Advocacy & Policy

In 2019, the Ready for K Alliance conducted workshops with community stakeholders to identify institutional, local, state, and federal policy priorities for the Alliance. These priorities serve as a guide for the Ready for K Alliance’s advocacy work and provide the foundation upon which specific policies are being developed and supported.

Ready for K Alliance Advocacy and Policy Agenda

Healthy Child Development:

  • Ensure adequate and equitable prenatal care
  • Ensure access to preventative and comprehensive health care for families
  • Increase the use of developmental screenings and referrals
  • Increase access and funding for parenting education and home visiting programs
  • Improve coordination of services between community-based providers
  • Ensure access to safe, affordable housing and healthy care environments
  • Ensure access to healthy food and nutritional supports

Early Care and Education Access & Quality:

  • Ensure programs are culturally and linguistically welcoming and affirming
  • Recognize early care educators as professionals by increasing training requirements and compensation
  • Increase Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) reimbursement rates
  • Expand Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) eligibility
  • Address facility and funding needs to increase the number of full-day, full-year, and non-traditional-hour child care slots
  • Connect funding to KY All Stars 5 Star rating system
  • Create tax incentives, including credits, for businesses to support child care centers
  • Allow high-quality private early care and education programs to access state pre-K funds
  • Increase collaboration between child care, publicly funded pre-K, Head Start, and kindergarten
  • Align high-quality pre-K curriculum across public and private settings
  • Increase public funding for pre-K programs and secure permanent funding for full-day public kindergarten
  • Secure training, resources, and assistance for child care providers to serve children with developmental differences
  • Ensure and improve developmental appropriateness of both pre-K programs and kindergarten

Family & Caregiver Engagement:

  • Increase adult education attainment
  • Improve public transportation systems
  • Support family-friendly policies
  • Create incentives for family engagement

 

View the Ready for K 2023 Kentucky Short Session Bill Tracker

Ready for K Alliance members can make a request for the Alliance to take a position on specific legislation aligned with this collective policy agenda at any time. To ask the Alliance to engage on an issue, please complete this form:

Complete Form Here

Join the Ready for K Alliance Advocacy Network

Interested in receiving advocacy alerts and learning more about Ready for K's policy agenda? Enter your contact information to be added to our list of early childhood advocates. As an advocate, you can expect to receive updates on current legislation Ready for K is advocating for and information on how you and your organization can connect with policy makers to express your support.