High-quality child care and early education can build a strong foundation for young children's healthy development and ensure that children have all they need to thrive. This knowledge drives CLASP's work to promote policies that support both child development and the needs of low-income working parents. We support policies that expand resources for child care and early education initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels. We also study the relationships between child care subsidy systems, Head Start and Early Head Start, state pre-kindergarten programs, and other birth to five early education efforts, to advance ideas that ensure these systems address the full range of needs of children and families.
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The Most Important Problem Facing Children in the US Today
In the early 1950's, polio crippled tens of thousands of people in the United States each year, shut down public facilities, and struck fear among parents everywhere. But thanks to a massive public health effort that reached into every community, by 1979 polio had been eliminated from the U.S.
What if we tackled child poverty with the same determination and commitment that we put into eliminating polio? At a time when one in five children lives in poverty, income inequality is growing, and the severe negative long-term consequences of childhood poverty are known, the analogy is not farfetched.
This week, the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Task Force on Childhood Poverty declared that childhood poverty is "the most important problem facing children in the US today" and issued a Strategic Road Map for addressing it as a public health issue. The APA Task Force commits to raising the voice of pediatricians to build public support for policies that will both reduce childhood poverty and address the negative effects of poverty on children's physical and mental health and development. This builds on similar statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Strong Start for Children Campaign
Together with our early childhood partners, CLASP is participating in the Strong Start for Children: Building America's Future campaign to advance the president's early learning proposal READ MORE »- Child Care and Early Education | May 14, 2013 CLASP Heads to White House to Thank President Obama for Early Learning Proposal
- Stephanie Schmit and Jamie Colvard | Sep 13, 2012 Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk
- Hannah Matthews | Sep 11, 2012 At Risk: Early Care and Education Funding and Sequestration
- Christine Johnson-Staub | Aug 23, 2012 Putting it Together: A Guide to Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education
- Christine Johnson-Staub and Stephanie Schmit | Jun 05, 2012 Home Away From Home: A Toolkit for Planning Home Visiting Partnerships with Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers
- Child Care and Early Education | May 07, 2013 Early Childhood Education Update - May 2013
- Child Care and Early Education | Apr 08, 2013 Early Childhood Education Update - April 2013
- Child Care and Early Education | Mar 20, 2013 U.S. Head Start by the Numbers 2011
- Child Care and Early Education | Mar 12, 2013 Early Childhood Education Update - March 2013
- Stephanie Schmit | Feb 24, 2013 Comments on Developing Assessments for Kindergarten Entry
