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What’s in a Name? First Things First Knows…. First Things First, an earliest-childhood advocacy group in Arizona that focuses on birth to age 5, does not believe in daycare. They do believe in childcare. “We are trying to help families understand that we don’t take care of their day. We are taking care of their […]

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC takes Silver in coveted Stevie® Awards International Business Award for Company of the Year Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) was selected out of more than 3,700 nominations to receive a Silver award for Company of the Year in the Small Business or Professional Services category. ACS, an Ohio-based minority […]

In the report Driving Implementation of State Paid Leave Programs: The Role of Philanthropy in Ensuring Access to Paid Family and Medical Leave, ACS client, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) examines the role that philanthropy can play in expanding access to paid leave. This report was published in June of 2021, during a time […]

In June of 2021, sixteen academics from top Universities and policy research organizations authored the report, Historic Crisis, Historic Opportunity: Using Evidence to Mitigate the Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis on Young Children and Early Care and Education Programs. This report compiled the findings of 76 high-quality studies, spanning 16 national studies, 45 studies from […]

ACS Alum Rebecca Cohen Helps Unveil Landmark Early Childhood Study at Ford School A major new meta-analysis of research on how the pandemic has affected early childhood education (ECE) is out this month from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. You may recognize a former Advocacy & Communication Solutions (ACS) […]

Place-based foundations have a unique capacity to bring people together, address systemic inequities, and improve quality of life for residents. But to continue building that capacity in response to evolving community needs, foundations must be truly and deeply of and for the communities they serve. When The Arras Foundation in Lancaster, South Carolina, (formally J. […]

The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant: The Atlantic offers a thought-provoking article about reopening schools within a pandemic and the specific, often ignored, and almost insurmountable challenge of staffing challenges that were tough before the pandemic began. The most salient take away might be the following: “The staffing shortages should, to be blunt, change […]

School and early childhood education are both equally important, fostering brain development and a foundation for life-long learning. This Opinion piece in The New York Times argues that our country’s education systems should give them equal weight. Several cities around the US have helped parents of elementary school students with the lack of childcare when […]

Congrats! Cleveland Schools Graduate Rate Increases Nearly 30% The number of students graduating from Cleveland Metropolitan School District has increased 27.9% since the 2010-2011 school year when the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools was launched. That means CMSD’s 4-year graduation rate has reached 80.1% — among the fastest growing in the state. School District CEO […]

ACS Wins Again! Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC takes Bronze in coveted Stevie® Awards International Business Award for Company of the Year Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) was selected out of more than 3,800 nominations to receive bronze for Company of the Year. ACS, an Ohio-based minority and women-owned firm that has been in […]