RESOURCES

1. United Way ACCEE-funded Employer Child Care Cost Share Feasibility Study (Dec 2025)

2. Funded 2025 Pilot and Capital Projects

3. Child Care & Early Education White Paper, Austin Quinn-Davidson, March 2024

4. ACCEE Fund Community Survey, March 2024

5. ACCEE Fund Community Survey summary, March 2024

1. Municipality of Anchorage ACCEE Fund Implementation Team Final Report, September 2024

2. IT Final Report, Appendix A (Proposed 2025 Budget)

3. IT Final Report, Appendix B (List of IT Members)

4. IT Final Report, Appendix C (IT Meeting Notes)

5. IT Final Report, Appendix D (White Paper)

6. IT Final Report, Appendix E (Survey Summary)

7. IT Final Report, Appendix F (Short Survey Summary)

8. IT Final Report, Appendix G (Sample IT Presentation)

9. IT Final Report, Appendix H (Funding Recommendations Matrix)

10. IT Final Report, Appendix I (Goals, Guiding Principles, & Approach)

11. IT Final Report, Appendix J (IT Budget Worksheet Summary)

12. IT Final Report, Appendix K (Q &A to Inform Funding Recommendations)

13. IT Final Report, Appendix L (Letter from School-Age Providers)

14. IT Final Report, Appendix M (Anchorage Assembly ACCEE Fund Documents)

15. IT Final Report, Appendix N (Proposition 14, 2023)

16. IT Final Report, Appendix O (State of Alaska Task Force on Child Care Documents)

In April of 2023, Anchorage residents voted and passed Proposition 14 - Anchorage’s Child Care and Early Education Fund. The funds began accumulating in January of 2024, with an estimated five million dollars available annually.

To ensure ACCEE funds are used effectively, a private and public partnership between the Municipality of Anchorage and the Alaska Children’s Trust was formed soon after Proposition 14 passed. The Implementation Team was then brought together in the fall of 2023 to build a sustainable system for Anchorage families; analyze child care and early education best practices, strategies, and trends; communicate and engage with the public about the ACCEE Fund; participate in listening sessions and meet with other stakeholders, such as providers, parents, businesses, and community partners; detail how best to use ACCEE funds immediately as well as how to build a sustainable system for our families; bring forward an ordinance to the Anchorage Assembly that lays out the ACCEE Fund Board’s responsibilities, composition, and operations; and support the Board as it was being seated. The ACCEE Fund Board now provides oversight and advice of the Fund.

The Implementation Team provided its final report and proposed budget to the Mayor and Assembly on September 2, 2024. The Mayor considered that budget while putting together her proposed 2025 Municipal budget, including for the ACCEE Fund. In November 2024, the Assembly passed a final 2025 budget. The Board, Municipal staff, and ACCEE Fund Interim Executive Director then worked to implement these nascent programs. The ACCEE Fund Board will propose all future budgets to the Mayor and Assembly annually.

Members of the Implementation Team brought a range of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds, all in support of advancing and supporting a more sustainable child care and early education system in Anchorage.

1. Katrina Ahlfield
   Executive Director of Kids’ Corps, Inc., a Head Start federal program that promotes school readiness for low-income children ages birth-five

2. Anna Brawley
   Anchorage Assembly member 

3. Branwen Collier
   Director & Owner, Early Learning for Everyone 

4. Eric Croft
   Proposition 14 campaign team member and former Representative in the State of Alaska House of Representatives. Croft is also a former Anchorage Assembly and Anchorage School Board member. 

5. Jade Hayden
   Founder, Hmoob Cultural Center of Alaska 

6. Carl Jacobs
   Vice President, Anchorage School Board 

7. Nora Matell
   Parent 

8. Kathleen McArdle
   President/CEO of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce 

9. Melinda Myers
   Chief Operating Officer at thread, Alaska’s child care resource and referral organization 

10. Kameron Perez-Verdia
    Anchorage Assembly member 

11. Ethan Pettigrew
    Executive Director, Cook Inlet Native Head Start 

12. Kimberly Rash
    Anchorage Health Department Acting Director 

13. Dawn Skeete
    Child Care Licensing Program Supervisor at the Anchorage Health Department 

14. Jessica Simonsen
    Parent 

15. Trevor Storrs
    Proposition 14 campaign team member and President & CEO of Alaska Children’s Trust 

16. Heather Weafer
    JBER representative, U.S. Air Force, 
    Flight Chief, Child and Youth Programs

• Governor’s Task Force on Child Care Report #2, September 2024

• Governor’s Task Force on Child Care Report #1, December 2023

• Governor’s Child Care Task Force Preliminary Recommendations, November 2023

• State of Alaska Task Force on Child Care, List of Resources (website)

1. Alaska Child Care Study Shows Sizable State Subsidy Gap, Anchorage Daily News, August 2024 (website)

2. Child Care in Alaska: The True Cost of Care, McKinley Research Group LLC, August 2024

3. For Child Care Workers, State Aid for Their Own Kids’ Care is “Life-Changing;” Alaska Beacon, June 2024 (website)

4. 2023 Alaska Child Care Market Price Survey Report, Institute of Social and Economic Research, May 2024

5. Child Care Focus Groups Final Report, Agnew::Beck Consulting, December 2023

6. The Early Childhood Education Workforce in Alaska: Challenges and Opportunities, Stellar Group, December 2023

7. The Early Childhood Workforce in Alaska: Challenges and Opportunities, Executive Summary

8. Stellar Group: Early Childhood Education Workforce in Alaska: Preliminary Findings presentation, November 2023 (also contains Agnew::Beck Focus Group report and presentation by federal Office of Child Care)

1. Bipartisan Policy Center, thread summit presentation, October 2023

2. North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives Cost of Child Care graphic, thread summit presentation, October 2023

3. McKinley Research Group LLC, thread summit presentation, October 2023

4. McKinley Research Group: Role of Early Care & Education in Alaska’s Economy, October 2023

5. Center for Economic Development: Child Care and the Economy, thread summit presentation, October 2023

6. Alaska Chamber of Commerce, thread summit presentation, October 2023

1. Nevada Early Care & Education Workforce Framework, June 2023

2. Nevada Early Care & Education Workforce Framework Summary, July 2023

3. U.S Chamber of Commerce Foundation: How Childcare Impacts Alaska’s Workforce Productivity and the State Economy, 2021

1. King County WA Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan, 2021

2. King County WA Best Starts Subsidy Program and Workforce Demonstration Project flier

3. King County WA Best Starts Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health flier