 Hello, everyone. Thank you for tuning in to Straight Talk Vermont show. I'm Bruce Wilson, executive director of Straight Talk Vermont. And Service Render is actually our parent company. I'm very happy today to have an incredible guest. I'll talk to our guests in a minute. But first, I wanted to do some announcements. As you most, you know, a lot of you know about, we have this incredible art gallery in a university mall called Art's So Wonderful Gallery and Performing Center. And it's open for each of the public, primarily Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 to 5.30. Those hours are going to change. Some winter hours are going to make it more accessible and timely for people. But we have some coming in and bringing your kids and bringing everybody there and coming in and look at all the incredible art that we have there. Over 400 pieces from artists from around Vermont are so amazing. Each time I'm going in and I sit there and look at the art and just an image, you know, a lot of different medias and people who are so creative with art. And so on, what is it, October 20th, we're going to have a big black history showcase of artists. We're going to be performing there from 6 to 8 p.m. Coming in and enjoy some poetry, some music, some all kind of different folks performing. And that's going to be a start of our new performances and events that we're going to do at Art's So Wonderful Gallery and Performing Center. On November 8th, we're going to have Vermont Youth Symphony Orchestra, which I'm just telling the alley. I'm so excited about that. Oh, God, I can't wait to see all those youth perform. It's going to be over. It's going to be all the youth performing, 80 youth performing at Art's Space. Art's Space is 8,000 square feet, so it's nice and it can accommodate those individuals. But right now, I'd like to introduce our guest, Allie Richards from Let's Grow Kids and Allie, she's Executive Director. Let's talk about you for a minute. Thank you for being our guest on our show. Thank you very much. And we love Let's Grow Kids. I mean, wow, you guys have done so much. I think it's going to be permanent fun. Yeah, permanent fun. So you changed that in what, like 2000 or so? Around 2015. That was when the moment we said, okay, final phase here. What's the campaign? What's the mission? What's the time frame? High-quality, affordable childcare for all who need it by 2025. And here we are 2023. And we're getting it done. Like you said, I appreciate, you know, your long sort of history and understanding of what we do and excited to talk with you about it. Oh, yeah. So, wow, so let's talk about exactly what you do. So, well, let's talk about first of all, you're the Executive Director. So you're the numero uno, you know, grand poobah, you know, number one, aka number one. So, which is awesome. And you're no better person than you could do the job. So how did you get involved with Let's Grow Kids? Well, I mean, and it's a perk of the job that I get to be the spokesperson out here representing this movement. And that's what it is. And that's what's so exciting. It's why we are where we are today. And we'll get into all that. But I, you know, I grew up in Vermont, and I went out of state to, you know, go to college. So my wild oats, you know, I found myself in DC, where I was working on the first Obama campaign. And honestly, you know, I was so excited to make change right from the center. And what I found was that's not happening, actually. You know, there's no civic discourse. People who don't want to agree with each other don't talk to each other. They don't work together. They don't even go to the same restaurants. And so I actually became quite disillusioned. And I needed to roll my sleeves up and be part of real work. And so my husband and I felt the same way. We were young in our 20s and, you know, having great time. But it wasn't fulfilling in any way. So we came back to Vermont as fast as we could. And I started working for the governor. And I was his special projects person. I became deputy chief of staff. But it was sort of this crash course in coming back to Vermont, being out there, traveling all over the state with him, hearing from Vermonters. And the special projects for me. How do you tell me, Scott? This was Shumlet. Shumlet. Yep. This was about 15 years ago. Oh my gosh. Oh, yeah. So, and I didn't know him at all. I came home because I heard about a gubernatorial candidate who was talking about climate change. You know, he's the first public official that used the phrase climate change. That was 2011. Wow. That's scary, right? Talking about early child education. Talking about re, you know, diverting money from corrections to pay for upstream things, you know, intervention prevention. So that caught my attention. Here I am banging my head against the wall in DC. And we're like, nope, new theory of change. Go home, let's make a difference, and we'll role model good policy. And we'll show what it does. And so that's what I got involved in now. The special projects was interesting going around Vermont listening to Vermonters. All the problems we care about here. If you go upstream, there is one that impacts all of them, our kids, at the most critical time in their development. So my special project became childcare, became high quality early learning opportunities for all kids. And then that became my life because I got recruited to run Let's Grow Kids in 2015 from the governor's office because I was doing this work from the state side with these private partners, philanthropic partners, you know, sort of this great public-private cooperation. And they sort of said, you know, you really want to do this, let's do this. And I came to Let's Grow Kids in 2015, spent eight years. And like you said, we're on a journey. Well, like I was saying earlier about our good friend, Governor Shumlin, you know, he's an awesome person. You know, he's been on this show before, straight talk from our show. And he's come to all our youth events. And at the time, we had youth centers in every mall, chill out centers. And I miss him a lot. You know what I really do? I got to go to his little small town in Putney and find him. You should visit. I bet he'd like that. It's so funny because he's not probably not many people who are there and he looks like me. But so I'm glad that he did a lot of work, you know. And also, I worked with him and TJ to create a program for the state's attorney. What was the name of it? We'll get individuals in courts faster than they would go through traditional courses. And they would do their work through the state's attorney's office. And they'll get there, whatever they need, like community service opportunities. Diversion? Yeah, just lack of a diversion. Yeah. So I was happy. I was telling TJ we need to do that for years. And the governor said, yeah, one day they come meet me at King Street and we presented the program. And I was so happy. Rapid intervention. Rapid intervention. And that's a beautiful thing. And that is, again, when people have good ideas and they're really seeing the different dimensions of it and then they collaborate like that, change can happen fast. We've seen that. Yes. Because a lot of people just need to go through traditional court system. Some of them need to be, all of them need to be accountable for what their actions were. But they all need this opportunity to be able to showcase their talents. And we need to help with their goals and aspirations. And I get them on the right track based on what their goals and aspirations are. And as you will know, I mean, I know it may seem like a tangent, but it's not. It's so related to early child education. As you know, Bruce, I mean, what's the number one indicator there, right? Like third grade reading. You know, you're on a path where all of a sudden the opportunity is closing, closing, early, early. What breaks my heart and motivates me to do this work, you know, more than anything is you talk to an early educator and they say, my kids come in and I know right away who has the opportunity and who doesn't. When they are toddlers, like that's just not a world I think we want to live in. And that's one of the things that's like, we actually have a chance here with zero to five. And that's why, you know, I was drawn to it. That's why I'm devoting myself to this, you know, and now I'm a mom, right? So it's like breathe it and live it and everything. But it's amazing what you can do. You go upstream and you give kids at this critical time of their development, healthy relationships, stimulating learning environments, outdoor time, you know, you name it. We know what it is. It's not rocket science, art, music, physical movement, you know, nutritious food, you know, access to curiosity, letting them lead through their own curiosity, right? In this emerging curriculum, you actually, you don't just, you know, set them up for a future of success in all the ways we know, reading, writing, worth the tick. It's so much deeper than that. It's literally you're stopping adverse child experiences when you do that. And you're actually, you know, putting on a path for healthy physical health. So chronic diseases, we now have pretty clear research. You know, if you have adverse child experiences between the ages of zero and five, you're more likely to have diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And social, it's social emotional learning, anger management, resiliency against addictive behaviors. Like we know that a kid between zero and five, it's this amazing moment in their development that they will build off of a lifetime. And so the question is, where are those kids? They're not at home anymore. So they need some sort of out of home setting. And what we found doing this work, Bruce, three out of five kids in Vermont who needed childcare didn't have access to needed it. That's like not even the full population. That's like 8,700 kids a day. And then those who feel lucky enough to have found that spot, they're paying like 40% of their house. More than a mortgage. And so it's not accessible. It's not affordable. And then talk about the quality, which I really represent. It's the human in the room like anything, the human in the room, that early educator, are they supported, compensated, prepared, given the professional development, respected. No, $14 an hour on average without benefits to do this work. You could literally make more money doing anything else. And what I just mentioned earlier about how critical this moment is, you want to talk about corrections. It starts zero to five. It all starts zero to five. So these are the humans doing that. And they're making less money than any other, any other job. And so that's let's grow kids for you right there in a nutshell. What are we trying to do? Fix all of those things. And there is one solution to that, is what we sort of were able to do here. And again, happy to talk about any of these pieces with you. It's public policy change and public investment, because the truth is, in childcare, we know it's an opportunity. These kids, they need this, it benefits all of us to do this, right? And the parents cannot afford to pay more. And the early educators can't afford to pay less. So something's got to give. You need public policy change. Let's talk about more about the public policy change. Because what do you do? What's your steps? That's a big deal. Public policy change. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. So what do we do? It's part of, you've got to go through the legislators, right? A hundred percent. Okay, a hundred percent. There's politics versus policy. If you don't do that, and you see around the country, people know early childhood. They know the science. They know the opportunity. They know the return on investment. Why have I been able to fix this? It's our kids. You know what I often say, like, it's our kids. That should be enough. It should be. But you know what? It's fine. If that's not enough, fine. Because it also impacts our workforce deeply, our economy. It's one of the best possible returns on investment that you could have. I mean, Ben Bernacchi, the chairman of the Fed, was talking about, I'm going to shock you all. The best return on investment is childcare, investing in childcare. You know, right? So it doesn't matter what your motivation is. This is the right thing to do. Why haven't we been able to do it then? Because it requires money, an upfront investment. Even though it's going to pay for itself, that's hard. It's going to pay for itself. You can't even put the measurements. You can't even measure it. You know what I'm saying? It's going to pay for itself, because these individual youth, when they get to be who they are, you don't know what their returns might be, who they are. You got it. All I know is it's going to be too great to measure. And yet we have actually taken a stab at quantifying it, at least generally. And like you said, just to give a sense of what you just said, because so much of it is not even concrete, hard to even say. But that's why for me, it's our kids. It's our future, of course. It's logical. But three to one return over a lifetime of a child because of mitigating these costs and services they'll need the rest of their lives. But a three to one immediate return because you're putting money into the economy by paying higher wages, by actually increasing the number of people who can work in Vermont, because they can find child care, by putting more money in their pockets, because it's affordable. So it's an immediate three to one. And that does not even touch what you said about how do you even measure a healthy, joyful existence? You can't even make it. You really can't. And so I agree with you, if it can go over 100%, I will. But we have youth advisory boards around the state and with youth making decisions with our programs, projects, and events. And we helped them with education around drugs and alcohol and tobacco. And today, from our high school youth advisory board, then we have United College Club, which we still have, started in 1999. And when they graduate, our measurements, we still have youth graduates, parents, doctors, and all kind of incredible people still working on our program. We have incredible measurements from just helping exactly what you're saying, Ali, helping youth with their goals and dreams and aspirations at the start. I mean, while they don't know what they're going to be doing, don't have a healthy outlet to go to, don't have the education, their parents don't have really no place to really can afford to have them send them to, have a place to be to get these stuff. And so I understand that 100%. And then we have over 50 awards for doing this work. And so congratulations. And thank you. I know, but thank you. Let's grow kids is incredible. This is the beauty, support each other's work. Like these collaborations, it's this accelerant of like, when you go up that stream, right? And like, why are the kids falling in the river in the first place? That's your opportunity to say, okay, now we're going to set this foundation, sort of like, there's a hole in the tapestry. There was no infrastructure for zero to five. And that's what we're fixing. And then once you fix that, the sky's the limit. I mean, like, talk about what really works, everything you're talking about. Like, once you have an infrastructure of childcare where there's enough of it, it's affordable, it's accessible, then think about it, like, and all the things that the field is already working on, because they've been doing this very little money and adverse sort of financial, right? And little respect to as a society. And yet they are the first line there with our kids, our families. They're huge lifelines to not just that kid as a mom with kids in a high quality program and my piliar, my goodness, it's as much for my husband and I and our ability to be good parents and to be members of the community. But then you start adding in that professional development. This is a critical time of learning. You've anti-bias training that early educators can do, you know, as you will know, kids start thinking about ideas of race when they're six months old. So how are we preparing kids and their care, you know, their educators to talk about this, to explore this, develop this in a way early on? I mean, you just think about the ripple effects from there and it's amazing. So, um, so you've been with Let's Grow Grids for eight years now. And so why, you might have some ideas, why? Like all, like, like, um, city council, um, legislators, even like, um, organizations, you know, are not really, the first thing to come out as childcare and education and educators. Why aren't no one really talking about, you don't hear that nowhere. It's got to be people like you and I who, um, do the work who actually are talking about it. But why, why, why? I think it's a good question on our agenda. I think it's a great question, Bruce. And I think the answer is it's overwhelming. It's hard to do deep systemic transformation. That's what we are talking about here. Know nothing short of transformation. And so that's why Let's Grow Kids. We understood what you just said. Huh. Makes a lot of sense. Pays for itself. The right thing to do. What's going on? And we had to scaffold a solution that met the problem, which included all, all that sort of stagnation you're talking about. And so that's why we really went at it. We said we're going to just be a campaign, a movement, people, policy programs. We're going to do it all. Well, and I hope we have some lessons learned in both directions, good and bad, of social change work that we can share broadly to other sectors, to other states, you know, whatever it takes, because we got to accelerate this work. And there's some real lessons learned that are beyond childcare, but the idea of how do you build a movement for deep, generational change and transformation. And, you know, that's what we were able to do. People, policy programs. So people, over 40,000 Vermonters are involved in this campaign, the childcare campaign, lifting up their stories. I mean, it feeds in both directions. You know, this policy and this work is from Vermonters by Vermonters. So 40,000 folks, that's 5% of our population. It's an interesting group, all walks of life, you know, and they are, we're lifting their stories up. They're, you know, informing this policy from those who are closest to it. And on the flip side, they're mobilized to get lawmakers to talk about this, to get this to be a priority, right? So that's the people power necessary for this level of change. But we also did the programmatic work and they worked beautifully together. We actually have early educators on our team who have been in communities helping to ready the system, understand it, you know, what's the weakness, what's the strength, how do we build off of the bright spots, helping to actually increase the childcare infrastructure capacity, waiting for this big policy change. And that's the third piece, policy. So these three things all work together. That's what we've been able to scaffold at Let's Go Kids. And the policy piece is the key, because you do not make the changes we talked about earlier without that public investment. It is just the solution to this problem, like many things, by the way. And so we had to build that level of understanding and support to get that. And that's what I'm so excited to be here today to share. It's working. It's working. In 2023, I mean, we passed the biggest childcare bill in this country's history. Thank you. Thank you. Act 76 is affectionately now known. I appreciate that. I'm glad you did that. Deep pleasure. I mean, it's a movement of humans. Again, work for me that I get to be here talking about it with you. I know. Because look what it did was, it took us, it is nothing short of historic. One aspect of that is sort of nature of what we did is the bipartisan piece of it, Bruce. I mean, we had overwhelming bipartisan support. Dems, progs, some Republicans, some independents, and the only libertarian all voted yes. And then they voted yes to override the governor's veto. So, you know, this bill is historic from that dimension alone, but then it makes us the most expansive childcare system in the country. So exactly what is going to do for us? So it's going to stabilize the childcare sector. And then it's going to start making serious improvements in quality, access, and affordability. In the most basic sense, it infuses $125 million a year, first of its kind, sustainable, dedicated revenue to zero to five. Isn't that awesome? What a win. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. You are welcome. And it's our pleasure, it's our mission in life. Our mission goes and objectives to do this. This is the work we are doing and it's supposed to be doing. And so you only probably have your outcome measurements only for the V. It's like they are with this bill. And so, it's exciting. So when is that going to start? Well, so it's already started. The first wave of funding has actually just gone out to childcare. And what it does, the first wave is primarily to stabilize the childcare sector and to start increasing quality and get them ready for expansion, which starts in January. So then it's like the first wave is a sort of like infusion of capital to help with this beginning of this transformation. In January, the first real expansions, you see money, actually more money going into the pockets of the early childhood programs so that they can grow, increase salaries, compensation, support for their staff, grow their staff, right? You've got to do that, right? You've got to. Cannot grow without the early educators. And we all are hurting with the workforce crisis. Oh, no doubt about it. And a big reason why it's so constrained in zero to five is there's no incentive. You do not get enough money to do the work. So that's a huge piece of the puzzle here with this money. You can actually increase salaries for early educators to a more livable wage here. And then you start seeing in April through October, expansion of income eligibility. What does that mean? More Vermonters get tuition assistance to pay for their child care. It's more affordable for them. 7,000 more Vermont families are going to be eligible. Isn't that awesome? Wow, you know, it is. So another thing too is that like, you know, I said in Vermont state police, fair and partial police in the community. And so what they do, you know, they're unique for years for how they do things. And a lot of other police departments do too. And like they send candidates to Pittsburgh for the trainings, right, to be troopers. And so I think because in Vermont, you know, we've been trying to do this forever, like with Governor Shumlin and a lot of a lot of people in legislation and a lot of a lot of us want to keep our students who graduate from UVM and all these only say Michael's and all these incredible higher learning institutions. But they go they go they leave us. And so I think what we should do is so invest time to figure out ways to get them into the areas that that can help our youth and families and zero to five kids, you know, and just like invest in them while they go on to maybe pay some of their college loan or something, you know, and if you stay with us for five years, you know, do this, you're a teacher, you're a teacher, kid. That's your, no. But yes, you know, let me say that is so critical. All these all the opportunities we have, we need to take another like, you could say, what's the key motivation for doing this? It's hard for me to pick. It depends on the day and the story and, you know, the moment we're in one of them is that sort of like do right by your kids and all that stuff down the road up to corrections for our opportunity. Equity is huge. But that's another one right there. Our aging demographic will do us in here in every possible dimension of Vermont. And we know it. We're just being constricted. It's it's hurting affordability. It's hurting opportunity across the board. And so what do we do about that? God, zero to five is one of those places that you can increase the birth rate. You can get young families you can keep up. You know, I can remember a lot of things like, well, I'm from Chicago. And when folks used to send me to like, I go to camp every year. And I remember how I learned, why I learned archery. I remember how to swim. I remember how to roll the horse. I remember a lot of things just we're going to camp, you mean? And so that's what we're trying to do with DJ. Not only be able to go to camp, you know what I mean? But also to learn from them. And you know, if you go to camp or if you go into some type of learning programs that from zero to five, that you're going to retain them. And it's going to be with you for life. And because those things I learned when I was that young, little, young, small kid, I still retain them. And I still and I use them to amend to the following. And so I get it. You know, it just makes sense. I mean, just it's a right. Exactly. That's the thing, right? It's sort of like, once you get into it, you're sort of like, you sort of become a little indignant. It's like, why aren't we doing this? And every year we wait is a year that we've lost, you know, these kids and having the opportunity, these parents that aren't working, it's, you know, it's all those, absolutely. It's 100% of those things. And then as you grow older, as you grow older, the kids grow older, you know, you're going to be better at one thing than the other. You know what I mean? But you know, the best thing it is that you're going to be is what you want to be. I mean, and that's... Oh, that's what breaks my heart because these students go into the field of their choosing. They get trained up on it and then they get loans for it. And then they can't work in the field that we need them and that they've chosen that they're in debt. Oh, that bothers me so much. And then they, you know, can't be in Vermont. So that's where it's like, again, why are the kids in the river? Let's go upstream and pull them out before they go on the first. This is one of those examples of like, wait a minute, we got to all get together, like you're saying, and understand these linkages. Because here's one. There's 500 students at CCV in the Early Ed track. 500. You know, Vermont, we have like 650,000 people, like 500 is a pretty big number. That can make a pretty big statistical difference. So we're talking about opening up these new centers, you know, these no in-home childcare, growing the capacity, can't do without the humans. Those are 500 students that will hopefully now stay in Vermont who maybe wouldn't have stayed, stay in the field. We need them in that they have trained for. If not for this bill, no chance of getting them into a field that would pay them 14 an hour. Isn't that awesome. You know what I mean? So think about that virtuous cycle. Isn't that awesome? Create the virtuous cycle. Yeah, we have to give them incentive to stay, right, as well. Exactly. Wow, man. So I'm just so glad. You're thinking about it all, you know what I mean? You got a good bridge across in there. A lot of people collaborating, you know, so you get good ideas when you bring a lot of voices together, you know. And you do, you sort of plumb it all. What about this? What about this? Have we thought about these? What about the workforce? And actually, that's another thing I'd love to sort of say is. Well, let's talk about a little bit. Yeah, Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children. It's like the membership organization, the professional organization. You know, for so many years, what is this field? Early educator, child care worker, provider. There hasn't even been a name in this country. You know what I mean? It's been mostly women around the country, mostly women of color doing this work without even a title, not even considered a profession. And we have to change that. And so we're leading the charge in Vermont. Advancing as a profession, they have decided early childhood education. That's the name. They are early childhood educators. Of course they are, by the way. Of course, yeah. Let's just name it, you know. And so Vermont Association of the Education of Young Children, they are the group. They are from the field, within the field, for the field. And we've been supporting them to take on that leadership role and really run it from the field itself. What does it look like to be a profession? Minimum compensation, minimum credential standards, that's all in the works. It's been 20 years in the works. And that's the sort of thing where someone's like, okay, now we passed this bill, but who's thought about the workforce? Oh, I don't know. These thousands of people for the last 20 years, they've been thinking of everything. They've been working on consensus-based plans. You know what I mean? Like a bridge for the current workforce to the future workforce and all that. And so it's amazing, beautiful body of work. It's happening from within the field. And that will live on well past our work. We're sort of like a one-time catalyst here at Let's Work Kids to make this big change. And then there's other groups too, First Children's Finance as an example. They're like the business technical assistance for the sector of child care. You know, like Small Business Development Center, right? Like we've ignored child care as a profession and a business. It's both. And so we're changing that and creating sort of this infrastructure so it can be efficient, effective, have these sort of considerations, get the voices in to really, you know, craft what it is and support it being sort of healthy and thriving into the future. So we have sort of helped set up some of these things over the years with a lot of partners that we're very proud of because honestly that's the system's work that like is, you know, you don't talk that much about and it's necessary. You know, if you're doing responsible transformational change. And so that's happening too. And so anyway, it's just a big piece of the puzzle. And really, we're just proud of that. We're proud of the humans who have been at the table. So are you thinking about, let's grow kids, you know, it's a statewide organization. And are you thinking about like, we should other, actually, you should be a model for other countries. I mean, other countries too, but other states. I appreciate that. No, I think so. Do you think so? Well, we have, I think, done things that are valuable. We have found some valuable lessons. Again, in both directions. I'm not saying we have better than nobody. I'm not saying that we've done some, we just do things, we have done some things a little differently. Yes. And I think, and creatively. And so I'm thinking that maybe others might should hear about what we do. Well, I'll tell you, one, we're a national leader now. That's what I mean. This bill, we're a national leader. And two, we're always, always happy to help another state to do federal stuff. And honestly, I will tell you, we've created a community, Bruce, of those of us working in early childhood across different states that are moving forward. And we all agree. That's what's amazing. There's a best practice of what's good for the kids, what's based on research. How do you support the workforce? All of the bills we're all working on, they look the same. And that's really validating. You know what I mean? Like, look, we've really come to some agreement in this country about what this looks like. Now we just have to have the will, the political and public will to get it done, move the money around, right? And so what I'm hoping to do is not just share as we have been. We're on lots of panels and webinars. We're happy to share. It is, you know, anything that will accelerate this for kids across this country, you got it. Let's do it. You know, exactly. And the beauty is there is a community. And we're all learning and growing together. We have for many decades, honestly. And we're really validating each other's work. And that's great. And I truly believe there's another dimension here that we can help other states in this country by, again, small state, lots of good conditions here, you know, sort of getting it done. When we start rolling this bill out, which is what we're doing now, you know, it has to go as well as it can. You know, we're committed to the really effective outcomes and implementation here. I think we're going to show some valuable trends that other states can't ignore. You can say, oh, sure, you're Romano. Sure, you're small. Sure, your demographics are this or that. But really we're like, that may be true, but that doesn't mean that when the cause and effect is real, we invested in our kids and we grew our labor force participation, right? We're anticipating. We grew our female participation in that labor force. We attracted young people to the state. We increased our third grade reading scores. You know what I mean? You cannot argue with cause and effect on that. And we could hand that to other states and say, here's an accelerant to building your political will with your lawmakers, to getting your governor from whatever party focused. Does that governor care about the economy? Great, here's a roadmap for that person to thrive, you know, to have a thriving economy. And guess what? It's investment in zero to five. For now, so let me ask you a question. We don't have a few moments left. How do you get to parents involved? How do you, because we need to educate them too, you know? Sure, of course. So how do you do that? High quality, I love the question, by the way. There's so many important parts of this is why I love this issue. It's rich, it affects everything. High quality early child education is a two-generational thing, truly. The child is in the care, is getting that instruction, that support, that confidence, you know. And the parent is a trusted relationship with those early educators. They're one of the closest people in their village. Honestly, that's what it is, Bruce. We always have needed a village to grow our families. And it's looked different from the beginning of civilization, but there's always been something. Extended family units, like, you know, clans, tribes, whatever it is. It's just recent history where we don't have a village anymore. And so what we're seeing is high quality child care, access to that for communities who really need it, that's a village. And so that's the parent support. You're part of a community. You have that trust relationship with that early educator. There is much a guide to that parent as they are to the kid. And I've seen it firsthand, and that's how you're going to make generational impact. No doubt. And honestly, you wouldn't believe what some of these early educators do. You know, some of them are the first to know that there's domestic violence happening in the house, and then they support access to services. Some of them know that they're missing, the family's missing a car payment, and you know what happens, you miss one car payment, all of a sudden, you know, on the car, you can go to work. Boom. They pay for the car payment. I mean, you wouldn't believe what is happening. So this idea of high quality early child education is bigger than you might expect. It's not read and write arithmetic. That's not that. It's that and a million other things for the family as well, you know, and honestly, that's thriving communities, thriving, you know, engaged communities, and this can be a hub, a hub. Well, yeah, no doubt about it. You are a hub already, you know. And so I just want to say, well, first of all, you got any last things that you want to say? You want to promote into your, you know, how people can get involved? Maybe you want to look at the camera right there? Straight to camera. Yeah. So basically, we're going on the move this fall with the courage and action child care tour. This is the best way to get engaged. I just want to say we've made huge progress as we've talked about. It is historic. We're getting it done. And now we've got to make it work together. All of us, we've got to stay engaged. We have to celebrate, support and courage this. To stay on the top of mind, like you said, why isn't this top of mind? It's starting to be and it needs to continue to be. We need to have some resolve here to make sure the implementation goes well and we really see this through to the fully solved child care crisis in Vermont. And people can get involved. We are not even close to done. We've broken and opened with this huge bill. And we got to see it through. So that's, you know, we have a tour this fall. We'll be all around Vermont in community, celebrating, talking about the work, the work that, you know, that we've accomplished in the work ahead. So let'sgrowkids.org is a great way to be in touch with us and to be involved in the movement generally and come out this fall with a courage and action child care tour. No doubt about it. So that's so good. They can always check your website and find out everything that's going on and what's happening. And so you could always, you know, my brain is always twisting it and turning it about. You know, when you're talking about youth and families, you know, in the community, how can I help? And so we have this incredible art gallery. Y'all don't think you've been there yet. No, I haven't. And it's in the University Mall. Yep. It's our so-one full gallery and performing center. It's 8,000 square feet. And so we would love to be able to host any events or anything you want to do there. Like Let's Grow Kids could come there and fundraise there, you know, charge you absolutely zero dollars to come in and do that. And we can help you when I sponsor if you want to do some food or whatever. I think you should all the time just have the community come and we have a stage performing, say 20 by 20 stage in there. And people can present and talk about Let's Grow Kids and how always people get involved. They can sign on right then. They can, I can bring in some, because we have an entertainment, it's our so-one full gallery and performing center. We have music entertainment. We can bring in some entertainment and some of our sponsors like, you know, wineries and different things like that. And we can have that in our place. Thank you so much. And I have a great fundraiser for Let's Grow Kids because I want to help all as much as I can. We can do it all the time. So I'm going to remind you of this, Ali. Oh, please do. I would love to collaborate with you. This is where the magic happens. I so appreciate that. Let's do it. And let me know if, anyways, I can help. So thank you for coming on the street. Talk for Macho. Ali Richards from Let's Grow Kids, the executive director. Awesome. She's done a whole lot of work for eight years now and continue to do a lot. Wow. Some big, big news. People should tune in on your website and learn about ways they can get involved. Thank you so much, Bruce. So appreciate it. Have a wonderful day. You too. Thank you. Thank you.