Dr. Myra Jones-Taylor Leaving OEC 

The CT Early Childhood Alliance would like to take a moment to thank Dr. Myra Jones-Taylor for her dedication to Connecticut's young children as the first commissioner of the state's Office of Early Childhood. We wish you the best in your future endeavors. Dr. Jones-Taylor will leave her post as Commissioner effectiveSeptember 1. To read more about her departure, see articles in CT Mirror, Hartford Courant and CT NewsJunkie. Click HERE to read the Governor's press release.  

No August Alliance Meeting  

There will be no meeting of the Alliance membership in August. We will resume with our monthly meetings in September (9/1). Watch for more details in the coming weeks. 

Federal Children's Budget Webinar on August 4 

Child Care Aware^® of America will co-host a webinar with First Focus on Thursday, August 4, at 1 p.m., to discuss the children’s budget. The webinar will include:

• The status of the FY 2017 appropriations process, and
• A summary of First Focus's 2016 Children's Budget

The presenters for the webinar will be Jay Nichols, Director, Federal Policy and Governmental Affairs with CCAoA, and John Monsif, Vice President, Government Relations with First Focus.

Webinar will be recorded for those who cannot attend. Click HERE to register. 

Care4Kids Update 

REMINDER as we close the month of July. The Care4Kids program will close to most new applicants on August 1. Currently, families who are 30% SMI and under can apply through the end of July. If you know families who should be applying for Care4Kids, encourage them to do so before August 1. Even if they're in the 31-50% SMI range, it should help establish a waiting list.  

On Where We Live Monday morning, Helene Figueroa, CSEA/SEIU's Director of Family Child Care Team, spoke to the upcoming changes to the Care4Kids program (closing to most new applicants as of August 1). Interview starts around the 36th minute.