Does universal Pre-K guarantee school readiness? To answer that question the podcast is headed to Wisconsin! Land of freezing winters, dairy cows, and universal Pre-K. Back in the 1980s, Wisconsin made publicly funded preschool almost ubiquitous throughout the state. But they’re still suffering from a massive underinvestment in childcare and early education, as well as one of the worst racial achievement gaps in the country. Gloria talks to Angela Harris, elementary school teacher and chairwoman of the Milwaukee Black Educators’ Caucus, about the importance of early education in preparing kids for kindergarten. Then Gloria talks to Brooke Legler, a childcare center owner and activist, about the post-pandemic childcare funding crisis in Wisconsin and how we can make sure every kid in Wisconsin has a chance at success. Special thanks to our partners who have made this season possible!  This series is produced with Neighborhood Villages. Neighborhood Villages is a Massachusetts-based systems change nonprofit. It envisions a transformed, equitable early childhood education system that lifts up educators and sets every child and family up to thrive. In pursuit of this vision, Neighborhood Villages designs, evaluates, and scales innovative solutions to the biggest challenges faced by early childhood education providers and the children and families who rely on them, and drives policy reform through advocacy, education, and research. Visit www.neighborhoodvillages.org to learn more.  This season was made possible with generous support from Imaginable Futures, a global philanthropic investment firm working with partners to build more healthy and equitable systems, so that everyone has the opportunity to learn and realize the future they imagine. Learn more at www.imaginablefutures.com.  This series is presented by The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. This series is presented by the Bainum Family Foundation. Through their WeVision EarlyEd initiative, they are elevating the voices of families and early childhood professionals, their “proximity experts,” to generate equitable and practical solutions to make the ideal vision of child care in America real. You can learn more at wevisionearlyed.org.  This season is presented by The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, an organization working to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage throughout the world. Learn more at hiltonfoundation.org.  The childcare crisis in the United States dramatically worsened during the pandemic. COVID put a global embarrassment for America into sharp technicolor. Childcare and early education are in peril. Scores of providers were forced out of business, as funds from the American Relief Act dried up. Qualified staff left beloved jobs for higher paying salaries at chain stores. Families who once relied on childcare were laid off and kept children at home without the socialization or stimulation a classroom brings. The effects were beyond detrimental and it will take time to remedy a system that was broken from inception.    However, there are glimmers of hope in unlikely places. One of those is in impact investing. Small but growing, Care Access Real Estate (CARE) is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Today, home-based providers often struggle with landlords and Homeowner Associations (HOAs) who put roadblocks in the way of obtaining a license to operate. CARE seeks to "unlock the full potential and aspirations of center and home-based providers". CARE does this as a childcare friendly landlord aiming to expand supply where demand is acute in under-resourced areas. Ultimately, CARE seeks to build the wealth of childcare providers by putting them on a path of one day owning their own home.  Mission Driven Finance invests in homes as childcare infrastructure. One by one, real dreams of working in this space are coming true. Childcare is infrastructure: it is the pathway to success for parents, caregivers, early edu