State policymakers play a pivotal role in driving forward child care policies aimed at improving accessibility, affordability, and quality. The 2025 legislative session marks a crucial moment for states to make further investments in child care funding and policies. This blog post offers a first look at what’s ahead for state policymakers in 2025: pathways for investment, potential challenges, and which governors are already prioritizing child care and early learning policies in their early proposals—and calling on their fellow legislators to follow suit.  

We’re so pleased to welcome two new board members, Dr. Rajiv Suri and Kimberly McDougal. Both bring a wealth of expertise to Child Care Aware of America’s (CCAoA) Board of Directors, and we want to celebrate that knowledge with a two-part Q and A (the second part will be in a March blog post.) This month, we interview Rajiv.  

On Jan. 29, Child Care Aware^® of America (CCAoA) officially joined the Defense Department’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), through a formal induction ceremony. As part of this partnership, CCAoA became one of more than 200 new organizations joining MSEP, adding to the network of more than 850 employers dedicated to recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining military spouses in meaningful careers. 

Maegan Loktoff’s “aha moment” came while attending a virtual presentation provided by Child Care Aware® of America’s (CCAoA) Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery team. Maegan, Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance’s (ECCLA) Executive Director, reached out to CCAoA, sharing, “Disaster readiness is a topic near and dear to my heart and something our members have been asking for!” Recent wildfires underscored the critical need for disaster planning coordination.   

Here’s the second part of a Q and A with Child Care Aware® of America’s Executive Director of Respite Care of America (RCoA) Fran Jamison and Senior Vice President of Program Impact Ariel Ford, we continue the conversation from part one regarding key takeaways from the National Child Care Innovation Summit: Business Leaders in Action and their sessions.