Texas PN-3 Newsletter
Greetings PN-3 Collaborative,
Thank you for your tireless efforts to ensure?all children in Texas?are able to begin life with a strong foundation and?have equitable access to health and early learning supports in their homes and communities. With your support, the PN-3 Collaborative made strong progress in 2023 in our advocacy for families with children from the prenatal period to age three. In 2024, we are going to start releasing this newsletter every other month as we prepare for the 89th Legislative Session. Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved in our evolving policy agenda to help extend these wins!
The PN-3 Collaborative is a partnership between CHILDREN AT RISK, TexProtects, and Texans Care for Children. We have partnered to lead a strategic state legislative agenda that aligns with and enhances efforts across the state to assure Texas infants, toddlers, and their families get off to the strongest start. CHILDREN AT RISK will be taking over administrative support for the PN-3 Collaborative.
2023 Accomplishments
The following were successfully passed during the 2023 regular session of the Texas Legislature due to the tireless work of PN-3 Collaborative partners.
- Postpartum health coverage was extended so that moms can keep their Medicaid health insurance for a full 12 months — rather than just 2 months — after their pregnancy.
- Property tax relief for child care providers offers a local option for communities to give a financial boost to child care providers – at a time when providers are closing down and parents are struggling to find quality care for their children.
- The CROWN Act aims to combat and reduce hair discrimination in workplaces, schools, and housing.
- A $65 million increase in prevention programs will serve an additional 20,000 families with young children through community-based home visiting and other prevention strategies designed to reduce child maltreatment, improve maternal and child health, and promote positive family-child relationships.
- A $63 million increase in Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) funding will support life-changing therapies and services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays.?
Advocates also built momentum at the Legislature for future success even when our initiatives did not pass:
- The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill to reduce the uninsured rate for children through “express lane” enrollment of currently eligible children, although the bill did not pass the Senate.
- There was an unprecedented conversation at the Legislature and in the Texas media about state policymakers’ role in supporting child care, including the introduction of a $2.3 billion budget proposal to support child care.
Empowering family and community voices remains central to our work:
- We collaborated with parents, local providers, and others to bring them to the Texas Legislature during the 2023 legislative session to testify at hearings, speak with the media, meet with legislators, and share their perspectives in other ways.
- Elevated community voices in policy and advocacy through various strategies, including Children At Risks’ tour of 12 cities, networks such as TexProtects’ Home Visiting Consortium, and local collaboratives such as North Texas Foster Care Consortium.
- Activated the PN-3 network to advocate for MIECHV reauthorization, which will increase funding for home visiting in Texas starting in 2024, nearly doubling MIECHV funding by 2027.
- Established a PN-3 Parent Advisory Council with representatives from rural, urban, and suburban communities who regularly met to speak up for the needs of parents and caregivers with young children.