Head Start has supported children and families for generations, but now RFK Jr. + the Trump administration are proposing changes that would seriously weaken the program: Take a minute to tell your reps in congress to #ProtectHeadStart: actionnetwork.org/call_campaig...

New York City already has much of the foundation it needs in existing center-based + family child care programs. What we need now is stable public funding, through taxes on the rich + NYC’s most highly profitable corporations, so universal child care can be a public system every family can rely on.

Join us online Thursday, August 20 for a Black August workshop with Natasha Capers and Barbara Gross of Liberation Spaces, where we’ll talk honestly about how race shapes our everyday lives and practice how to step in when harm happens.
 Let us know you'll be there at bit.ly/BlackAugust20

Thanks to New York Focus and so many others for the important reportage we’re watching prompt some serious questions about equity and privacy, and who gets experimented on in the name of “progress” and “innovation.” Read our full statement on it here: www.aqeny.org/2026/07/16/a...

Still feeling the joy from Pride in NYC this past weekend on our float with our community. In a world that still pushes LGBTQIA+ folks and so many of our communities to the margins, this joy is part of what we fight for from child care through public school, love and care from the very start.

Team AQE is taking the week to recharge so we can keep showing up for our communities. We’ll be back July 6, rested and ready to get back to the work!

Last week we celebrated the graduation of Ed Warriors Cohort 9! Days like this remind us of our gratitude for the communities that have emerged from this leadership development program, and leave us excited for all the imagining and world building yet to come. Congratulations to the class of 2026!

Free speech is a right and student safety means protecting young folks’ ability to speak out without being treated as a threat. We can't allow Int-929 to sacrifice Black and brown kids' safety, @council.nyc.gov Speaker @speakermenin.bsky.social Submit testimony to amend the bill: bit.ly/4owAAdm

We’re excited to be back dancing with you in the park, because movement and time together in community with each other can help us heal and keep going!

By keeping the pressure high, you all helped move some big wins for public schools and child care this session. Albany left a lot unfinished, so as summer begins, we hope you’re able to take the rest you can and stay ready for what we’ll need to keep building together.

NYC’s Charter Revision Commission is reviewing how city government works, and proposals could reach voters this November or in 2027. Democracy works best when we all have a say, so speak up from your experience, help our communities be heard, and spread the word with your neighbors and loved ones!

Thanks to @chalkbeat.org for spotlighting NYC’s child care voucher waitlist and the resources city leaders can use right now to meet more families’ needs. This excellent piece forefronts what’s at stake as available funding sits unused.

Join AQE’s contingent in Washington, D.C. on June 27 for the #Next250 Mobilization, a national gathering bringing people together across communities and generations to envision AND build a more just, democratic, and welcoming future. We’d love to see you there!

After a year that began with real promise for moving New York toward truly universal child care, the final state budget lost momentum by failing to make sufficient investments in the child care workforce and the child care assistance so many New Yorkers rely on.

From organizing and advocating to teaching and protecting, care is powerful. It takes strength to hold families and communities together while pushing for change. Wishing all the moms a happy Mother’s Day 💕🌷☀️

We are calling for a pause on allowing AI in our kid’s classrooms

We can't continue to meet mental health, substance use & homelessness with tickets + arrests: we need @nycmayor to build non-police responses. That's why we are calling for partnership & accountability from Mamdani’s new Office of Community Safety www.justicecommittee.org/post/letter-...

There is still time to register for our first self-defense workshop this Friday with Malikah! This FREE three-part series on de-escalation & self-defense will build practical skills in how we stay safe and support one another. Register now! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Just like there are no kings in this country, there are no queens in our state either. Hochul is trying to sideline Black leaders so she can be front & center. A real deal happens when everyone at the table agrees, NOT just because she says.

Wishing rest and renewal to everyone able to take it this weekend. AQE out until Monday, May 4 👋🏾👋🏽

Choosing to speak up about AI? Advocating for Palestinian rights or smaller class sizes? Raising concerns in your school community? The possibility of those moments shapes how people come to see their role in public life and building New York’s future. The buffer zone bills put all of that at risk.

Stopped by CM Marte’s office yesterday to talk about what the buffer zone bills would look like in his district and across the city, and left with a meeting scheduled for next week. He voted yes on both, and we’re looking forward to sitting down with him to share our MANY concerns.

As the legislature heads into a seventh budget extension, we were at the Capitol calling for a budget that reflects what New Yorkers have been asking for. A majority support taxing the rich so we can invest in child care and our public schools. www.aqeny.org/2026/03/31/n...

Thank you @mayor.nyc.gov and thank you to every one of you who called, emailed, showed up, and kept the pressure on our leaders to get us here. Now, City Council must sustain the veto, so let’s stay visible and make sure they know we’re paying attention.

Protest is how people in this city have won their rights, again and again, and that history is still being written right now. Take a minute to listen and keep reaching out to your council and the mayor to veto Intros 175-B and 1-B, today is deadline day.

We showed up at City Hall last week, and we’re showing up again today. Mayor Mamdani has until tomorrow to veto Intro 175-B and 1-B, and what happens in these next hours matters. These bills expand NYPD control over where people can gather and who gets policed most when they do.

More New Yorkers are questioning who technology’s promises of "progress" are really for, and that's why we're calling for a five year AI moratorium in NYC schools so we can slow down and focus on what actually supports learning and student well-being

Check out Marina and Zakiyah’s op-ed published yesterday in the @buffalonews.com, laying out what it will take to make universal child care real for New York's families! Without real investment, any promise of universal child care becomes an empty one set up to fall short.

At a turning point for the country, we’re gathering around a Declaration of Interdependence that affirms our connections to each other and the future we’re building together. RSVP to join us April 16 to help imagine and shape what the next 250 years could be. bit.ly/NYNext250

Next250 NY Town Hall

Food, Performances & Panel Discussion

eventbrite.com

Governor Hochul says our families are her fight, but nearly 20,000 kids statewide are stuck on waitlists while child care programs struggle to stay open + the workforce is paid poverty wages. The budget she signs must invest in the workforce + expand access by taxing the rich. bit.ly/ListenUpAlbany