Early Education and Child Care Inter-Agency Task Force
Strategic Priority Alignment
Status
Project Launch: January 2024
Project Goal
The Inter-Agency Task Force was established by Executive Order 625 to ensure that Massachusetts leads the nation in early education and child care access, affordability, equity, and quality.
Rationale for Action
Governor Healey's executive order takes a whole-of-government approach to ensuring affordable, high-quality child care. Formed through the executive order, the Task Force developed priorities that address the core issues in the early education and child care space, including access, affordability, availability, quality, provider sustainability, and the workforce. Collectively, these each address, and are aligned with, our four priorities.
Our hope is that this project will result in innovations and structural changes that collectively enable the conditions for all MA’s youngest children to achieve success. Collectively, philanthropy can use the tools at its disposal, including funding, advocacy, convening, connecting, and more - to ensure the Task Force is not only successful in its goal, but does so in a way that centers children. Through this project, we hope to authentically partner with the Task Force and the larger early childhood community, and take concrete actions that “unleash the potential of every child while improving the stability of the system for providers, enhance pay and benefits for a workforce overwhelmingly comprised of women and many people of color, and strengthen access and reliability for businesses.” (Source)
Partners
The Task Force is co-chaired by Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development Yvonne Hao, and Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones. Many other governmental departments and secretariats are involved, including Administration and Finance, Energy and Environmental Affairs, Health and Human Services, Housing and Livable Communities, Public Safety and Security, Technology Services and Security, Transportation, and Veterans Services.
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Additional coordination and support is provided by Amy Kershaw, the Commissioner of the Department of Early Education & Care, and Mark Reilly, Task Force coordinator and Undersecretary & Chief Operating Officer at the Executive Office of Education, the Boston Consulting Group, and Neighborhood Villages.
Timeline
Initiated by Governor Healey's Executive Order 625 in January 2024, the Task Force launched in March 2024. Fourteen listening sessions, both in-person across the state and virtually, were held in the summer of 2024. A first report from the listening sessions and additional research is planned for the fall of 2024, with a second report due at the end of 2024.
Additional Information
