Public Policy Wins for our Youngest Keiki in Hawai`i
Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) salutes the many actors in both government and non-government sectors who have come together to expand the reach of policies and programs providing a vital safety net of support for young keiki and their families.
* The Executive Office on Early and the Early Learning Board * Kindergarten-entry age modified with best practice * Home visiting support expanded * Expanded protections for breastfeeding in the workplace * Preschool Open Doors program * EOEL establishes public preschool * Child Death Review & Maternal re-established * EOEL & Public Pre-K Expanded * Definition of child abuse expanded to include sex trafficking * State Earned Income Tax Credit Key State-level Wins 2012-2017
Early Learning (EOEL)
modified to align expanded breastfeeding program established preschool program Maternal Mortality Review Expanded expanded Credit established www.HawaiiActionStrategy.org Looking Back / Looking Forward YEARS
Board established
State-level Wins * Protections for child abuse expanded, particularly in child * Expansions of early intervention * Passage of Midwifery Licensure * Permanent funding for Zero-to-Three program manager * Expansion and alignment of School Public PreK * SNAP program expanded to for Hawai`i grown fresh produce * Mandated rapid expansion all 3 and 4-year-olds * Federal CARES, CRRSA and pandemic relief and recovery support operational needs increase child care subsidies 2018-2020
Key
abuse and neglect victims child care intervention services
Licensure
Zero-to-Three Court of EOEL and Charter to offer “double credit” produce of preschool for
ARP Acts provide COVIDrecovery funding to sustain and of child care programs and subsidies for families
Strategy.org
www.HawaiiAction
Looking Back / Looking Forward YEARS
Key State-level Wins 2022
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$200 M funding to support of early care and learning facilities
Postpartum Medicaid coverage
Passage of Earned Income and Living Wage bills
State funding for residential children to remain with their mental health & substance
support for children of incarcerated individuals
Resource Center pilot
Passage of newborn hearing
Office of Wellness & Resilience appropriations
expansion facilities coverage extended to 12 months
Tax
Credit residential programs to allow their mothers during substance use treatment children and families pilot program established hearing and vision screening bills Resilience established, with
ActionStrategy.org
www.Hawaii
Looking Back / Looking Forward YEARS
Over the years, ECAS has developed a policy process in which agenda items emerge from each of the six teams, who also convene a policy team to track and champion those priorities. The ECAS policy team meets regularly through the legislative session, and the ECAS backbone provides testimony in support of ECAS policy initiatives, and also supports the efforts of our allies in the early childhood advocacy community, among nonprofits, and in support of the departments that provide so much of the vital safety net of support for young children and their families.
To learn more about our policy efforts, to propose legislative priorities, and to participate in the ECAS policy team, contact Vivian. vivian@ecashawaii.org
www.HawaiiActionStrategy.org
Looking Back / Looking Forward YEARS