Winning Beginning New York

Winning Beginning NY is a statewide coalition working toward the goal of high-quality, affordable and accessible early care and learning for all New York families. Its members include parents, employers, children’s advocates, service providers, labor unions, educators, pediatricians, law enforcement, research and community groups.

Winning Beginning NY began its work in the late 1990s but was formally convened in 2005. The original convening organizations were the Center for Childrens Initiatives (formerly Child Care, Inc.), the Early Care and Learning Council (formerly the Child Care Coordinating Council), the NYS Association for the Education of Young Children, and the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.

Activities of the coalition include:

Advocating for investment in quality early care and learning; Promoting planning, coordination, and implementation strategies that strengthen early care and learning;

Supporting implementation of Universal Prekindergarten through public information, policy analysis, and technical assistance;

Working to build a statewide, birth-to-five, early care and learning system that links: child care, Head Start, preschool special education, home visiting, afterschool programs and Universal Prekindergarten.

The Winning Beginning NYs Budget Requests for 2015 “ 2016 include:

An Essential Foundation to the Full Continuum of Services

1. Quality

   Invest $20 million in increasing quality in early learning through implementation of a quality rating and improvement system, such as QUALITYstarsNY.

2. Continuum of Essential Services for Children Prenatally to 8 Years

Home Visiting

Invest $4 million in the Nurse---Family Partnership (NFP) program.
Maintain $23.5 million and restore $3.5 million for the Healthy Families New York (HFNY) program.
Invest $2 million in evidence---based programs or promising practices.

Early Intervention

Increase reimbursement rates by at least 5%.
Require health insurance companies to contribute to the cost of EI so that young children can receive high---quality services from qualified professionals.

Child Care

Invest an additional $100 million in child care subsidies to serve at least 13,000 children who are eligible and waiting.  Continue to expand that investment to reach $2.2 billion annually by the year 2020 to provide universal access to the estimated 305,000 children of working parents who are currently eligible for and in need of high--- quality early learning.

Pre—K

Add at least $150 million to the Statewide Universal Full---Day Prekindergarten Program to provide upfront funding for districts outside New York City, and fully support New York Citys plan to reach universal service in the 2015---16 school year.

Afterschool

Ensure at least $178.5 million in new funds for afterschool across the entire State.

The Winning Beginning NY Legislative Agenda for 2016-2017 includes

Invest $190 million dollars in child care to maintain and expand subsidies.

Add $150 million to expand access to high-quality full-day and part-day Pre-K for high- need three- and four-year-olds in both early childhood programs in the community as well as public schools. 

Maintain $27.3 million and invest an additional $10.5 million in maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting to adequately fund a continuum of supports and services for families. 

Restore reimbursement rates by at least 5%, require health insurance companies to contribute to the cost of Early Intervention (EI), and reject proposed changes to the evaluation process so that young children can receive high-quality services from qualified professionals.

Increase Advantage After School funding to $69.2 million (add $49.9 million and    restore $2 million from last year,

Winning Beginning NY also supports Paid Family Leave.

Updated February 2016