News & Resources
FEATURED PRIORITES
Appropriations FY2027
For FY2027, Congress should protect, prioritize, and expand these investments in programs including the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), Early Head Start/Head Start, and the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5).
Child Care is an Affordability Issue
“Affordability anxiety” is particularly high for parents of young children, where child care consistently stands out as one of the most significant and unavoidable expenses.
Modernizing Child Care
Modernizing the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is essential to ensuring more working families can access the quality, affordable child care care they need.
2026 Early Head Start and Head Start
Head Start has a long history of giving kids a strong start through comprehensive early learning, health, and nutrition services. We are focused on continuing to bolster overall support for this essential program at the federal level.
Posts
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Video: Stand for Head Start
A short video highlighting the big difference Head Start makes in the lives of families.
Child Care Number of the Week
Updated each week with the latest child care and early learning stats you need to know.
2025 FFYF Federal Guide to Early Learning and Care Programs
The 119th Congress has the opportunity to invest in America’s children, working families, and the economy through high-quality child care and early childhood education. This resource book is an introduction …
The First Five Questions for: Andrew Zimmern
In the latest installment of FFYF’s First Five Questions series, Sarah Rittling sat down with award-winning chef, restaurateur, and advocate Andrew Zimmern for a conversation about the intersection of child …
FAQs on Child Care, Early Learning, and the U.S. Department of Education
In March, President Trump signed an executive order that directs the Secretary of Education “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the …
Head Start and Early Head Start: The Program Overview
This one-pager provides data and information on how Head Start works and who it serves.
New Resource Reveals Notable Changes in Price and Supply of Child Care
This week, Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) released their annual report, Child Care in America: 2024 Price & Supply, which provides updated data on the current child care landscape …
Reforming Regulations and Decentering Deregulation
Child care costs are high, child care workforce compensation is low, and regulations are burdensome. In an effort to find a solution there have been growing conversations around deregulation without …
FY2026: Community Letter to Appropriators Calls For Robust Funding for Child Care and Early Learning
WASHINGTON – The First Five Years Fund (FFYF) and a coalition of 146 major early education advocacy organizations from 36 states have a new letter to Congressional appropriators calling for …
STATEMENT: FFYF’s Sarah Rittling on the House Ways and Means Budget Reconciliation Plans
On Monday afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee released the full text of their bill to reauthorize the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ahead of Tuesday’s markup. …
Webinar: How we can help protect and prioritize funding for child care
This week, FFYF, Child Care Aware of America, NAEYC, and the National Head Start Association hosted an inside look at the Congressional Appropriations process, which funds our nation’s main child …
