Mitchell Clark joined First Five Nebraska (FFN) this month as Policy Advisor. He comes to FFN from the Nebraska Legislature, where he served most recently as legislative aide to State Senator John Stinner, District 48, and research analyst for the Appropriations...
“It’s about long-term momentum.” It takes a lot to give young children the best possible start in life. It takes cohesive, resilient families who are prepared to address children’s earliest developmental needs. It takes quality early childhood services and supports to...
First Five Nebraska’s Data and Policy Researcher Dr. Katie Bass testified at two hearings before the Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Oct. 7. The hearings were for interim study resolutions LR266 and LR378, both introduced by State Senator...
It’s one thing to know that a significant portion of Nebraska’s youngest children begin their lives in households facing serious financial challenges. It’s another thing to see how those children are distributed across our state’s legislative districts. This week,...
The Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research (NAECR) has selected six faculty members to serve as Policy Fellows for the 2022-23 academic year. The NAECR Policy Fellows Program is designed to educate early childhood researchers on policy processes, impacts and...
[First Five Nebraska Policy Advisor Sara Howard testified before the Lincoln City Council in support of Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird's proposal to include home visiting in the city's annual budget. This blog is adapted from Howard's written testimony.] Healthy moms and...
Editor's Note: This is part of a series of blog posts by Nebraska's term-limited senators reflecting on their time in the Nebraska Legislature. We thank State Senator Matt Williams for his dedication and service to Nebraska and District 36. Over my eight years in the...
Nebraska Early Childhood Policy Leadership Academy is accepting applications for the next class through July 22. Created by First Five Nebraska four years ago, the Policy Leadership Academy (PLA) is Nebraska’s premier, non-partisan leadership development program...
First Five Nebraska will work with state senators on five interim studies this year. Interim studies, conducted annually after the Legislature adjourns its session sine die, give senators and legislative committees the opportunity to delve deeper into topics of policy...
The second cohort of the Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research (NAECR) Policy Fellows program concluded April 13 with a panel presentation at the CYFS Summit on Research in Early Childhood. The Research Summit is a bi-annual event co-sponsored by the Nebraska...
On Monday afternoon, Nebraska took one step closer to deciding how best to use its $1.04 billion allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding with the adoption of AM2580 into LB1014, which was referred out of the Appropriations Committee earlier this month....
Our Early Childhood Policy Leadership Academy Class 3 brought six months of advocacy training and their years of community expertise to a powerful culmination with an in-person visit to the State Capitol on February 16. This event is the highlight of each class of the...