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Massachusetts Business Coalition Launches to Improve Outcomes in Early Child Care and EducationToday, 70 Massachusetts CEOs and business leaders announced the launch of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, a business coalition focused on early child care and education. Leading the coalition as Co-Chairs are: Jon Bernstein, Regional President of Boston for PNC (News - Alert) Bank; Roger Crandall, Chairman, President, and CEO of MassMutual; Linda Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media Partners; Bridget Long, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Bob Rivers, CEO and Chair of the Board of Eastern Bank. Raising awareness about the need for a more robust and sustainable network of early child care and education has become increasingly urgent due to the devastating financial impacts caused by COVID-19 on an already fragile system. Without greater funding, high-quality child care, already too limited, runs the risk of becoming more so, and burdening more women and people of color with additional roadblocks to advancing their careers. In addition, lack of access to early child care and education creates learning and developmental gaps, even before kindergarten, that are harder to overcome as a child grows up, and often disproportionately puts the most vulnerable children as well as children of color at greater risk. The coalition will: advocate for policies and programs that make early child care and education more readily available to Massachusetts workers; identify opportunities to improve program access, affordability and quality; collaborate around employer best practices for supporting early childhood needs; and focus on advancing equitable child care solutions. The research indicates a compelling need and opportunity in each of these areas: Employer concerns
Racial and gender inequities
Working families
Children
"Quality child care and early learning programs are fundamental to the success of our local economy," said Jon Bernstein, Coalition Co-Chair and Regional President of Boston for PNC Bank. "All children deserve high-quality early learning experiences that prepare them for school and will have a lifelong positive impact. This is why, for 16 years, PNC has committed its resources to high-quality early childhood education; with a mission to impact school readiness and contribute to stronger, smarter and healthier children, families and communities." "Investing in early childhood education provides a massive return on investment and generates societal and economic benefits for years to come," said Roger Crandall, Coalition Co-Chair and Chairman, President and CEO of MassMutual. "Even more importantly, it addresses a fundamental inequality in our current system. By making sure all young children have access to quality early childhood education, we can stop achievement gaps before they start, while also having positive effects throughout the economy." "The deficiencies and inequalities of the early childhood education sector fall too harshly along the lines of gender and race," said Linda Henry, Coalition Co-Chair and CEO of Boston Globe Media Partners. "Women, and increasingly women of color, represent almost 100% of the early childhood education workforce. Women still are far more likely than men to bear responsibility for child care within their family, and four times as many women as men left the U.S. Labor Market in September 2020 alone, due, in part, to shouldering an outsized share of child care responsibilities. This is detrimental to the healthy development of our children and economy, and it's a challenge we look to solve." "We know children who receive high-quality early childhood education reap the benefits into adulthood and throughout life," said Bridget Long, Coalition Co-Chair and Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "This is because those benefits are delivered at the most critical stages of brain development. For the sake of our youngest learners and their families, as well as the future of the Commonwealth, we must ensure access to high-quality early childhood education for all." "The business community has a unique opportunity to help lead in an area that betters the lives of children, their parents and families, and the educators who care for them, with obvious benefits to our employees and companies," said Bob Rivers, Coalition Co-Chair and CEO and Chair of the Board of Eastern Bank. "This is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing - it's good business to invest in a stronger workforce and stronger communities. It's long overdue for the local business community to step up and drive meaningful change in early childhood, and we thank all the businesses that already have committed to this important work and ask others to join with us." For media inquiries or to join the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, contact Tom Weber, Executive Director, at [email protected], or visit the coalition website (Website URL: http://www.maroundtable.com/MBCECE/main.html). Business coalition members currently include:
Abt Associates
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005653/en/ |