ACCEE Fund Implementation Team Publishes Final Report and Recommended Budget

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Today, the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education (ACCEE) Fund Implementation Team published its final report and recommended budget for 2025. All report documents are available on the ACCEE Fund website: Child Care in Anchorage

Approved by the Anchorage Assembly on November 21, 2023, AR 2023-404, As Amended established the ACCEE Fund Implementation Team, a private and public partnership between the Municipality of Anchorage and the Alaska Children's Trust. The Implementation Team comprises two Assembly Members, staff from the Anchorage Health Department, a School Board Member, representatives from Head Start, thread Alaska, JBER, community leaders, child care and early education providers, the business community and parents.

As a parent and co-chair of the ACCEE Fund Implementation Team, Jessica Simonsen said, "The Implementation Team's final report reflects ten months of work to understand the problem at hand. The sector is in crisis; the expected $5 million in annual revenue is not enough to fill the deep need for funding throughout the sector, but we must begin somewhere. It's our belief, building on the feedback of hundreds of parents and practitioners throughout this process, that we should start with improving access, and our proposed budget aims to do that."

The team's budget recommendations were submitted to Mayor LaFrance for consideration as the Administration prepares their FY25 proposed municipal operations & capital budgets.

As members of the Implementation Team, Assembly Members Anna Brawley and Kameron Perez-Verdia shared the following statement: "The submission of the final report and budget recommendations marks the end of a near-year-long, community-directed effort to lay the foundation for the important work the ACCEE Fund will accomplish in the years to come. It was an honor to work with so many incredible community members, including Jessica and our other co-chair, Trevor Storrs, who are so deeply invested not only in the success of the fund, but in our kids -- the future of Anchorage."

For more information about the ACCEE Fund, including the Implementation Team and the Board, please visit the ACCEE Fund website at www.careforkidsanchorage.com.

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Contact:

Anna Brawley | District 3, West Anchorage
[email protected]

Kameron Perez-Verdia | District 3, West Anchorage
[email protected]​

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