December 10, 2024 Trying Together Community Honors Advocacy Fellows The Trying Together community recently held an event to honor the 22 fellows who completed their 11-month journey of advocacy, creativity, and dedication through the Early Childhood Education Advocacy Fellowship. A total of 77 attendees gathered to celebrate the fellows’ accomplishments and reflect on their work. The fellows showcase projects that addressed early intervention, staffing recruitment, child care advocacy, mental health support, and more. The fellows demonstrated their creativity and commitment to driving change through posters, brochures, and PSA videos they created. They also shared their next steps in advocacy, highlighting how their passion and hard work will continue to make an impact beyond the fellowship. “A huge ‘thank you’ to our fellows for their unwavering dedication and to everyone who made this night so memorable,” said Hailee B. Roye, Trying Together’s policy and practice manager. “Your efforts have shown the power of advocacy and the importance of building a brighter future for children, families, and educators.” About the Fellowship The Early Childhood Education Advocacy Fellowship is committed to equipping early childhood professionals, parents, families, and caregivers of young children with the knowledge, skills, and resources to effectively advocate for policies that enhance the quality and accessibility of early care and education.
June 27, 2024 Trying Together Meets With State Legislators on Importance of Early Care and Education On June 25, advocates from the Early Childhood Education Advocacy Fellowship visited the capitol to share their stories with 20 legislators. Representing parents, providers, and community members, they emphasized the importance of Early Care and Education in policy discussions. Learn More Trying Together’s key campaign asks included: Increasing child care subsidy rates to the 75th percentile to help providers with rising costs Investing $284 million in state funding to recruit and retain child care teachers through wage increases, bonuses, and benefits Supporting a $30 million investment in Pre-K Counts and $8.8 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program to address workforce challenges Backing the proposed $16.6 million increase for the Early Intervention program to serve 3,000 more children and address key sector issues The visit ensured that these critical issues were highlighted during the last week of budget negotiations.
