March 29, 2022

The Honorable Kevin McCarty
Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education
California State Assembly
State Capitol
1315 10th St, Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable John Laird
Chair, Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education
California Senate
State Capitol
1315 10th St, Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Invest in Early Literacy in the 2022-23 Budget

Dear Chairs McCarty and Laird:

On behalf of Tandem, Partners in Early Learning and the thousands of families we partner with throughout the Bay Area, we applaud the significant early childhood investments Governor Newsom put forth in the 2022-2023 Budget Proposal. In particular, we are thrilled to see $10M for early literacy partnerships, $500M to train and hire literacy coaches and reading specialists, and $200M for multilingual libraries. These investments pose an opportunity for our state to make meaningful changes for children in communities of color which have been impacted by generations of disinvestment.

As the budget process moves ahead, we respectfully request that you protect this funding and recommend that you consider increasing the investment to amplify a two-generation approach. Focusing on the needs of both children and their adult caregivers promotes meaningful gains in early literacy. Additionally, we recommend directing funding opportunities to a diverse group organization, including both local education agencies as well as libraries, community-based organizations, child care providers, and more to support rich community partnerships across the full education ecosystem from early childhood onwards.

Tandem, Partners in Early Learning is a Bay Area nonprofit working at the intersection of social justice and early childhood education. Children aged 0-5 are at the heart of our work; we take a multi-generational approach and partner with families and educators to co-create impactful early learning experiences. Early literacy and language development are core components of our programming. We actively source and maintain a book collection that reflects families’ home languages and cultures in the communities we serve. StoryCycles, our school-to-home book sharing program, provides multicultural, multilingual books and early literacy resources (such as Storytime Activity Guides) for families and professional development for educators. We serve the communities of Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco, reaching around 20,000 children and families annually.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that families, schools, and communities need additional tools and resources to support children’s healthy development and the ability to thrive in school and beyond. Both research and our own experience working with communities show that two-generation programs and policies are effective in fostering beneficial long-term impact for families and communities.

For these reasons, we urge you to support early literacy investments through to the final budget. Investments in early literacy can transform the early learning experiences that form the building blocks for children’s learning.

Sincerely,

Savitha Moorthy
Executive Director
Tandem, Partners in Early Learning