
Ready Louisiana Coalition 2022 Legislative
Joint Statement
The Ready Louisiana Coalition — a nonpartisan, nonpolitical group of more than 115 chambers of commerce, civic organizations, businesses, and advocacy organizations representing more than 1 million people in Louisiana’s workforce — believes that investing in high-quality early care and education will prepare our youngest children for a smart start in life, enable families to be productive in the workforce, and serve as an economic engine for communities across Louisiana.
We, the Ready Louisiana Coalition, urge the Legislature to appropriate $94 million of state funds to early care and education programs which will:
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Expand access for at-risk children, birth to age three, to receive full-time, year-round quality care;
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Improve quality for LA4 programs, which has been shown to produce positive long-term outcomes for the children who participate in it;
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Incentivize local investment in early care and education by using one-time funds to offer communities a dollar-for-dollar match on their efforts;
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Give thousands of parents the support they need to be productive members of the workforce while choosing the high-quality early care and education programs that work best for their children;
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Grow early care and education jobs needed to serve children in communities all across the state;
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Support child care businesses across Louisiana, ensuring they continue providing high-quality experiences preparing our youngest learners to enter kindergarten while their parents work, look for work, or go to school; and
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Strengthen the Louisiana economy, which loses $1.3 billion a year due to the impacts of child care breakdowns on working parents.
Louisiana needs to invest more in children.
For three years, Louisiana has experienced a budget surplus while spending less than one-half of 1% of its revenue on the early care and education of our youngest children. The legislatively created Early Childhood Care and Education Commission charted a course in 2019 with the LA B to 3 Report, finding that there were 114,000 at-risk children birth to age 3 in the state who did not have access to quality early care and education experiences, and that we needed to invest over the next decade to ensure that all Louisiana children begin kindergarten ready to succeed.
Investing in early care and education is one of the best investments we can make, with a return on investment of up to 13% per year. Appropriating $44 million in ongoing state funds and $50 million in one-time funds to improve preschool programs, expand access to child care assistance, and incentivize greater local investment in early care and education is the right choice for Louisiana in 2022. As we invest more in children, the state spends less on remedial education, social programs, and criminal justice in the long-term, while helping children learn and parents work today. Children only get one chance at childhood and one chance at learning the fundamentals—how to count, how to talk, how to process. Let’s take action for children now.
Louisiana workers need support to access quality child care.
Louisiana employers lose hundreds of millions every year from employee absences and turnover due to child care issues. The lack of affordable, quality early care affects not only the workforce of tomorrow, but has a substantial impact on the workforce of today in terms of worker participation and productivity. Economic studies show that states all over the country are losing hundreds of millions, if not billions, in economic activity due to child care breakdowns—and Louisiana loses $1.3 billion a year.
The pandemic highlighted a stark reality for many Louisiana families and businesses—parents cannot go to work without access to reliable care for their children. Families are the foundation of our communities, but too many Louisiana families are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table. While two-thirds of Louisiana children have both of their parents or their single parent in the workforce, less than 15% of children under age 4 from low-income households have access to a quality, publicly funded early care and education program. We know the consequences of our growing income gap. Without accessible, affordable early care and education, our children will endure an opportunity gap as well.
We, the Ready Louisiana Coalition, urge our leaders to invest $94 million in early care and education programs during the 2022 General Session to ensure children have the quality early learning experiences they need and to support Louisiana working families.
The Following 96 Organizations Join In Support of This Statement











Gulf Coast Resources

Hayes Strategic Solutions
Innovations in Education







MMB LA LLC



































Early Learning Focus






































Business Organizations
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Baton Rouge Area Chamber
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Business Council of New Orleans
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Central City Chamber of Commerce
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Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce
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Chamber Southwest Louisiana
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Committee of 100 for Economic Development, Inc.
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Committee of 100 of Northwest Louisiana
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Gambel Communications
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Greater New Orleans Inc.
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Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
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Gulf Coast Resources Louisiana
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Pelican State Partners
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Hispanic Chamber of New Orleans
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Innovations in Education
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Jefferson Business Council
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Jefferson Chamber
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Jones Walker, LLP
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Kenner Business Association
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Learning Matters LLC
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Link Restaurant Group
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Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
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Louisiana Association of Business & Industry
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Louisiana Early Childhood Business Roundtable
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Monroe Chamber of Commerce
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MMB LA LLC
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Natchitoches Chamber
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New Orleans Business Alliance
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New Orleans Chamber
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New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce
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North Louisiana Economic Partnership
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Northshore Business Council
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One Acadiana
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River Region Chamber of Commerce
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Ruston Kiwanis
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Ruston Lincoln Chamber of Commerce
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Resourcefull Consulting
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Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance
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St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce
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The New Orleans Coalition
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Visions Consulting Firm
Faith Organizations
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Bread or Stones Campaign
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National Council of Jewish Women, Greater New Orleans Section
United Ways
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Capital Area United Way
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Louisiana Association of United Ways
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St. John United Way
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St. Landry Evangeline United Way
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United Way of Acadiana
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United Way of Central Louisiana
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United Way of Iberia
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United Way of Northeast Louisiana
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United Way of Northwest Louisiana
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United Way of Southeast Louisiana
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United Way of Southwest Louisiana
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Women United – United Way of Southeast Louisiana
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Women United – United Way of Southwest Louisiana
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Women United – St. Landry Evangeline United Way
Community & Advocacy Organizations
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Agenda for Children
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American Association of University Women of Louisiana
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American Heart Association
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Baton Rouge Alliance for Students
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Baton Rouge Early Childhood Education Collaborative
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Center for Development and Learning
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Child Care Association of Louisiana
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Children’s Coalition of Northeast Louisiana
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Community Foundation of North Louisiana
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Citizens for One Greater New Orleans
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Democrats for Education Reform
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Early Learning Focus
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Education Right Now Louisiana
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Ellevate Louisiana
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Forum 225
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Health and Education Alliance of Louisiana
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Independent Women’s Organization
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Institute of Mental Hygiene
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Jefferson Early Childhood Collaborative Network
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League of Women Voters of Louisiana
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Lift Louisiana
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Louisiana Budget Project
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Louisiana CASA
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Louisiana Children’s Museum
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Louisiana Chapter - American Association of Pediatrics
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Louisiana NOW
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Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families
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Louisiana Policy Institute for Children
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Louisiana Progress
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Louisiana Public Health Institute
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National Council of 100 Black Women, Greater New Orleans Chapter
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New Orleans Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
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New Orleans NOW
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NSU Child and Family Network
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Orleans Public Education Network
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Ready Start Jefferson
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Save the Children Action Network
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Step Forward
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Stand for Children Louisiana
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The Early Childhood Development Center of Avoyelles
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The Education Trust
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The Power Coalition for Equity & Justice
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Urban League of Louisiana
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University of Louisiana at Lafayette- Blanco Center
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Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge
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YMCA Capital Area
Child Care Providers
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Beary Cherry Tree Child Development Center
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Carlie Care Kids
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Creative Kidz & Creative Kidz II
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East St. Tammany Rainbow Child Care Center, Inc.
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Jolly Kids Early Learning Center
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Kids of Excellence
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Kingsley House
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My Training Grounds
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Open Minds Open Hearts Daycare Center
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Weatherford Academy Learning
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Wilcox Learning Academy
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Young Scholars Academy