Washington’s state legislature set aside funding in the 2023-2025 Operating Budget for studies on child benefit policies to reduce child poverty within the state. The goals of the directive were to provide legislators with information and recommendations on fruitful avenues for policy reform. MEF Associates produced this final report synthesizing best practices, current initiatives within the state, and providing recommendations and a feasibility analysis as part of the Washington Child Benefits Feasibility Study.

A new brief presents the findings of MEF Associates and Tufts Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research’s evaluation of the Early Education and Care (EEC) Staff Pilot Program—conducted as part of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Needs Assessment. This pilot provides priority access to child care financial assistance for income-eligible staff working in licensed and funded early education and care programs. The goals of this program are to provide access to affordable child care, support the economic mobility of families, and to promote recruitment and retention of the early care and education workforce. Through a survey and interviews with EEC Staff Pilot participants, this evaluation focused on understanding early experiences with and perceptions of the program. 

A new report series presents the results of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Needs Assessment conducted by MEF Associates and Tufts Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research. Launched in 2023 as part of the state’s Preschool Development Grant, this needs assessment aimed to help address families’ challenges finding high-quality, affordable child care and support the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) in improving families’ access. The needs assessment included a statewide survey and focus groups with caregivers of children up to age 12. These activities were informed by the project’s Needs Assessment and Evaluation Working Group, which included family representatives and individuals from the birth through 5 workforce.  

A poster about family engagement in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start for the National Research Conference on Early Childhood. 

A presentation about family engagement in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start for the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association conference.

A new brief presents the results of a mixed-methods study—conducted by MDRC and MEF Associates as part of the Expanding Children’s Early Learning (ExCEL) Quality project—that explored the feasibility of offering a series of virtual stress management workshops to educators, educators’ perceptions of those workshops, and the overall mental health and well-being of educators who participated in the study. 

In communities with a particular need for services for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers, Head Start programs can apply to convert some preschool-age enrollment slots to Early Head Start slots to better serve their local population.

As part of the Conversions of Enrollment Slots from Head Start to Early Head Start project, MEF Associates and the Urban Institute developed a new series of briefs on these conversions. Learn more about the project and the briefs here.