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Volume 13, Issue 3: March, 2026
"The moment we choose to love, we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love, we begin to move toward freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others"
- bell hooks
Dear Valued Community Member,
Thank you for your shared community and participation in our local Boston Network Connector Newsletter. This month's edition contains a range of opportunities for reflection, engagement, and action. You will find:
- Reflections and Gratitude: The Village Healing Circle for Black Men
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An invitation to the March Network Connection Meeting - Stronger Together: Promoting Family Resilience and Uplifting Intergenerational Wellness
- Opportunities to learn from and connect with our broader network - March GROW.V.BABY Research Roundtable; March NOW Webinar; Boston Breastfeeding Coalition Scholar Support Night; VVN Data Storytelling workshop
- Children's Mental Health Story Times with the Boston Public Library
- Opportunities in your community with VVN Partners
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February Scoop on the Stats featured resource: “Fair Compensation and Stability for Early Childcare Providers"
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The Village Healing Circle for Black Men
We recently launched the Village Healing Circle for Black Men Ambassador Leadership Cohort, a three-day Cohort experience preparing community leaders to facilitate Healing Circles that promote healing, wellness, and belonging for Black men.
We invite you to sign up to our email list receive updates and opportunities to engage, learn, and support healing circles for Black men Boston communities. We also welcome your insights on priority areas, issues, and innovative ideas to help guide our collective efforts to strengthen the wellbeing of men of color in our communities.
If you would like to join the Village Healing Circle Email List, please sign up here >>>
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Network Events & Resources
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March Network Connection Meeting - Stronger Together: Promoting Family Resilience and Uplifting Intergenerational Wellness
Monday March 16th, 2026 | Hybrid
5:30 pm ET in-person at the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, 2300 Washington St, Roxbury, MA 02119, or 6:00 pm ET on Zoom
Join us for this Family Engagement Workshop focused on promoting wellness and resilience through learning strengths-based strategies to navigate stress and adversity, peer networking, community resource sharing, and engaging activities co-designed by Parent/Caregiver Leaders and early childhood partners.
Co-hosted with:
Language justice and childcare services will be available. We request that you register at least one week in advance if you require interpretation services or childcare to participate fully.
Register here >>>
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March GROW.V.BABY Research Roundtable Seminar - Effective State Policies to Strengthen the Early Years with Dr. Cynthia Osborne
Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm ET on Zoom
The GROW.V.BABY Research Network invites you to the next Research Roundtable Seminar. We are honored to welcome Cynthia Osborne (Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center & Vanderbilt University) for this session, titled Effective State Policies to Strengthen the Early Years.
During the Research Roundtable, Cynthia Osborne will explore how state-level prenatal-to-three policies translate evidence into measurable benefits for families. The conversation will cover key components of the Prenatal-to-Three Policy Impact Center's Roadmap, including high-impact policy levers, policy impact calculators, and benefit–cost analyses for policymakers, and resources available through the Clearinghouse. The talk will also highlight emerging policy areas—paid leave, child care, enhanced Medicaid reimbursement, and extended postpartum care—with attention to how evaluated programs and strategies can scale across states.
Register here >>>
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March NOW Webinar - The Practice of Belonging
Thursday March 19th, 2026 | 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET on Zoom
Join us for the first installment of the 2026 NOW Webinar series, The Practice of Belonging. During this kick-off event, we will explore the question, how do we design systems that cultivate shared humanity, connection, and agency in everyday practice? Through real world examples, we will deepen our understanding on how centering humanity, relationship building, and shared responsibility shape communities where people experience dignity, voice and collective care. Through the lens of birth justice, we will learn from local leaders how practices of shared humanity, connection and agency in this movement are moving our collective liberation forward.
Featured Speakers:
- Stefanie D. Belnavis, Founder and Perinatal Movement Psychotherapist, A Bucket For The Well, LLC
- Tayla Kelly, Doula, Birth Assistant, Birth Justice Fellow
- Moderator: Aditi Subramaniam, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Visit the NOW Innovation Forum today at: https://www.networksofopportunity.org/
Register here >>>
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Boston Breastfeeding Coalition Scholars Support Night - New Doula and Lactation Counselor Course
Wednesday March 25th, 2026 | 6:00 - 7:00 pm ET on Zoom
The Boston Breastfeeding Coalition invites you to join part 2 of an Entrepreneurship Workshop focused on turning skills and ideas into income. We’ll talk strategy, local resources, and realistic next steps for where you are right now.
Register here >>>
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Vital Village Networks Data Storytelling Workshop - Who is telling the story of your community?
Next session: Thursday March 26th, 2026 | 5:30 - 6:30 pm ET on Zoom
Join Vital Village for free, virtual Data Storytelling workshop series and build your capacity to create and share stories that support social change using data tools.
The March 26th Workshop will focus on Data Visualization and Geospatial Mapping.
Can’t make the March session? Workshops will also be hosted on April 23rd and May 21st.
Learn more and register for the upcoming session here >>>
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My “Self” in the World Children’s Mental Health Story Times with the Boston Public Library
Virtual Storytimes on Thursdays from 3:30 - 4:00 pm ET on Zoom | In-person dates, times, and locations vary:
Vital Village Networks and the Boston Public Library partner to offer Children's Mental Health Story Times both on Zoom and at your local libraries across Boston. Join us for live and pre-recorded readings, reflections, songs, activities, and more! Story times are intended for children ages 3-8 years old; older and younger siblings are welcome to join the fun! We require a caregiver to attend with their child. See January dates, times & locations on the VVN website Calendar and register for virtual sessions at https://cutt.ly/CMHS-Web-Registry
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Save the Date for the April Network Connection Meeting - Music, Connection, and Community Wellbeing
Monday April 13th, 2026 | Hybrid
5:30 pm ET in-person at FGH Building 820 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118 | 6:00 pm ET virtual on Zoom
This gathering will also serve as an opportunity to hear from the community. Together, we will experience music-based activities, learn about ideas emerging from a community advisory team, and share reflections on how music shows up in our own lives and communities. Your stories, insights, and lived experiences will help inform the next phase of this work as we imagine what a Community Music for Wellbeing offering could look like in practice.
Whether you are a parent, caregiver, community partner, or someone who believes in the power of music and connection, your voice is welcome.
Register here >>>
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Events & Opportunities in Our Community | | | | |
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From Preconception to Infancy: embodying Maternal Health Equity
Friday March 20th, 2026 | 8:00 am - 5:00 pm ET | Chelsea, MA
Join NeighborHealth for a multidisciplinary conference focused on advancing maternal and infant health equity through systems change and collective action.
This event will bring together healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and community leaders to move beyond discussion and into implementation. Throughout the day, participants will engage in breakout sessions and panels addressing workforce expansion, perinatal mental health, policy innovation, home visiting, midwifery and doula integration, teen parent support, and data-driven accountability across the full continuum of care—from preconception through infant health.
Register here >>>
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Fair Compensation and Stability for Early Childcare Providers
Introduction
Early childcare providers play a foundational role in supporting children’s development, family stability, and workforce participation. Yet many early childhood educators face low wages, job instability, and limited benefits. These conditions not only affect providers’ economic security but also contribute to workforce turnover and stress. Stable government investment and fair compensation can strengthen childcare systems and ensure consistent, high-quality care for children and families.
Key Statistics
1: Workforce size: Approximately 991,600 childcare workers are employed in the U.S., highlighting the scale and importance of this workforce.
2: Median wage: The median hourly wage for childcare workers in the U.S. was $15.41 per hour in 2024, significantly lower than the median wage for all occupations ($23.80).
3: Annual earnings: Childcare workers earn a median annual wage of about $32,050, placing the occupation among the lower-paid sectors in the labor market.
4: About 43% of early childcare educators' families rely on public assistance, highlighting the financial challenges many providers face. (source: Change for the Early Care and Education Workforce)
5: Nearly half of early childhood teachers report high daily stress, and educator burnout can negatively affect the quality of childcare and children's social-emotional development. (source: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future)
6: High replacement demand: About 160,200 childcare job openings occur each year, largely because workers leave the field for better-paying jobs. (source for 1, 2, 3, and 6: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)
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Interpretation: This gap shoes how essential care work is compensated significantly less than the broader workforce, contributing to workforce instability and turnover. (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
7: The Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund supplements childcare worker wages by about $10,000–$14,000 annually, helping raise total compensation and support benefits like health insurance, with some lead teachers earning $60,000+ per year.
8: While some states and cities offer temporary childcare workforce support (grants, bonuses, or stabilization funds), Washington, D.C.’s approach is designed to systematically raise educator salaries through a structured pay scale, demonstrating how sustained public investment can strengthen workforce stability.
Conclusion
- Early childhood educators are essential to children’s development, family economic stability, and community well-being. However, low wages and workforce instability can create financial stress and burnout among providers.
- Consistent public investment and fair compensation policies can help stabilize the childcare system, strengthen workforce retention, and ensure that educators are supported in providing high-quality care.
- When childcare providers are valued and supported, children, families, and communities all benefit.
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Stay connected and explore more of our engagement pathways and opportunities across Vital Village Networks programming. You can view upcoming events and opportunities through the gallery snapshot below, by following us on social media, or keeping up with our website calendar and Linktree. | | | | |
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Please consider making a gift today to support our campaign,
Give Where Leaders Grow.
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