Continuing Education Scholarships Available

If you're an early childhood educator looking to further your education, the CT Office of Early Childhood has its scholarship registration open at this time. The OEC is tentatively covering requests to March 1, 2019. More information is available through the CT OEC Early Childhood Professional Registry. You must have a registry account to apply. More information is available at "Scholarship At-A-Glance."

SNAP Update: Senate Expected to Take Up Bill Soon

Last month, the U.S. House defeated its version of the Farm Bill, which would:

- Make it harder for 2 million people - including parents raising kids, people with disabilities, and working people - to put food on the table.
- Cut SNAP benefits by nearly $19 billion & divert much of that money to a risky new scheme of ineffective work programs and unforgiving penalties that would take away people’s food assistance.
- Break the long history of bipartisan commitment to improve SNAP and ensure struggling families across the country have enough to eat.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to markup its version of the bill on Wednesday, and it could be brought to the Senate floor as soon as next week. This version currently does not include the stricter work requirements that the House bill had. The bill is said to be more bi-partisan in the Senate, but without the stricter work requirements, it might take some work to get the Farm Bill reauthorized before its expiration date in September 2018. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is concerned that harmful amendments could be made to SNAP. Meanwhile, the U.S. House could take a re-vote on its version of the Farm Bill on or before June 22, although the vote could be delayed again. CNBC has MORE.

The Coalition for New Britain's Youth Wins Early Ed Innovation Challenge

The Coalition for New Britain's Youth competed in the inaugural Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative Challenge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on June 4th. The Zaentz Challenge recognizes promising new ideas and strategic approaches that have the potential to transform the quality of early education and drive lasting change and improvement. The Coalition's idea, "Seeds of Learning: The New Britain Infant/Toddler Early Childhood Business Incubator," competed against four other ideas, in front of a live audience and panel of judges and...WON! Watch the video of the presentation on June 4 by Robin Lamont Sparks and Tracey Madden-Hennessey for the Coalition's project. The press release announcing the winners of each track - idea, pilot, and scaling - can be found HERE.

Mary Boudreau to Retire from COHI

Mary Boudreau, who has served as the executive director of the CT Oral Health Initiative (COHI) since 2012, will retire from the organization in the Fall. During Mary's tenure, COHI strengthened its role as a policy expert in the state and built valuable relationships and coalitions. The search has started to find a new ED. If you or anyone you know is interested, the announcement can be found on the COHI website.

Support for the Alliance comes from of our members and our funders: The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, Connecticut Health Foundation, Connecticut Community Foundation, Children's Fund of Connecticut, CT Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a project of CT Council of Philanthropy; The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut; Community Foundation of Greater New Britain; Community Foundation of Greater New Haven; and The Fund for Greater Hartford.