Our Progress

EMGA’s efforts have resulted in:

INFLUENCING PUBLIC POLICY

Advocate for local and statewide policy and funding to increase access to high-quality early education. EMGA advocacy efforts resulted in:

  • Endorsed the Affordable Child Care Now Campaign

  • Property tax abatement for eligible child care providers passes the statewide ballot. The City of Austin and Travis County unanimously vote to implement the tax abatement at 100%.

  • $16M in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to invest in early childhood initiatives ($11M from the City of Austin and $5M from Travis County).

  • 4 child care bills signed into law during the 88th legislative session: HB12; HB1145; HB1615; HB1905

  • 5 child care bills signed into law during the 87th legislative session: HB2607; HB1792; HB619; SB1555; and SB2081.

  • 5 child care bills signed into law during Texas’ 86th Legislative Session: HB3; HB680; SB568; SB706; and SB708.

  • $15M in SAVE(S) relief funding from the City of Austin to vital economic sectors, which included $5M for child care, $5M for restaurants and bars, and $5M for music venues.

  • $1 Million Child Care Relief Support Fund created to provide grants to childcare centers in Austin. Austin was one of the few Texas cities to establish a grant focused on emergency relief for child care providers.

Raising awareness about FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACES Practices

EMGA works to promoting family-friendly workplace practices as a baseline for improving conditions for young children and families.

  • Produced a Child Care Toolkit for Employers.

  • Engaging over 300 Greater Austin businesses in the national Best Place for Working Parents® initiative to promote research-proven policies that benefit families and have a positive impact on businesses’ profitability.

  • Travis Count Commissioners Court adopts 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

  • Austin City Council implements changes to the land development code regulations for child care facilities that includes waiving parking space restrictions and sets up a grant program to help pay for city fees and permits.

 
 
 

Photo courtesy of Darcy Sprague/Community Impact Newspaper: Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion speaks after Travis County passed the paid parental leave policy.

 

ADVANCING INNOVATION and Education

Incubate, pilot and scale innovative solutions to challenges of access and affordability in the early-childhood sector as well as increase awareness about the importance of early childhood development.

  • Partnered with the U.S Chamber of Commerce Foundation on a report finding that Texas loses billions in economic opportunity due to child care issues. Specifically:

    • Child care issues result in an estimated $9.39B loss annually for Texas’s economy

    • TX loses an estimated $1.8B annually in tax revenue due to child care issues

    • Absences ad employee turnover cost Texas employers an estimated $7.59B per year.

  • Launched a shared service co-design team to build a shared service network for ECE providers utilizing $1.5M in City of Austin approved ARPA funding.

  • Partnered with Good Work Austin to elevate the need for “non-traditional hour” child care for the restaurant sector. This resulted in $1M in ARPA funding from the City of Austin to contract with the Urban Institute to study the current supply and demand for non-traditional hour care.

  • Austin City Council approved the creation of an Austin Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) that can support vital sectors through new public/private partnerships. The proposed bylaws included creating a Board of Directors, which includes representation from the early childhood sector.