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Groundwork Team, As many of you know, Groundwork has been fighting alongside child care advocates across the state for the past couple of years to rectify a child care rate reimbursement injustice in 38 counties across Ohio . These 38 counties, serving nearly 40% of all children receiving publicly funded child care in Ohio, have been receiving lower rate reimbursements than their similar counterparts from the state, making it even more difficult to work towards achieving quality in our rating and improvement system, Step Up to Quality. We are happy to share that last night we received word that the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, with full support of the Administration, is moving forward to rectify this rate injustice by aligning the 38 miscategorized counties with their proper rate group based on the most recent market-rate survey. Thank you for Director Dungey’s leadership and to Governor Kasich’s office for supporting this important fix and working to improve early care and education for children in Ohio. Further detail is forthcoming, but ODJFS is working to complete this transition by December 2018. This is a big win for child advocates in Ohio, especially for those in the 38 miscategorized counties whose efforts to achieve quality have been exponentially more difficult over the past few years. But we know our work is far from over. As we approach the FY20/21 budget cycle , we must work to ensure that Ohio makes investments in early childhood programs that give our most at-risk kids the opportunity to reach their full potential. We hope that you will join us in advocating for Ohio kids by staying engaged on social media , keeping up to date with our latest resources , and participating in our 2019 Budget Advocacy Day on May 8, 2019. The time is now to advance early learning... Ohio can't afford to wait! Warm personal regards, Shannon Jones Executive Director Groundwork Ohio

The evidence is clear--children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs have improved academic, health, and long-term economic outcomes. In addition to the outcomes we know quality child care provides to our youngest learners, it is important to understand the important impact child care has on parents. This week, Sinclair Community College announced a new program to support parents in their efforts to pursue higher education by offering subsidized on-site child care to low-income parent-students. “Many parents find it difficult to go back to school because of a lack of accessible and high-quality child-care service,” said Sinclair Community College President Steve Johnson. “By providing an on-campus child-care center we are able to eliminate a major accessibility gap for our student-parents.” Recent studies have shown that a lack of access to quality child care is one of largest barriers to parents entering the workforce or pursuing further education. When child care is hard to find or afford, women are the most likely to abandon education plans or drop out of the workforce to take care of the kids . For a single mother of two in Ohio living at 200% of the federal poverty level, child care would be more expensive than the annual cost of tuition at Sinclair Community College, making it nearly impossible to continue pursuing higher education. But when parents do have access to quality care, studies show that they are more likely to re-enter the workforce, work more hours, and increase their lifetime earnings significantly. Interested in learning more about Sinclair Community College's new child care subsidy program? Read more. SAVE THE DATE On May 8, 2019 early childhood stakeholders from across the state of Ohio will come together in Columbus to bring awareness to the importance of investments in early childhood education and communicate this important information to our legislators. We need your help to make sure the importance of early education issues rings loud and clear! The Vote for Ohio Kids Leadership Forum may have passed, but our work is far from over! With Ohio's upcoming gubernatorial election less than a month away, it's time to ramp up the pressure on candidates Richard Cordray and Mike DeWine to make sure they make early childhood education and health care top priorities if elected. We hope you'll use the sample tweets and resources in this election-focused media toolkit to help elevate these issues and show our gubernatorial candidates that voters support increased investments in our youngest learners! If you haven't already, be sure to confirm your polling location and check out a sample ballot before voting on November 6th ! Check out our election-focused media toolkit. Childcare can cost more than college tuition: Sinclair offering way to cut costs To boost preschool quality, Massachusetts invests in college degrees for teachers After latest report cards, Ohio lawmakers plan school funding fix Child Care’s Impact on Women’s Opportunities Parents Take Early Literacy Advice from Doctors to Heart, New Study Finds Treating Childhood Trauma Becoming a Public Policy Priority