Yesterday, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Strategies for Children’s 9:30 Call, we were thrilled to welcome Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey to the call! 

The 9:30 Call began as a crisis response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the call has evolved into an incredible community of callers who have been with us since the beginning and callers who have joined us along the way.

We want to thank everyone for their participation, including the 440-plus callers who joined us to hear from Governor Healey, who was joined by Massachusetts Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Amy Kershaw, commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care.

This was Healey’s second time on the 9:30 Call. She first appeared on the call in 2021, when she was Massachusetts’ attorney general.

Here’s some of what Healey had to say this week: 

“Congratulations on the fourth anniversary of this call…. It really has made a difference including in how it informs policy. And you saw some of that this year in what we were able to do as an administration and what we look forward to now as we head into year two.”

“I want to begin by acknowledging how inspiring it has been to see how all of you came together during this pandemic in a time of deep crisis and [how] you used that experience to strengthen your community and your solidarity and also your ability to advocate, not only for you as a profession, but for the children and families that you serve.”

“Thank you to all on the call for the work you do every day. I know it’s not easy work. It’s not well paid — but we’re trying to change that — and you are among the most dedicated and passionate professionals in our state. And having visited a number of sites with Pat and Amy over the last year, I’ve seen that up close firsthand, and I’m just really grateful to all of you.”

For Healey, education is a family mission. Healey’s mother, who is in her 80s, still works as a school nurse. And Healey’s stepdad is an educator.

“I want you to know that early education and child care is a top priority for our administration… It’s why we proposed last year and secured $475 million to keep our C3 grants going. In our budget proposal for the upcoming year, we propose that level of funding.”

“We also want to do more than just keep you going. We know that the work involves more than just maintaining the status quo, and this is why we think it’s so important that we find ways to invest in long term solutions with you at the table as partners.”

One such investment is Healey’s proposed Gateway to Pre-K program, an effort to provide all 4-year-olds in the state’s Gateway Cities with access to a low-cost or no-cost pre-k program. Healey expects to serve more than 23,000 kids from low- and moderate-income families. This will be done in part by expanding the reach of the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI).

Healey has also signed an executive order requiring teams from across her administration to work together on child care, acknowledging that “child care is an issue that extends well beyond the Secretary of Education,” and that the field needs help with facilities, workforce constraints, and access to higher education.

“Let’s look at a way to improve wages for educators. Let’s convene with the business community on this because employers really do need to be at the table.”

“We want to and we should be a model for this country. And for me that starts with listening, particularly to those who are on the ground on the frontlines, that is our providers, you all, because you’re best situated to tell us about what is happening [with] the families you serve and what it takes to really thrive and be successful.”

Healey says the main focus for her and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll is “to make Massachusetts more affordable, more competitive, more equitable, and that’s part of what we’re doing with child care and why we’ve got a heavy focus on housing. We’ve got to drive down the cost of housing… So many people are still renting, they can’t even fathom homeownership, which is really the way to close the racial gap in this country.”

Reflecting on her visits to early education and care programs, Healey said, “The best way for me to start my day is with little people and to see their joy… They experience love in these centers and that’s just so precious, and you see that reflected in their eyes and their smile… The other thing I see is just the incredible warmth and dedication of the providers.”

Healey encouraged early childhood providers to share their policy ideas.

“I really do want to know, What are your ideas? What are you seeing with families? What can we do? What should we be doing? Beyond the spaces of EEC, what are you seeing out there?”

Amy O’Leary, Strategies’ executive director, asked the governor what advice she had for the field, and Healey said:

“I would say that your advocacy matters.” And while the field has been advocating for a long time, Covid compelled more people to pay attention. “Don’t take your foot off the gas. Continue… because we need to build on the momentum here as more people have a greater appreciation of and apprehension of how fundamental child care is to the health, development, and growth of our young people, but also to what we do as a state.”

The governor added, “Find a way to fill your cup and remind yourself why it is that you do what you do… Maybe it’s just [impacting] one person… find those small victories. You have them every day because of the nature of your work and your ability to influence how a little one is feeling… giving them self confidence, giving them the tools to go out in this world and be all that they can be… Please remember to hold on to that and know that we are going to continue to work to build the financial resilience, that infrastructure resilience that you need alongside all of this.”

We agree with Governor Healey. Building a strong, statewide early childhood system is everyone’s job, and we’re excited to keep doing this work. 

So happy fourth anniversary of the 9:30 Call! 

Thank you so much to Governor Healey for joining us! 

And let’s keep the momentum going so we can ensure that Massachusetts does become a national leader in providing high-quality, early childhood programs across the state!