Blog
Mike Feeken joins FFN staff as Business Engagement Associate
Mike Feeken will lead our work to involve the public and private sectors in early childhood efforts as a key strategy for local economic development.
Quality early child care emerges as a key economic development tool
Senior Policy Associate Elizabeth Everett led a panel discussion at this year's Thriving Children conference on the role early childhood plays in a community’s growth and vitality.
Newly developed resource will help new and expectant parents guide children’s early development
New parenting resource will be distributed to families of young children statewide through Nebraska's Preschool Development Grant.
Fremont shows leadership in how communities can invest in quality child care
Fremont City Council approved a $71,121 Local Option Economic Development Loan to enable an area entrepreneur to launch a business that will help address the workforce needs of a much wider circle of employers in the community. The business? Pearl Academy, an early childhood education and care center.
Blueprint Nebraska offers bold vision for state’s early childhood education and infrastructure
Blueprint Nebraska has released its report following a year of gathering information from more than 7,000 Nebraskans and industry leaders to build a roadmap of strategic initiatives to shape the state's future. We're excited to see the plan includes robust early care and learning infrastructure among its priorities.
Elizabeth Everett visits Ogallala and Lewellen to learn about early childhood programs
Senior Policy Associate Elizabeth Everett continues her statewide tour learning about early childhood infrastructure in Nebraska. This trip she's in Ogallala and Lewellen.
Three things Nebraska employers need to know about child care
Nebraska employers statewide face serious challenges when it comes to attracting and retaining talented workers. If you’re an employer with parents of young children on staff, you can bet child care impacts their income, quality of life and ability to stay engaged at work. And that affects your company's productivity and growth.
Governor Ricketts’ economic development conference focuses on growth, challenges
Like affordable housing, public transportation and quality jobs, high-quality child care is necessary to attract and retain a talented workforce in Nebraska communities.
Amanda Felton joins Administrative team
We're excited to welcome Amanda Felton to First Five Nebraska as our new Office Manager. Amanda brings more than seven years of administration and program management experience to FFN.
‘Quality’ child care is about developing healthy children—and healthy businesses
Nebraska urgently needs skilled, highly capable child care providers to thrive—not only as educators and caregivers for young children, but as business owners and entrepreneurs. This was the central theme at Elevate19, a recent conference for current and prospective child care providers from across the state.
Policy Associate Elizabeth Everett begins statewide tour to learn about child care infrastructure
Policy Associate Elizabeth Everett is embarking on a tour around Nebraska this summer to learn about early childhood infrastructure in communities and begin building relationships with community members to identify child care needs and strategies.
What we learned from the 2019 Early Childhood Policy Leadership Academy
The inuagural class of the Nebraska Early Childhood Policy Leadership Academy was as valuable to those of us who helped design the program as it was to the citizen-leaders who participated in it.