The UMass Boston Early Education CUSP Project is led by a multidisciplinary team that designed a simulator to produce current, relevant, accurate, and responsive estimates of the key impacts of proposed legislation in Massachusetts to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education.
CUSP releases publications aimed to provide essential information to guide policymaking on child care and early education affordability, quality, and access in Massachusetts.
Policy Briefs
Building a Foundation for Racial and Ethnic Equity: Estimated Impacts of Massachusetts Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education. Released June 28, 2024.
Estimating the Impacts of Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education in Massachusetts: Initial Findings on Utilization, Employment, and Financial Assistance. Released October 11, 2023.
Project Team
Randy Albelda, PhD, is professor emerita of economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research covers a broad range of economic policies affecting women’s economic status, especially for low-income workers in the United States, with particular attention to the intersection of public supports and earnings. Albelda has worked with various local, state, and national groups on policies that promote gender, racial, and income equality. She co-developed a paid family and medical leave simulator with Alan Clayton-Matthews in conjunction with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Alan Clayton-Matthews, PhD, is an associate professor emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University. He is a senior contributing editor of MassBenchmarks, a joint publication of the University of Massachusetts in cooperation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; a member of the Board of Economic Advisors of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM); and a director of the New England Economic Project.
Anne Douglass, PhD, is 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. She is an expert on the early care and education workforce, leadership, and quality improvement, and she brings years of experience leading innovations to equitably increase early educator access to higher education and professional development. She also has 20 years of experience as an early educator. She is the author of Leading for Change in Early Care and Education: Cultivating Leadership from Within; has been published in a wide range of journals, books, and news media; and presents nationally and internationally to academic, policy, and professional audiences.
Christa Kelleher, PhD, serves as research and policy director of UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy. She enjoys building and managing diverse teams to conduct collaborative applied research on public leadership and a range of public policy issues. Among other projects, she has directed studies on women’s economic status, the midwifery workforce, women in construction, gender parity in higher education leadership, the early care and education workforce, and pay equity. She also partners with UMass Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management, helping to coordinate the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Practice.
Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, PhD, MPH, MA is director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston and graduate program director of the Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy graduate certificate program. She is committed to equity and inclusion in her work as a faculty member, executive leader, and researcher. An expert on the intersection of race, class, and gender in health, health care and social policy, she is extremely well versed in the tools and applications of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in multiple spheres and venues. She has held faculty and senior scientist positions at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where she was affiliated with the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy, the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, and the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy.
Songtian (Tim) Zeng, PhD, is assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education and Human Development and director of research for the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston. His research aims to support the health and social-emotional well-being of young children with adverse childhood experiences and disabilities by promoting equitable health and social service access for them. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and secured a number of grants to support his research.
