New & Noteworthy

The continuing lack of access to high-quality and affordable child care has more than doubled its blow to the U.S. economy over the last five years, now costing $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every year.

A first glimpse at public school enrollment in Illinois shows continued declines in the overall student population, but an uptick in the number of students learning English. Preliminary data released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education shows overall enrollment dropped by about 31,000 students — or 1.7% — between last school year and the current one, according to numbers as of Dec. 14. Chicago Public Schools accounts for at least a quarter of the decline. The district lost 9,000 students and its place as the third largest school district in the country.

Foundation grantee, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, recently published the Early Educator Engagement and Empowerment Toolkit which aims to support early educators in their advocacy, power building, and stakeholder engagement. It features the latest facts and policy solutions about the ECE workforce that educators can use to build arguments for change, […]

In 2019, the National Center on Teacher Residencies (NCTR), a Foundation grantee, launched the Black Educator Initiative, an effort designed to recruit, prepare, and retain new Black teachers through NCTR’s national network of teacher residency programs. A Foundation supported evaluation of this effort led to the development of a report titled “Recruitment and Retention of […]

The Rennie Center for Education and Research Policy and the Massachusetts Early Childhood Funder Collaborative unveiled Early Childhood 101, an interactive website that maps out all the various ways in which young kids and parents interact with programs and services like health care, housing support, employment assistance and more.

The W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation awarded approximately $5 million in grants in 2022. Please visit our Grants Awarded section for detailed descriptions.

Preschool teacher Devon Jefferson starts work at a child care center each morning at 6 a.m., clocks in for a second job as a home health care aide in the afternoon, and attends night classes several evenings a month. After two decades as an early childhood educator, she’s tired and frustrated.

As the pandemic subsides and the economy rebounds, many women will be shut out from jobs if they cannot find high quality child care options.

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment released the 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index. The report provides a data-rich look at state-based policies and conditions for the early care and education workforce.