Keep Up Your Advocacy!

We are about halfway through the short legislative session. Thanks to everyone who has advocated for young children and to those who came to our March Advocacy Day. Going forward, we expect the legislature's budget proposal to be released April 5. 

To keep up with the bills the Alliance is tracking, you can visit the bills page of our website.

This past week, several bills of interest passed out of committees:

• The two Paid Family and Medical Leave bills - S.B. 1 and H.B. 5387 - passed out of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. The Connecticut Campaign for Paid Family Leave thanks everyone who has helped push the legislation thus far. If you would like to continue doing so, click HERE for more information.
• The Banking Committee passed a bill along party lines that would create a task force to look at ways to finance the removal of lead from thousands of Connecticut homes. Connecticut Health I-Team (C-HIT) has MORE (written before the vote, but gives context to the overall bill).

Diversity in Public Policy: Policy Equity Day for Communities of Color in CT

CT Parent Power and the Hispanic Federation will host Policy Equity Day for Communities of Color in CT on Monday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Appropriations Room 310 of the State Capitol. On March 26, CT Parent Power, the Hispanic Federation, and Rep. Robyn Porter, invite you to a robust dialogue centered on working together to uplift communities from cradle to career. The plenary session will focus on creating inclusive spaces, co-creating community, and exploring personal and community values moving dialogue to action. To register, click HERE. To read the full invitation, click HERE. If you have questions, please contact Marilyn at 203-980-8511.

Word Gap Has Less to do With Socio-Economics, More to do With Serve and Return

In a new study, it's not the amount of money or education a parent has that impacts the 30 million word gap, it's the back and forth conversations parents have with their kids that makes a difference. The research comes from MIT and Harvard. They note that, when controlling for parental education and socio-economic status, "only conversational turns significantly predicted additional variance in verbal scores." To read more about the study, click HERE. To register for a webinar on March 29, 1 p.m., with the paper's lead author, Rachel Romeo, click HERE. 

Oprah Reports on Child Trauma

Earlier this month, 60 Minutes special correspondent Oprah Winfrey reported on ACEs - Adverse Childhood Experiences and the way some communities, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have taken on new methods to help children who have experienced childhood trauma. To watch the full interview, click HERE.

Childhood Conversations/Together We Will Conference is Just Weeks Away!

Time is running out to register! Early bird registration until 3/31 and the conference is quickly coming upon us! The annual Childhood Conversations Conference and the Together We Will Conference are working together to bring you one comprehensive conference on Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7, at the Hartford/Windsor Marriott! Registration is open! You can register online at www.childhoodconversations.com.

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.