2023 MONTANA EARLY CHILDHOOD
POLICY AGENDA 

The 2023 Legislative Session brings an opportunity for Montana's lawmakers to address the vast challenges impacting young children and families in our state. Montana continues to lack crucial investments needed in a child's first five years of life. We are hopeful lawmakers will respond to the calls to action from parents, early care and education providers, and small business owners.  
We are so excited to share the 2023 Zero to Five Montana Policy Agenda with you. This was developed with broad stakeholder engagement through input by over 40 partners (thank you!). You will notice we have held space on the second page of the policy agenda to recognize the various contributors who helped tremendously during this process. To share our appreciation, we are hoping to include partner organization logos and/or names on this document. Even if you were not able to participate in the calls, but you support this work, we invite you to complete this form by 5:00 pm MST on Tuesday, December 20.  

We are already seeing an unprecedented number of early childhood related bill drafts, and are encouraged elected officials will support families by investing in child care, early education, the early care and education workforce, and long-range planning to ensure kids today have career and education opportunities well into the future. As the 2023 Montana Legislative Session quickly approaches, we are working diligently to meet with policymakers, wrap up policy research, track bill drafts, and do so much more to ensure the best start possible for our children and grandchildren. We hope you continue to stay engaged and encourage you to participate in the opportunities below.  

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Zero to Five Montana's Policy Team is hosting a Legislative Kick-off Call at 12:30pm on January 3, 2023. Join us to learn about our recent Early Childhood Poll (2022), early childhood legislative priorities, and all of the great ways you can stay connected with us in the upcoming months. 

STAY UPDATED DURING SESSION

Want to stay updated during session but not sure how? Starting Thursday, January 5, 2023 through the end of session, you can join our Policy Team weekly at 3:30 pm MST for updates on the 2023 Montana Legislative Session. These weekly calls will provide a recap of the week on topics that touch on early childhood, bill status updates, advocacy efforts, and more. We will welcome your questions and hope to hear partner updates, when possible. Feel free to join each week, or just the weeks that make sense for you!