On Tuesday, a number of members of the CT Early Childhood Alliance will testify before the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee in favor of H.B. 7314, "An Act Concerning a Tax on Certain Sweetened Beverages." This bill would impose a tax of one cent per ounce on certain carbonated and non-carbonated nonalcoholic beverages that contain added caloric sweetener (sodas, sports drinks). The money raised would be use to fund early care and education (Care4Kids) and obesity-prevention programs. Lottery numbers will be drawn from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the First Floor Atrium of the LOB.  Speakers arriving after the completion of the lottery will have their names placed at the end of the speaker list.  Please submit 35 copies of written testimony to the Committee staff at 10 a.m. in the First Floor Atrium of the LOB.  Testimony received after the designated time may not be distributed until after the hearing.  Please email written testimony in Word or PDF format to [email protected]. (Subject Matter: Miscellaneous Bills.") The public hearing starts at 12 p.m. in Room 2E of the LOB. Oral testimony is limited to three minutes. 

Merrill Gay, the Executive Director at the CT Early Childhood Alliance, put together a spreadsheet of town-by-town data on Care4Kids, comparing January 
2016 to January 2017. It shows that 1,768 fewer children were served in 2017. That breaks down to 744 infants, 499 preschoolers, and 525 school-age children. The impact on providers varies by age: Infants - Impact pretty evenly split between centers and home based care mostly in unregulated settings, 
Preschoolers - Overwhelmingly centers impacted, School Age - Mostly unregulated family members impacted 

CT Voices for Children, with assistance from CT Early Childhood Alliance and CT Parent Power, released a Care4Kids brief about the importance of Care4Kids, enrollment trends, stories from providers and parents, and some solutions for funding it. CT Voices welcomes you to use the data in your advocacy efforts. 

CT Association for Human Services (CAHS) has created an interactive map and a companion blog post (map can be seen through the blog post as well) that show how each town in CT is impacted by the closure of the Care4Kids program. 

Finally, if you click the screenshot from the Hartford Courant article, it will take you to an article that ran in a column April 1 paper. The column focuses on cost of child care and why Care4Kids is so important to families. 

This Thursday, call your member of Congress at: 

Without this additional $1.4 billion, states will not be able to implement the important reforms contained in the CCDBG Act of 2014 while maintaining the current number of children served. There has already been a significant decline in the number of children served, with 373,000 fewer children receiving child care assistance in 2015 than in 2006. As of February 2016, only one state was paying providers at the federally recommended rate. Given the pressing need for greater child care investments, and the growing attention on child care as an issue, now is the time to make a special effort around child care funding. A call-in script is available HERE.