In 1994, Associated Early Care and Education launched the Boston Early Education Quality Improvement Project with the broad mission “to collaborate with members of the Boston early education community to systematically evaluate, set goals for, and improve upon the quality of early childhood programs.” In 1995, Boston EQUIP conducted its first inventory of the early education system in Boston, collecting data about children, facilities and quality. This original inventory, developed from existing validated and reliable survey tools used elsewhere in early childhood research, went on to become the template for the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Community Profiles surveys. Boston EQUIP has continued to survey the field biannually, with the most recent iteration occurring in 2004. The recently released Early Childhood in Boston: What do children and families need? What's available? How good is it? reports on the data from this most recent survey collection.

Boston EQUIP was a key partner in New England Workforce Partners for Early Care and Education (NEW Partners). NEW Partners was a unique collaboration between Associated Early Care and Education, the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, the Maine-based ACCESS Coalition, and USA Child Care. Funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children, Youth and Families, the project was designed to address the challenge of early care and education workforce recruitment, retention and quality. The project brought together early care and education stakeholders from the six New England states to review, create, and implement data collection and public policy models to address this challenge, and to ultimately create a model for regional data collection and analysis.

Boston EQUIP also has analyzed other city and national data sources for trends in supply & demand and quality of early care and education services. Many of these reports can be found in the Data and Reports section of this website.

The launch of this website coincides with approximately the ten year mark of this project. Boston EQUIP looks forward to continuing to work with the community to provide rigorous and objective data to plan for and create high quality early care and education in Boston.

Ophelia Navarro

Katey Connaghan

We gratefully acknowledge the time and expertise shared with us by the Boston EQUIP Advisory Committee. The committee members and their affiliations are listed here.

Margaret Angell, Boston Public Schools
Doug Baird, Baird Associates
Marty Cowden, Consultant
Dean Elson, Jumpstart
Laurie Glassman, Child Care Choices of Boston
Kelly Graceffa, Child Care Choices of Boston
Barbara Jacobs, ABCD Head Start
Charlotte Kahn, The Boston Foundation
John Kelly, East Boston Social Centers
John Lippitt, MA Department of Public Health
Mav Pardee, Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation
Sharon Scott-Chandler, ABCD Head Start
Rod Southwick, MA Department of Early Education and Care
Yasmina Vinci, Edge Consulting
Pat Xavier, Boston Child Care Alliance

Our work would not be possible without the financial support of these foundations and organizations. Thank you. (They are listed in alphabetical order.)

Associated Early Care and Education

The Boston Community Partnerships for Children

The Boston Foundation

The Community Partnerships for Children At-Risk Enhancement Services (CP Cares)

United Way of Massachusetts Bay

And an anonymous source.