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Press
Child Care Trust Names Joy Cohen State Child Care Policy Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2026
Contact: Luci Manning, 202-374-1974
Former Massachusetts early education and child welfare leader will support five states working to expand access to the CDA credential
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Joy Cohen has joined the Child Care Trust™ team as State Child Care Policy Director where she will support five states (Florida, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota and Ohio) in their work to promote making the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential a foundational standard for early childhood educators.
Cohen joins the Trust from the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, where she served as Deputy Director. She previously was Director of Policy at the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, giving her experience across early education and child welfare policy from inside state government.
“Joy knows how child care policy works on the ground, because she has built it and carried it out,” said Linda K. Smith, Executive Director of the Child Care Trust. “States are where so much of the work on child care happens. Joy’s experience will help us move past describing the crisis and toward solutions that states can put in place.”
The CDA is the most widely recognized entry-level credential in early childhood education. The Council for Professional Recognition has awarded it to more than one million educators since 1975. But how well the credential is built into state workforce systems, registries, career ladders, quality rating systems, subsidy policy and higher education pathways, varies widely from state to state.
To address this, the Council for Professional Recognition, Child Care Aware of America and the Child Care Trust are launching a two-year pilot to strengthen the CDA Credential™ as the entry point into the child care profession. The Child Care Trust will lead the evaluation of the CDA: The Best First Step pilot across five states.
Through two-year grants, each state aims to help 70% of participating educators earn the CDA, raise its total number of CDA holders by 10%, and move the credential into state systems for the long term.
→ Florida will strengthen statewide systems and its own Florida Child Care Professional Credential through its Early Learning Informal Career Pathway, which supports high-quality trainings needed to complete the CDA and expand support for CDA candidates, including a new subgrant program. It will prioritize family child care providers, rural and bilingual educators, and educators who lack access to existing scholarships.
→ Kansas, through its newly created Kansas Office of Early Childhood (KOEC), will continue to improve alignment across state systems and build a coordinated statewide CDA pathway that makes the process easier to navigate and better aligns the state’s early childhood workforce systems. Its focus is on rural, bilingual, low-income and other underserved educators and family child care providers.
→ Michigan, with the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), will test an accelerated CDA pathway for associate teachers in the state’s Great Start Readiness Program. A supported cohort will receive scholarships and coaching from Professional Development Specialists.
→ North Dakota will build on its workforce registry, career pathways and financial incentives to raise awareness of the CDA as a route to career advancement. It will also improve coordination among state systems and award subgrants to expand candidate supports.
→ Ohio, through the Ohio Department of Children and Youth and the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA), will use its existing professional development and higher education partnerships to grow CDA attainment. Plans include high school and career-technical pathways, support for family child care providers, and help for educators renewing their credentials.
“In state government, I saw firsthand how strong policy can shape the lives of children, families and the educators who support them,” said Cohen. “These five states are showing what it looks like to move beyond describing the child care crisis and start building the solutions that will fix it. I’m thrilled to support their work and to learn from Linda, who never hesitates to ask the hardest questions.”
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About the Child Care Trust
The Child Care Trust™ is a nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to understanding and addressing the nation’s child care crisis. Backed by Child Care Aware® of America, the Trust will develop real-world solutions, informed by data and research, for how America funds, organizes, and sustains quality child care.
