Week of the Young Child Shines a Spotlight on ECE

On April 8, early childhood education (ECE) advocates, educators, families and champions joined together to shine a spotlight on the importance of high-quality ECE. The event, held to celebrate the Week of the Young Child, featured a proclamation, a kiddie-sized parade around Pete’s Market, and a special message from Secretary Emilie Amundson of the Department of Children and Families.

Secretary Amundson spoke from the heart, sharing her own personal struggles in securing quality ECE for her kids.

“We spent a lot of time talking about whether one of us was going to need to drop out of the workforce to be able to start a family because we just kept running the numbers,” she said. “We couldn't make the numbers work. We were on probably six or seven different wait lists all before my my boy was even born.”

These days, her story is the norm. Due to the lack of affordable, high-quality ECE slots in the city, many families are facing the same choice - whether to drop out of the workforce or pay a large portion of their salary for child care. Yet the benefits which high-quality early education provide are undeniable. (Listen to educators and champions across Milwaukee explain why it’s so important for the city.)

“As hard as it was, as expensive as it was, it was the most powerful thing that we did for our kiddos in the 0-5 space,” explained Secretary Amundson. “It was the thing that made me so confident that when they hit age 5, when they got to kindergarten, they were going to be ready.”

It was clear that each of the organizations, families and educators in attendance felt the same. This energy was especially palpable during the parade, where attendees carried signs in support of the ECE sector and joined together to call for more funding.

The event also featured 10 different booths, each handing out resources, information and tasty snacks. Kids could even make their own buttons and participate in other hands-on, collaborative activities at the Betty Brinn Wonder Wagon. This kick-off was just the first in a week jam-packed with family-friendly activities celebrating the Week of the Young Child. It was coordinated by the Milwaukee ECE Coalition and their Week of the Young Child planning team, with hopes of holding even bigger celebrations in the coming years.

Vincent Lyles, Milwaukee Succeeds’ executive director, read out the proclamation granted by Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson declaring April 8-12, 2024, to be the Week of the Young Child. He also thanked everyone in attendance, noting the incredible advocacy work that’s happened in the ECE space. His message was simple: We’ve come a long way together, but there’s still a lot left to do.

“Don’t give up,” he told the gathered crowd. “Don’t quit. Our kids are too important for us to just lay by. We’re the ones that make things happen.”