Groundwork Team, As many of you know, Groundwork has been fighting alongside child care advocates across the state for the past couple of years to rectify a child care rate reimbursement injustice in 38 counties across Ohio. These 38 counties, serving nearly 40% of all children receiving publicly funded child care in Ohio, have been receiving lower rate reimbursements than their similar counterparts from the state, making it even more difficult to work towards achieving quality in our rating and improvement system, Step Up to Quality. We are happy to share that last night we received word that the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, with full support of the Administration, is moving forward to rectify this rate injustice by aligning the 38 miscategorized counties with their proper rate group based on the most recent market-rate survey. Thank you for Director Dungey’s leadership and to Governor Kasich’s office for supporting this important fix and working to improve early care and education for children in Ohio. Further detail is forthcoming, but ODJFS is working to complete this transition by December 2018. This is a big win for child advocates in Ohio, especially for those in the 38 miscategorized counties whose efforts to achieve quality have been exponentially more difficult over the past few years. But we know our work is far from over. As we approach the FY20/21 budget cycle, we must work to ensure that Ohio makes investments in early childhood programs that give our most at-risk kids the opportunity to reach their full potential. We hope that you will join us in advocating for Ohio kids by staying engaged on social media, keeping up to date with our latest resources, and participating in our 2019 Budget Advocacy Day on May 8, 2019. The time is now to advance early learning... Ohio can't afford to wait! Warm personal regards, Shannon Jones Executive Director Groundwork Ohio