2023 Rhode Island Family Leave Legislation Fact Sheet
H-5547 (Diaz) & S-0534 (Miller) H-5781 (Kazarian) & S-0139 (Lawson) H-5990 (Giraldo) & S-0145 (Cano) Rhode Island is a leader in providing paid family leave for families with babies, newly adopted or foster children, and seriously ill family members through the Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) program. One of only 11 state based paid leave programs, TCI provides up to six weeks of partial (about 60%) wage […]
Fact Sheet: Saving First Connections & Family Home Visiting
H-5810 (Giraldo) & S-207 (Valverde) First Connections is Rhode Island’s frontline home visiting service for families with newborns statewide. Currently delivered by four non-profit agencies, it is designed to identify babies’ and families’ needs as early as possible and connect them with services to address those needs, including mental health services, WIC, help with affordable housing, Early Intervention, and […]
Fact Sheet: Funding Affordable, Reliable, Quality Child Care
H-5193 (Diaz) & S-522 (Cano) Child Care is Essential Why Focus on Child Care? Families need access to affordable, high-quality child care so parents can work and children can grow, learn, and thrive. Experts agree that 9 out of 10 families cannot afford the full cost of high-quality child care staffed by skilled educators. Because middle-income families cannot afford the full cost […]
RIght Start Video: Funding Affordable, Reliable, Quality Child Care In Rhode Island
Watch our new video, “Funding Affordable, Reliable, Quality Child Care In Rhode Island.” Child care is essential to Rhode Island families and our economy. That’s why we need to restore $48 million in state funding and use the $4 million in new federal funding to pass the RI Child Care is Essential Act so that […]
Fact Sheet: Stabilizing Health Care Access for Young Children Birth though Age 5
H-5986 (Slater) & S-247 (Lauria) Stable health insurance coverage for babies and young children helps children receive high-quality and timely preventive health care, including vaccinations and screenings, routine care for illnesses, specialized health care when needed, and emergency health care services. Continuous eligibility for Medicaid/RIte Care during infancy and the early childhood years will help prevent gaps in coverage […]
RIght Start Video: Stabilizing Health Care Access for Children Birth to 5 Through Continuous Medicaid Eligibility
Watch our new video, “Continuous Medicaid Eligibility: Stabilizing Health Care Access for Children Birth to 5.” No family should have to worry about whether they can afford to bring their little ones in to see a doctor for checkups, screenings, immunizations, or illness. That’s why we’re advocating for legislation to ensure that babies and young […]
Solving the Early Educator Staffing Crisis
H-5094 (Casimiro) & S-492 (Cano) H-6169 (Diaz) & S-377 (DiMario) H-5983 (Giraldo) & S-523 (Gallo) High-quality early childhood programs have effective educators who work with children and families to support young children’s rapid brain development. Rhode Island is experiencing a significant staffing crisis for as effective professionals are leaving for better paying jobs. The workforce that supports young children’s early learning and development is made […]
RIght Start Video: Addressing RI’s Child Care Crisis – Higher Pay For Early Educators
Watch our new video, “Addressing RI’s Child Care Crisis: Higher Pay For Early Educators.” Rhode Island’s child care and early learning system is in crisis due to underfunding, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a severe staffing shortage that is forcing many early educators to leave for higher paying jobs. That means closed classrooms […]
RIght Start 2023 Campaign Events Calendar
Prevent Closure of RI Pre-K, Head Start & Early Head Start Classrooms Wednesday, March 1, 2:30 to 3:30 ZOOM Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_v77zKkW4TGGyawlpD9G_lw End Deep Child Poverty: Improve RI Works Tuesday, March 7, 3:00 to 4:00 Raising RI Coalition 2023 Kickoff Event State House Library, RI State House, Providence, RI Solve the Early Educator Staffing Crisis Wednesday, March […]
Preventing the Closure of High-Quality RI Pre-K, Head Start, and Early Head Start Classrooms in Rhode Island 2023
H-6009 (McNamara) & S-463 (Gallo) – H-5200 Governor’s Budget Proposal, RI Pre-K Full fact sheet in pdf format Legislation will allocate sufficient resources to ensure all RI Pre-K classrooms, Head Start classrooms and Early Head Start classrooms continue operating for the 2023-2024 school year. Classroom educators will be paid competitive wages comparable to similarly qualified K-12 educators. In addition, the bill will require […]