Early Edge Blog
Early Edge Policy Corner: Early Edge’s 2026 B-3 Advocacy Day
July 23, 2026
By: Andrew Avila, Policy Analyst, Early Edge California
On June 25, 2026, I was honored to bring valued members of Early Edge’s Advisory Group Leadership Council to the California State Capitol for their first Advocacy Day. Our collective goal for the day was to visit legislative offices to highlight the importance of Birth to Three (B-3) care by sharing the unique experiences of educators and parents, highlighting what is working well and what is needed to increase access, and explaining what intentionally investing in B-3 care means for them and their children.
Participating members included Jessica Martinez Hernandez, a former student parent from Fresno; Myeisha Jones, a state preschool teacher in Oakland; and Paula Merrigan, a Transitional Kindergarten (TK) teacher in Castro Valley. All three members have been long-standing participants of Early Edge’s Advisory Groups. For the past several years, they’ve shared their stories in meetings with our team, helping to center our work in the lived experiences of families, educators, and caregivers. The trust they’ve built with Early Edge over the years is essential to connecting policy with practice and ensuring our advocacy efforts reflect their needs.
The Early Edge Advisory Group Leadership Council consists of selected members from the Parent Advisory Group, the Educator Advisory Group, and the Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) Advisory Group. The Leadership Council and the three Advisory Groups meet regularly throughout the year for community learning and sharing, which ultimately informs and guides the work and priorities of Early Edge. Over the past few years, we’ve been working closely with Council and Groups on how to engage in advocacy efforts to influence policy at the state and local levels.
We met with seven legislative offices including the offices of Assemblymember David Alvarez, Assemblymember Dr. Darshana Patel, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, Assemblymember José Luis Solache, and Senator Caroline Menjivar.
Our Leadership Council members shared the following personal experiences when they met with legislative staff:
As a parent, Jessica shared how, while she was away in college, she was unable to secure subsidized child care and did not receive the support she needed from her college to do so. When she returned home to Fresno, she encountered the same problem, remaining on waitlists and was never able to secure the subsidized child care or state preschool she qualified for, having to rely on family and friends to care for her child.
As a state preschool educator, Myeisha pointed out that parents are too often unaware of the eligibility and availability of all early learning and care programs in their communities, underscoring the need for school districts to communicate with families and equip them with information they need to make the choices that best meet the needs for their young children. Even as a state preschool teacher herself, she personally struggled with getting her son into a preschool program.
As a TK educator, Paula explained how she can clearly see the different levels of development and behavior among four-year-olds as they enter and exit TK. She is able to tell a stark difference in the behavior and learning experiences between children who had attended child care and/or state preschool before entering TK and those who had not attended either.
Although each member shared a unique perspective with the legislative offices, they all ended on the same message: a lack of access to subsidized child care and state preschool has real and lasting consequences for families’ economic stability, children’s early development, and parents’ ability to work or continue their education.
In addition to sharing their experiences and insights, members also expressed appreciation for what was included in the finalized 2026–27 budget, particularly the funding for 22,770 additional child care slots and $10 million for bilingual teacher pathways. You can read Early Edge’s statement on the final budget here.
They also shared what they hope to see in the next state budget cycle which included increasing access to B-3 care through meaningful and intentional investments, implementing rate reform by adopting an alternative methodology that reflects the true cost of providing care, funding additional slots for contract-based general child care and state preschool, strengthening Universal Prekindergarten by supporting local educational agencies as they serve younger children and coordinate with community providers, and expanding access to child care and supports for parenting students with young children in college.
At the end of the day, what I saw were satisfied faces. The members shared with me how important it meant for them to use their expertise outside of the classroom, using their voice to uplift issues in the rooms where policy and budget decisions are being made, which ultimately affects access to quality care for young children.
As for me, bringing experts from the field to talk directly with legislators and their staff is my favorite part of my job, and one of the most rewarding. Providing opportunities for constituents to be heard by policymakers and influence how decisions are made is crucial to effective policymaking.
Learn more about how the B-3 advocacy day connects to our policy work by reading our 2026 Policy Agenda and visiting our Birth to Three Care page.
