Child care is often treated as a private family concern or an education issue, but it is also a health equity issue. This talk explores how the early childhood workforce—particularly home-based child care providers—supports children's development, family stability, and community well-being, and why overlooking that workforce carries consequences for health across the life course. Drawing on more than 25 years of work with home-based child care providers and early childhood policy, Janna Wagner will make the case that child care is essential social infrastructure and explore what that means for health, policy, and the people doing the work.
Janna Wagner is the co-founder of All Our Kin, a national nonprofit that strengthens home-based child care through training, business support, and community building. Over 25 years, All Our Kin has grown from a program serving six families in New Haven public housing to an organization working with thousands of educators and families across multiple states. Janna currently teaches "Child Care, Society, and Public Policy" at Yale University. She began her career as a Teach for America corps member teaching in the Bronx. Her writing on early childhood policy has appeared in The Hill, HuffPost, Education Week, and The 74, among other outlets. She holds a B.A. from Yale College and an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and is a 2024 Heinz Award recipient for the Economy. She has served as a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow. Active in the New Haven community, she serves on several boards, including as Chair of the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation.
Lunch will be served starting at 11:45 AM.