Happy December!

As we wrap up the year, we’re celebrating the tremendous progress that has been made for young children and families across Montana. We want to begin by thanking you. Your partnership, advocacy, and commitment have helped drive major legislative wins, expand early care and education access, strengthen child care businesses, and elevate local and statewide actions for transformational early childhood services and policy change. Together, we’re shaping an early childhood system that ensures Montana is a great place to grow up and raise a family – today and well into the future. Here are a few highlights from 2025: 

• Policy momentum: This past legislative session, a monumental 15 key early childhood bills were signed into law, including HB 924, a bipartisan infrastructure bill that created a historic Early Childhood Account to guide short and long-term investments in our state’s early care and education system. Hundreds of you participated in the development of the policy agenda, added your names to sign-on letters, testified on bills, and showed up at the capitol for Have a Heart for Kids Day.  

• Strengthening child care businesses: Through Montana Child Care Business Connect, we supported both new and expanding programs as part of our state’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) quality services. At this year’s annual summit, the theme was “Stronger Together” and was thoughtfully planned by the statewide organizations working to elevate child care leaders and providers across Montana.  

• Employer engagement: Through a partnership with Montana DPHHS, participants in the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Grant program implemented family-friendly benefits focused on child care access and affordability to more than 230 employees. Additionally, Family Forward Montana, an initiative of Zero to Five Montana, now serves as a regional partner within the national Best Place for Working Parents® network, helping to establish and expand family-friendly policies that benefit businesses, employees, and the communities where they live and work. 

• Statewide coordination: The Montana Early Childhood Network (MTECN) launched and has grown to more than 100 members who are working collectively to shape the future of early care and education. If you haven’t joined yet, please click here! Additionally, the Early Childhood Tribal Coalition has also rapidly grown and includes representatives from across the state.  

As we look to the year ahead, we remain focused on building a Montana where every child can thrive, families have the support they need, and employers can fully participate in supporting a strong workforce. If you’re interested in any of our services, including child care business supports, family-friendly workplace solutions, policy, advocacy, and community-level assistance, please reach out to us at info@zerotofive.org or visit https://zerotofive.org/.  

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to Montana’s children and families. More to come in 2026! 

-The Zero to Five Montana team  

Join us for a Child Tax Credit Webinar on Dec. 17

Are you curious about what a child tax credit is or how it could support Montana families?

Join the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center and Zero to Five Montana on Dec. 17 at 10 a.m. for "What a Montana Child Tax Credit Could Mean for Families," an informative webinar designed for anyone. We'll break down the basics of a child tax credit and explore other family economic security policies that impact Montanans. 

Whether you’re a parent, a community member, or just curious about policies that strengthen families, this webinar will provide you with clear information of what’s out there and how it could help Montana families. Click below to register!

Coming Soon: Zero to Five Montana in Your Town?

Next spring, Zero to Five Montana is hitting the road for our 2026 Community Conversations: Policy Agenda Road Show. (You can read about our 2024 road show here.) This is an opportunity to talk state policy as well as early childhood issues and concerns in your community in advance of the 2027 legislative session. We are also offering an optional advocacy training session.

Would you like us to visit your neck of the woods to talk about early childhood in your area? If so, please fill out our interest form.

You can also sign up for our advocacy email list and get updates on early childhood policy, action alerts and more! Click the button below. ⬇️

Transition Summit Focuses on Tribal Communities

Eight tribal community teams and 35 participants came together for the Trailblazing Transition Summit held in early November focused on strengthening early childhood transitions in tribal communities for ages birth to age 5.

While two earlier summits helped shape Montana’s broader birth to five transition work, this gathering stood on its own as a powerful two-day gathering centered fully on tribal voices, cultural strengths, and the deep community knowledge that has guided this work from the beginning.

As facilitator, Zero to Five Montana’s Early Childhood Tribal Coordinator Callie Parr reflected, “Some of the most meaningful moments came from simply being together. Teams supported one another, offering ideas, laughter, and presence. And throughout the summit, I watched communities take their visions and turn them into clear, actionable steps that honor culture and create strength for the next generation. I am deeply grateful for the vulnerability, wisdom, and commitment shared by every team. The trust built over these days is something I will carry forward.”

We are grateful to the Bright Futures Birth to Five Project through the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services for their partnership in making this summit possible.

Legislative Interim Update

Stay connected with the Montana Legislature during the interim -- upcoming committee meetings of interest are outlined below.

State Tribal Relations Committee
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 9 a.m., Capitol Room 137

School Funding Commission
Monday, Dec. 15, 8 a.m. via Zoom

Education Interim Budget Committee
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 8 a.m.

Health and Human Services Interim Budget Committee
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 8 a.m.

Legislative Finance Committee
Thursday, Dec. 18, 8 a.m., Capitol Room 137 
 

Announcing a Free New Toolkit for Child Care Leaders!

This Child Care Workforce Recruitment and Retention Toolkit is a compilation of best practices and strategies stemming from the work of our Workforce Recruitment & Retention Initiative. Click here to check it out 🔗

The initiative launched in 2024 in partnership with the Birth-5 Bright Futures Grant through the Montana Department of Health and Human Services. The goal was to create higher employee retention across child care businesses and to develop a model of evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies that can be customized and implemented in programs across the state.

The resources in each section of the online toolkit will help you to better understand your program’s needs and the areas of growth that you would like to focus on. To view the resources in each section, simply click “+” on the section heading and you can open, download, and view the resources.

If you need more support for your business, specifically around recruitment and retention, reach out to us! ✉️ info@zerotofive.org

A Novel Approach to Technical Assistance - Peer Pods!

In our ongoing efforts to provide innovative learning environments to support starting, growing, expanding, stabilizing, and exiting child care businesses across Montana, we have created a new approach to Business Technical Assistance (TA): Peer Pods.

Peer Pods will typically consist of four, 60 minute sessions. Participants will receive six ECP credits upon attendance at all sessions, successful completion of homework, and active participation in the cohort. 🔗 Learn more and sign-up for free by clicking here: childcarebusinessconnect.com/cohorts

For more information or to ask questions, please contact Jason Nitschke, Zero to Five Montana's Senior Child Care Business Advisor, directly at JasonN@ZerotoFive.org.

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Call for Participants for Program Excellence & Administrative Knowledge (PEAK) for Family/Group Programs

Montana Child Care Business Connect is seeking additional family/group programs to participate in our next cohort of PEAK for Family/Group, learning and implementing business practice improvements from the Program Administration Scale Third Edition (PAS-3).

For more information about PEAK cohorts contact Jason at JasonN@ZerotoFive.org or enroll here.

Shared Services

TELEHEALTH
Telehealth and other services powered by AllyHealth support child care providers in Montana and their employees by offering multiple services to help ease daily tasks, all from the convenience of a smart phone 📲 If you'd like to learn more about AllyHealth and how you can enroll for $12 per employee per month, email us at sharedservices@zerotofive.org

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VENDOR DISCOUNTS
Montana Child Care Business Connect Shared Services Vendor Discounts help providers find what they need at a better rate. We have partnered for discounts with Constructive Playthings, Gee Whiz Education, Kaplan, Kaymbu, School Services of Montana, Lakeshore, Kodo, and Food & Supply Source. See our website for more information!

Tiny Trainings Webinars

Find recordings of our previous Tiny Training webinars on the MCCBC YouTube channel, or visit childcarebusinessconnect.com. 

Montana Child Care Business Connect is offering FREE courses through ChildCareTraining.org!

We’ve partnered with ChildCareTraining.org to offer FREE courses with ECP credits. Learn more & access the courses on our website.

1. Small Business Resiliency
2. Employee Recruitment and Retention
3. How to Create a Business Plan
4. Marketing Community and Family Engagement in your Child Care Program
5. Twelve-Minute Risk Management
6. Parent and Employee Handbooks 
7. Understanding Income & Expenses 
8. Budgeting and Saving for Family Child Care Providers