Today's Issue: Marketplace Meets Mom Power; The Real Reason Men Skip ECE; 2 Quick News Hits = 1 full cup of coffee.☕

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🛒 More ECE Partnerships = More Support: 

This could be a big deal. New Hampshire's State Early Learning Alliance (SELA) just launched a one-stop platform connecting childcare providers with business-backed discounts, shared resources, curriculum tools, and telehealth benefits. Better programs mean more options care providers. And when providers win, families win. Simple as that. 👉 Full story HERE

🙋‍♂️ The Unspoken Truth: Why Men Aren't Walking Into ECE Careers

Barely 2.2% of ECE and kindergarten teachers in the U.S. are men. And that number isn't moving. Calvin Moore Jr., CEO of the Council for Professional Recognition and a nationally recognized ECE expert, recently sat down with Education Week to get brutally honest about the forces keeping men out of early childhood classrooms. Here's what the data (and the silence) reveals:

Key Findings:

• Only 2.2% of ECE and kindergarten teachers nationally are men

• 44% of male ECE teachers leave the field within five years — far outpacing their female counterparts

• When boys don't see male teachers, they're less likely to consider teaching as a career — creating a cycle that feeds itself

• This isn't just a pipeline problem. It's a culture problem hiding in plain sight

3 Reasons Men Steer Away From ECE:

1. The Unspoken Stigma 🚫 Society has quietly accepted the idea that a man who wants to work with young children must have something to hide. But it is isolated to ECE (think nursing). That kind of institutional suspicion is a silent "Keep Out" sign posted right at the classroom door.

2. ECE Is Still Labeled "Women's Work" 🏷️ Until this field is treated as the serious, high-value profession it is, rather than a gendered default, the numbers won't budge. Moore is blunt about it: society still views birth-to-5 education as a woman's job. And until that changes? Men will keep walking the other direction.

3. The Pay Just Doesn't Add Up 💸 Low salaries, minimal benefits, and tight margins don't square with what society still expects of male breadwinners. It's not a passion problem, it's a structural one. And right now, the math isn't working in ECE's favor.

The bottom line: A gender-balanced ECE workforce is better for kids. But getting there means saying the uncomfortable things out loud. This Education Week piece goes even deeper — and it's absolutely worth the read. 👉 Full Article HERE

📊 YOUR TURN — Quick Poll for ECE Leaders:

📰 ECE In The News

🏗️ Tacoma Finally Gets the Center It Deserved: After a two-and-a-half-year waitlist and years of hustle, the Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center opened the Cora Whitley Family Center in Tacoma, WA, a $20.9M, 32k-square-foot two-story facility ready to serve up to 300 kids and 60 staff. A ribbon-cutting on July 1 marked the moment. This is what real ECE investment looks like. 👉👉 Full story HERE

📋 Minnesota Means Business on Fraud: Following widespread childcare fraud tied to the $250M Feeding Our Future scandal, including false attendance records, Minnesota's Department of Children, Youth, and Families is now requiring licensed centers receiving Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) payments to submit electronic attendance records. Rollout started June 22, with all CCAP providers to follow. Accountability was turned up a couple of notches. 👉👉 Details HERE

🌐 The Internet is a Playground

📅 On this Day in History: On July 14, 1946, Dr. Benjamin Spock published The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, a book that would go on to sell over 50M copies and fundamentally reshape how parents raised children across generations. His revolutionary message? Trust yourself, be warm, and nurture your kids. Before Spock, parenting advice leaned cold and clinical. He flipped the script. Not a bad philosophy to carry into your classrooms today either. 📚 Tip: Share Spock's core idea — "trust your instincts" — with families at your next parent engagement night. It still lands!

YOUR VOICE COUNTS

Is there a topic you want more info on or want to share a funny story? Then let us know! Shoot us a quick email at [email protected]. This newsletter is for you, and well, you should have a say, don't’ you think?