Dear Partners and Friends,
As we enter the new year, we at the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance (MELA) want to reflect and celebrate all the ways we supported our partners working to improve the lives of Mississippi’s youngest children. In 2024, we saw growing awareness around the importance of affordable, accessible child care for families, and more connection and coordination across issue areas related to infants and toddlers.
Together, we are creating a brighter future for children across Mississippi and are building a strong foundation for our state’s children and future.
2024 Highlights
MELA kicked off 2024 with the 5th annual Early Childhood Capitol Day, bringing child care providers, children, and early childhood development leaders together. We tried some new ideas, attempted a new format, and learned so much. We also followed two bills very closely, House Bill 907 – a bill seeking funding to increase child care funding to increase child care teacher
wages – and Senate Bill 2329 – which reconstituted the early intervention task force. The new session began January 6th, and we will be sharing more information about what is happening. Make sure to stay tuned! Also, save the date for the 2025 Early Childhood Capitol Day, scheduled for Tuesday, February 11th! Click here to register if you would like to join us at the Capitol.
Our state’s Shared Services platform, Mississippi Early Learning Resources, has been steadily growing as more partners at the Department of Human Services learn about funding to increase child and share the valuable information, tools,
and discounts available on the site. We are looking forward to continuing to raise awareness about the value of the platform, and we hope that if you are not using it yet, you will sign up today to take advantage of this free one-stop-shop for child care resources!
In August, we supported the Mississippi Forum For the Future to convene and review the State of Babies in Mississippi and heard from our partners at the Systems Change Lab of the Social Science Research Center at MSU and the Center for Mississippi Health Policy. We are grateful for the attendees that shared their lived experiences, knowledge and professional expertise.
In November, MELA was invited to speak at the joint hearing for the Study Group on Women, Children, and Families and the Labor Force Participation Committee and to share our report about how child care impacts the workforce participation.
We asked Lesia Daniel-Hollingshead, co-owner of My First FunTime and Funtime Child Care in Clinton, to join us and shed light on the complexity of the child care system challenges from the perspective of a child care provider.
MELA was also honored to serve as the backbone support for the Mississippi Economic Council’s Child Care Task Force led by Dr. Cathy Grace. While Mr. Scott Waller and MEC served as the task force convener and Dr. Grace served as the content expert and leader of the group, we were able to play a role by communicating and sharing information with members from child care, early childhood organizations, and the Mississippi business industry in preparation for the meetings. Also, we brought our facilitation experience and collaborative design skills to bear for the group.
We are excited to see the final recommendations MEC publishes as a result of this work and will be sure to share them as soon as we get them.
We also were thrilled to launch, with generous funding from the Southern Education Foundation and in partnership with Tamara Smith, Roberta Avila, Daisy Carter, and Dr. Cathy Grace, the Mississippi Early Childhood Advocacy Council – a small, dedicated group of passionate parents and providers committed to championing the cause of early care and education.
We look forward to working with the Advocacy Council members, connecting with decision-makers, and sharing stories and information about the importance of prioritizing our youngest learners. We will share more about the members and their work in the new year!
As we look forward to 2025, we are filled with hope and excitement! Our collective plans to support early care and education in Mississippi are big, and with your continued help, we know we can achieve even more!
We are also excited to continue as the backbone for the Mississippi Forum For the Future and look forward to supporting even greater cross-sector collaboration and advocacy for babies. We are dedicated to working together, making a bigger impact, and pushing for changes that put our babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families first.
Thank you for being such a key part of our journey. Together, we are building a bright future for every baby born in Mississippi.
Warm regards,
Biz Harris
Executive Director
Mississippi Early Learning Alliance (MELA)