DANBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut state representative earned a high honor in Danbury on Aug. 23.
The Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance named state Rep. Rachel Chaleski (R-Danbury) as a 2024 Children’s Champion in a presentation last Friday during the Danbury School Readiness Summer Professional Development Day.
A release announcing the award said it is given to people who make “significant contributions to improving the lives of young children in Connecticut.”
The Early Childhood Alliance is a statewide organization that is committed to ensuring all children are healthy and ready to learn in kindergarten.
“I am humbled to receive this recognition for my bipartisan work on landmark early childhood care and education legislation, which will have an immense impact across the board and ultimately lead to an overall thriving economy to the benefit of all Connecticut students,” Chaleski said, according to the alliance. “Most importantly, this will have long lasting impacts on a child’s life and future success.”
Vanessa Hawke, manager of Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance, presented Chaleski with recognition for her commitment to improving outcomes in the areas of education and economic security for young children and their families, the alliance said.
“Rep. Chaleski played a significant role in this past legislative session and its victories for early childhood. We want to credit her for being the lead Republican sponsor for a bipartisan bill to create the Early Childhood Fund and to create the Tri-Share program, and with helping to make this a truly bipartisan bill that was adopted unanimously by the legislature. We thank her for her advocacy and demonstrating her commitment to young children and caregivers,” Hawke said, according to the alliance.
The alliance notes that the legislation creates a 23-member advisory commission to review and report on the Early Childhood Care and Education’s Fund’s financial health and status as well as submit and update a five-year plan to the legislature on the fund’s expenditures to allow for the longevity and sustainability of the state’s early childhood education and childcare system.
The bill additionally allocates a one-time lump sum payment to childcare workers and launches a pilot Tri-Share Child Care Matching Program, where childcare costs are shared equally between participating employers, employees and the state, according to the alliance.
“By taking a collaborative approach to ensuring the viability of early childhood education through a proposed advisory commission, we can pave a smooth path forward to serving all Connecticut families,” Chaleski said, according to the alliance. “Childcare providers are among the first educators of our children. An infusion of early investments and innovation to supporting early childcare can address the challenges working households face with the growing divide between incomes and the cost of living.”
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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