The US Department of Education is trying to figure out how to leverage $700 million through a new round of state-level focused competition on early childhood education. The funding is viewed as an extension of Race to the Top.

Noreen McElroy, a home visitor for the community-based Nurturing Families Network at Coordinating Council For Children In Crisis, has been named Parent Educator of the Year by Parents As Teachers (PAT). She is one of five chosen in the country.

Small steps are being taken to bring back a program in Massachusetts that reinstates important early oral health care and make it a priority.

The First Five Years Fund produced a powerful video on the importance of investing in children in the first five years of life. Invest in a gain now, or expect the pain later of having to spend a fortune to fix the problems that could have been prevented with early childhood education.

A draft report on Danbury's young children was released on April 29 shows that the city is losing ground when it comes to the number of children attending quality preschool programming. This information and more was released in a draft report by the 3Rs Collaborative. The Danbury News Times article features the 3Rs Collaborative, Education Connection, Danbury's School Readiness program and Danbury Children First.

Diane Orson of WNPR interviewed a number of legislators on the kindergarten age change bill, which stripped away the language to include preschool for children impacted by the age change. Senator Toni Harp, Rep. Andrew Fleishmann and CT Voices for Children's Cyd Oppenheimer are interviewed. Cyd says the change impacts nearly 7,000 children who would have been eligible for free, full-day educational experiences.

The town of Bloomfield owns the building and says it's in need of expensive repairs, but Bloomfield Early Learning Center (BELC) director Deb Lord says grants can help save the day.

Bloomfield Early Learning Center (BELC) is in danger of shutting its doors, as the town-owned building is in need of repairs and the town says it's too costly. But director Deb Lord says she has a solution.

The bill requiring kindergartners to be five as of October 1 has cleared the Appropriations committee, but without the provision to require preschool for thousands of four-year-olds who will be impacted by the change.

The Norwich Bulletin showcased the Collaborative for Colchester's Children, a Discovery community of the Graustein Memorial Fund, in the April 21 edition. The article spoke of Cindy Praisner's role in Advocacy Day for the CT Early Childhood Alliance and some of the events C3 has planned in the future.