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.
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State Of Play: Federal Child Care Solutions Gain Steam Going Into The August Recess
June and July brought a lot of Congressional momentum, with multiple pieces of proposed legislation that would bring better support to more working families and young children who need quality, …
STATEMENT: FFYF Statement on Proposed FY25 Funding Levels for Child Care and Early Learning Programs
WASHINGTON – This morning, the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a markup on proposed funding levels for child care and early learning …
FY2025: 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 36 major early education advocacy organizations have a new letter to Congressional appropriators calling for increased funding for …
2024 Hill Briefing: ABCs of Federal Child Care and Early Learning
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The First Five Years Fund (FFYF) hosted Congressional staff for its annual bipartisan “ABCs of Federal Child Care and Early Learning” briefing. The session focused on the …
FY2024 Funding Bill Includes $1 Billion Increase for Federal Early Learning and Child Care Programs
The newly announced spending package for FY24 contains $1 billion in increased funding for programs that provide the foundation for child care and early learning. The following is a statement …
FFYF Statement on Child Care, Early Learning in President’s FY25 Budget
WASHINGTON – Earlier this week, the White House released details of President Biden’s FY2025 budget request to Congress, which includes discretionary funding for many of the federal early learning programs …
2023: A Year in Review
2023 was a big year for child care and early learning! Together, we urged Congress to prioritize the funding and policies that strengthen child care and early learning with: Thank …
STATEMENT: FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling on Senate Markup of FY24 Funding Levels for Child Care and Early Learning Programs
WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a bipartisan mark up on proposed funding levels for child care and early …
STATEMENT: First Five Years Fund Executive Director Sarah Rittling on Proposed FY24 Funding Levels for Child Care and Early Learning Programs
“Federal funding provides the foundation for child care and early learning programs. Now is the time to bring greater support for working families and children, not reverse course. We urge …
The First Five Things To Know About: Federal Funding for Early Learning and Child Care
Child care is essential to the health and strength of our nation. Today, 26.8 million people in the workforce – or one out of every six – rely on child …
Unprecedented Bipartisan Support for Robust Early Learning and Care Funding
As House and Senate appropriations requests come to a close, an unprecedented number of House members from both sides of the aisle have signed onto Dear Colleague letters calling for …
