WHAT: Research Brief Release and Presentation: Estimating the Impacts of Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education in Massachusetts: Initial Findings on Utilization, Employment, and Financial Assistance

WHO: UMass Boston Early Education CUSP (Cost and Usage Simulator Project) Team

• Randy Albelda, PhD, Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston
• Alan Clayton-Matthews, PhD, Associate Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University
• Anne Douglass, PhD, Professor of Early Childhood Education Policy and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston

WHEN: Wednesday, October 11, 2023 – 11am

WHERE: State House, Room 222

BACKGROUND:

A multidisciplinary team from UMass Boston has developed a simulator to produce estimates of the key impacts of proposed legislation in Massachusetts to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education. The team will launch a series of research briefs to inform consideration of proposed legislation. The first research brief highlights increases expected in the use of licensed child care and early education as well as parental employment. It also covers expected reduction in the cost burden of child care for families and decreased poverty rates. UMass Boston Early Education CUSP (Cost and Usage Simulator Project) is led by the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation in collaboration with the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy.

About the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston

The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston (The Leadership Institute) provides the leadership development opportunities and infrastructure that early educators need to support thriving children and families. Founded in 2016, we drive systems change by cultivating effective leaders who reflect and represent their communities—through workforce and leadership development, research, and partnerships that strengthen the larger early education ecosystem. We are nationally recognized as a model of excellence, and we make high-quality early care and education a reality for more children and families while supporting the professional growth of a diverse workforce of early educators. Get involved or learn more by visiting www.umb.edu/earlyedinstitute.

About the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP), based at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston aims to promote diverse women’s leadership to achieve more just, equitable, and responsive public and institutional policies and meaningful inclusion. It does this through its Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy (GLPP) graduate certificate and MPA-GLPP track programs; applied research on electoral representation and intersectional public policy analysis, relating to the economic, health and social well-being of women and families; and public convenings that mobilize community and women’s political participation. In all its work, CWPPP’s approach is antiracist as we seek to tackle critical issues affecting women’s lives through an intersectional lens of gender, race/ethnicity, class, and other identities.