First Five Nebraska’s Jodi-Renee Girón reflects on the achievements of our 2023-24 PLA graduates and why milestones mean more than finish lines.
Congratulations to our 2023-24 PLA graduates
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Tag: sixpence
LB319 will help families, strengthen child care in Nebraska
Despite the critical need for child care, there are very few supports that make owning and operating a child care program a viable career for educators and entrepreneurs. High employee turnover, low profit margins and burdensome operating costs represent a serious...
First Five Nebraska’s 2023 legislative priorities
Bill introduction in the Nebraska Legislature has concluded, and state senators introduced 812 bills during this first session of the two-year biennium. Each bill will be referred to a committee and receive a public hearing, and then may be advanced for debate by the...
Home visiting benefits babies, families
[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...
Policy Leadership Academy alumni are making an impact, Part 2
As I continue my travels around Nebraska to meet and renew friendships with alumni of the first three classes of the Nebraska Early Childhood Policy Leadership Academy (PLA). I made the easy drive into Grand Island to meet with Robin Dexter (PLA Class 1), associate...
Policy Leadership Academy alumni are making an impact, Part 1
Have you experienced a renewed enjoyment sitting across from a friend or colleague and talking in person over a cup of coffee? The past few weeks I’ve been traveling to different parts of Nebraska to visit with more of the Policy Leadership Academy alumni. We’ve sat...
Sixpence grants awarded to 11 communities
Congratulations to eleven communities across Nebraska that were recently awarded new Sixpence grants to fund high-quality early childhood programs to serve more of our state’s most vulnerable infants and toddlers. The grants were made possible through an increase in...
Becky Veak retires from FFN
Editor’s Note: Becky Veak retired at the end of August after a career advancing public policy that ranged from the Nebraska Legislature to Capitol Hill and state government to becoming the founding director of First Five Nebraska. We offer her our heartfelt thank you...
Sixpence receives funding boost in signed state budget
Nebraska Sixpence programs, which serve children prenatal through age 3, will receive a funding boost for the next two years as outlined in the state biennium budget signed by Governor Pete Ricketts today. Sixpence will receive an additional $2.5 million each of the...
State budget proposal includes additional investments in Sixpence
Enhanced investments in Nebraska’s infants and toddlers are included in the state budget bill for FY2021/22–FY2022/23, which was presented today to the Nebraska Legislature. The bill proposes an increase of $2.5 million per year to the Nebraska Early Childhood...
2 new Sixpence grants connect child care providers, schools to promote quality early learning
Cuts to quality early childhood funding pose a risk-vs.-gain problem for taxpayers
Nebraska’s Corrections system has been the subject of urgent discussion in the Legislature given its insufficient facilities, prison rioting and workforce instability. Reducing state funding for Sixpence and other quality early childhood programs represents a very small savings to taxpayers in the larger scheme of things. If even a few young children at risk eventually drift into the Corrections system, it will be too late to ask ourselves if those savings were worth it.