Blog, News & Events

On a recent Friday morning, early childhood educators, policymakers, and advocates gathered virtually to discuss a transformative vision for child care in Minnesota. Hosted by Think Small, the Small Talks ...

Reduce Licensing Micromanagement in Service Quality: Minnesota should ensure children’s safety while freeing child care providers to meet industry standards. At Think Small, our mission is clear — to advance ...

“It literally changed my life,” shares Corinne Martin on the impact of an Early Learning Scholarship for her family. These scholarships help families pay for quality early care and education ...

Think Small has been working with Minnesota lawmakers to introduce legislation that keeps Early Learning Scholarships funded at their current rate for the next two years. Funding is set to ...

As the 2024 legislative session winds down, the pile of ideas on the cutting room floor is growing and, unfortunately, it includes early literacy. It was a bumper biennium with nearly ...

There is broad agreement that Minnesota’s current early care and education system is not working well for parents, children, or providers. Costs for parents are too high to bear. The Great ...

 In the summary of what passed this legislative session, one of the important items was changes and funding for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).CCAP helps families pay for child ...

  Many changes to early care and education policy passed this legislative session. In an attempt to organize and track the milestones ahead, we’ve created this blog post and accompanying ...

  Early Learning Scholarships will see significant changes in the months and years ahead. Early Learning Scholarships give low-income families financial support to help pay for quality early care and ...

  It is no secret to those who work in or rely on child care that the field struggled even before the pandemic. The challenge of covering the actual costs ...

  There’s now a clearer picture of what will become law in 2023. When it comes to early care and education, there is a lot! We’re still digesting, but here’s ...

  House File 2292, the early education omnibus bill, passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by Governor Walz. This bill contains new investments and policy ...

  State legislators are on Spring Break, and omnibus budget bills are available. An omnibus bill is made up of many other bills centered on a specific topic. State legislators ...

  The 2023 State Legislative Session is officially underway. Legislators are meeting with constituents, bills are being drafted and introduced, and committees are holding hearings!  Legislative leaders and Governor Walz ...

The importance of Community Solutions Fund, one grantee speaks out on their experience and the impacts it has on their community.

By: Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Lately I’ve had been feeling extra-inspired by my state and national colleagues about where we’re at when it comes to early care and education policy. It feels ...

As a parent, you are likely eligible to receive the Child Tax Credit.?If you are not yet receiving this credit, you may be missing an opportunity?to receive?up to $300 per child if you?qualify...

By Jacqueline Zhang, Todd Otis Public Policy Intern For many years, Barb Fabre has recognized the need for advocating for and empowering parents in the family and child care sectors. Throughout her ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy & Advocacy Coordinator and Kieu My Phi, Public Policy Intern Talking to your legislators is great way to advocate for young children. Whether your goal ...

By Katie Burke, Public Policy Intern Hello there! You may remember me from the blog post introducing me earlier this year. My name is Katie Burke and I am in ...

By Marie Huey, Think Small Policy and Advocacy Coordinator While the state legislative session is heating up in Minnesota, there’s also plenty to discuss about what is going on with ...

Submitted by Jane Kretzmann, on behalf of Elders for Infants (Glenace Edwall, Dave Ellis, Sandy Heidemann, Jim Nicholie, Glen Palm, and Katie Williams). Elders for Infants is comprised of professionals ...

Submitted by Jane Kretzmann, on behalf of Elders for Infants (Glenace Edwall, Dave Ellis, Sandy Heidemann, Jim Nicholie, Glen Palm, and Katie Williams). Elders for Infants is comprised of professionals ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Are you motivated to advocate for children this year? If you’re looking to support high-quality child care in Minnesota, below are some ...

By Ambar Cristina Hanson, M.P.A., Chief External Relations Officer at Hiawatha Academies and a Steering Committee member of the Voices and Choices for Children Coalition. Over the past several years, ...

U.S. Senator Tina Smith introduced a new bill aimed at reducing the child care shortage in Minnesota and across the nation. The Child Care Supply Improvement Act proposes supports for ...

Think Small’s mission as a nonprofit is to advance quality care and education of children in their crucial early years. We do this by preparing providers, strengthening families and catalyzing ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy CoordinatorThe 2018 legislative session ended on May 22. To explain the implications for the early care and education field, two experts joined us: ...

“Please continue funding programs such as early childhood scholarships.  It definitely makes a difference.  It allows kids to get that extra boost in the beginning so they stay on track ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator The Minnesota State Legislature was off for Easter/Passover Break this week, so Ann Kaner-Roth Policy Hour turned its focus to national issues. ...

Many organizations and individuals are seeking equitable policies and solutions to address persistent inequality. We can no longer support systems that created inequity and maintain inequity. By Voices and Choices ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy CoordinatorFacts and speculation both made appearances at February’s Ann Kaner-Roth Policy Hour at Think Small in Minneapolis, and Sara(h)s abounded.Sarah Orange, Policy Advocate ...

The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...

  Staff from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) presented at November Policy Hour about the changes to child care in Minnesota. During the 2017 legislative session, many changes ...

The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...

By Marie Huey, Public Policy and Advocacy CoordinatorRepresentatives from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) presented at the first Policy Hour of the season. June Reineke and Amanda Varley shared ...

The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...

The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...

The Policies in Play series takes a closer look at the recently passed state legislative policies that affect early care and education. We work with partners to find out what ...

Join us on the playground as we explore Policies in Play! Think Small believes that placing a priority on children and their families through access to high quality early childhood ...

By Todd OtisThe early childhood movement has come a long way in the past twenty years, and has a long way to go.The public now understands the importance of early ...

The final Policy Hour of the season was a double dose of early education information! We heard about changes to Parent Aware and received an end of legislative session update.Parent ...

Minnesota legislators wrapped up the special session last week, and the Governor signed budget bills into law. Read about the new policies and programs that affect early learning throughout the ...

It is great that early learning is a policy priority for the state, and it’s encouraging to hear it continue to be discussed. In a year of $1.6 billion surplus, ...

Field Representative to Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota), Dan Solomon, joined Policy Hour in May to provide updates on federal funding and policies that affect the early learning field.Sen. Franken is ...

This month marks one year since the start of the Think Small blog. To celebrate, we’re using January to highlight information and initiatives from Think Small and our partners about ...

The 2017 Legislative session starts in less than one month. In preparation, Think Small created our policy priorities. The priorities all support our mission of advancing quality care and education ...

The first Minnesota’s Future Policy Hour of the season focused on legislation passed this spring. The presenters provided updates on implementation of projects.

Governor Dayton signed the supplemental budget bill today, allocating $182 million in funding this year and $300 million of funding over the next two years. He is still reviewing the ...

In print and social media, Parent Aware has been a hot topic in the past couple of weeks. Parent Aware is Minnesota’s early education Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). ...

By: Nancy Jost, Early Childhood Coordinator for West Central InitiativeRemember the last time you bought a car? I’m guessing you started by thinking about what is best for you and your ...

A group of high ranking military generals residing in Minnesota sent a letter to legislators encouraging them to invest in Parent Aware, Minnesota’s quality rating system for all early learning ...

The 2016 Children and Youth Issues Briefing this week featured an important and inspiring conversation about the future of early learning in Minnesota.

Think Small is dedicated to continue improving the early learning landscape across Minnesota, impacting the lives of children and the future of our state and starting with the children who ...

A new education law came out of Washington D.C. recently with strong bipartisan support. The new law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, eliminates No Child Left Behind and brings back ...