amplifiED Podcast
EdAllies’ amplifiED podcast digs into the nuances, details, and lesser-known aspects of education equity through discussions that poke and prod at policymaking, systems, and much more. Hosted by Josh Crosson, EdAllies’ Executive Director and Margaret Sullivan, EdAllies’ Programs and Outreach Manager, amplifiED has discussed topics such as student discipline, innovative schools, chronic absenteeism, teacher diversity, literacy reform, legislative progress, the power of youth advocacy, and more!
You can listen and subscribe to amplifiED on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at the player below!
This is AmplifiEd, the EdAllies podcast.
At EdAllies, we partner with schools, families, and communities to ensure that all Minnesota students have access to a rigorous and engaging education. We advance policies that put underserved students first, remove barriers facing successful schools and programs, and foster an inclusive conversation about what’s possible for students.
In the AmplifiEd podcast, we dig into the issues of the day, the opportunities and challenges facing students, educators, and families, and the ways policy, advocacy, and collaboration can ensure better outcomes for us all.
In this episode of amplifiED, hosts Margaret Sullivan and Josh Crosson sit down with Dr. Nicole Smerillo, Director of Data Research and Policy at Think Small, to take a closer look at Minnesota's early care and education sector — and the pressures threatening to unravel it.
Dr. Smerillo paints a picture of a workforce that is shrinking fast. Licensed family childcare providers—the small business owners caring for children in their homes—have seen dramatic declines over the past decade. The reasons are layered: mounting regulations, razor-thin margins, and a job that asks providers to work far more than a standard week for wages that don't come close to reflecting the importance of the work.
The conversation also covers the ripple effects of Operation Metro Surge on childcare providers, many of them Somali-run, women-of-color-led businesses, who saw children stop showing up, families withdraw in fear, and their own sense of safety shaken in spaces meant to nurture kids. The episode closes with a clear call to action: fund early care as the public good it is, pay providers a living wage, and demand that state legislators prioritize early childhood when federal funding is on the line.