

On April 22nd, experts and advocates joined together for a robust, solution-oriented conversation around ZERO TO THREE's findings on the state of children throughout the United States, sharing stories behind the data and analyzing the strong, permanent, national policies that will ensure families and babies can thrive.

The State of Preschool 2020 annual report, released by National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), found that growth in state-funded preschool had slowed, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. And the COVID-19 pandemic imposed huge setbacks on preschool. Progress had also been uneven across the states, resulting in increased inequality in children’s access to high-quality preschool.