Glossary
Early Childhood History, Organizing, Ethos, and Strategy terms.
Child Care Employee Project (CCEP) and the Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW)
Beginning in 1981, the California-based Child Care Employee Project (CCEP) served as the organizational home for the compensation movement and ultimately the Worthy Wage Campaign. With a transition to Washington, D.C., in 1994, CCEP briefly became known as the National Center for the Early Childhood Workforce (NCECW). In 1997, the name was changed to the Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW); this name was retained through the transition to the American Federation of Teachers Educational Fund (AFT-EF) in 2002.
Day Nurseries
Day nurseries were institutions providing care for employed mothers, many of them women of color or immigrants to the United States, between the late 19th century and WW2. Day nurseries (now called child care centers) were often deprioritized for public funding due to the ideal of mothers staying at home with their youngest children. Most funding came from private sources, which has impacted access and resulted in an ongoing struggle in the field of early care and education.
Kindergartens
Kindergarten began as a stratified system of private kindergartens for the children of wealthy families and charity or “free” kindergartens for poor children. The inclusion of kindergarten in our publicly funded school system is the result of a long history of women’s activism to universalize a radically different educational program for young learners. These efforts started in the 1870s and extended well into the second half of the 20th century. Advocates sought public investment for the programs, which originally served young learners from three to six years old.
Post-Emancipation
A term used to describe the time period after the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which freed enslaved Africans.
Public Good
Services broadly available to all members of society, such as roads, highways, national defense, and public education, that are funded by taxpayers and administered by the government.