And Basic Needs Challenges for Young Children and Families
Vermont Business Magazine On Jan. 12, Building Bright Futures (BBF), Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council, convened policymakers, community leaders, service providers, and advocates for the annual State of Vermont’s Children briefing, highlighting new data and lived experiences that point to a deepening crisis in housing stability and access to basic needs for families with young children.
The briefing marked the release of The State of Vermont’s Children: 2025 Year in Review, which provides a snapshot of child and family well-being across the state and Vermont’s 12 regions. This year’s briefing placed particular emphasis on housing instability, homelessness, and the growing difficulty many families face in meeting basic needs, including food, transportation, and the cost of living.
Confirmed by new data available through Vermont’s Early Childhood Data Portal, the scale of the housing crisis facing young children has grown dramatically. Between 2018 and 2025, the number of children under age 9 identified as experiencing homelessness in Vermont increased by 273 percent, based on McKinney-Vento data from the Vermont Agency of Education.
“Housing is not a side issue for children’s outcomes. It is foundational,” said Dr. Morgan Crossman, Executive Director of Building Bright Futures. “When families are worrying about where they will sleep, everything else — health, early learning, stability, and well-being — becomes harder to sustain.”
This year’s State of Vermont’s Children report introduces a streamlined format focused on statewide and regional profiles, while expanding access to up-to-date data through Vermont’s Early Childhood Data Portal. Together, the report and the portal allow policymakers and communities to track trends in cost of living, poverty, housing instability, health, and early learning outcomes throughout the year.
The briefing also featured a panel discussion focused on what housing instability looks like on the ground, how it is affecting young children and their caregivers, and what changes are needed at the system level. Speakers included Nick Conner, Director of Student Engagement and Data at Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools; Lisa Atwater, Family Support Team Lead at the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro; Britnie Morgan, parent of an almost 2-year-old, and James Miller, parent of a 2½-year-old.
“It was very challenging when I learned that my son knew he was homeless,” Miller said during the panel discussion. Miller, an architectural designer, and his wife have both been unable to work recently due to unexpected health issues. Miller described a recent conversation with his son at bedtime: “He said he wants a big house with big ceilings and tall doors. I’m doing my best to get back to that place where I can provide him that home again.”
Conner shared stories about his work with three students in the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools, each of whom had experienced homelessness. “Any of us who have the opportunity to work alongside families, any of us who are working on policy, any of us who are working on data: take a walk with your families,” Conner said. “It is where you will see how you can make change. Lift up and center the voices of our families. They know better than we do.”
“Being homeless is tough, but not nearly as tough as the families who live with being homeless and all the challenges that come with it,” said Atwater, who works with families at Winston Prouty’s shelter program in Brattleboro. “The resilience of these families is awe-inspiring.” Lisa described the complex challenges that unhoused families living in hotels or in tents face in meeting their daily basic needs, including storing and preparing food, doing laundry, and getting children to medical appointments. Programs like Winston Prouty’s, which provides families with a private room, full kitchen, and laundry facilities, can make a significant difference in meeting those basic needs.
The discussion was explicitly grounded in Vermont’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan 2030, a newly released plan that identifies meeting families’ basic needs, including safe and stable housing, as the first and most foundational goal for improving outcomes for children.
“The data are clear, and the stories make it real,” Crossman said. “Vermont is facing hard choices this legislative session and beyond. If we want to improve outcomes for children, we have to start by making sure families can meet their most basic needs.”
The full State of Vermont’s Children: 2025 Year in Review, the briefing recording, and the data portal are available at buildingbrightfutures.org.
The mission of Building Bright Futures (BBF) is to improve the well-being of children and families in Vermont by using evidence to inform policy and bringing voices together across sectors and within regions to discuss critical challenges and problem-solve. Building Bright Futures (BBF) is Vermont’s early childhood public-private partnership, charged under Vermont Title 33 § Chapter 46 and the Federal Head Start Act (Public Law 110-134) as Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council (SAC), the mechanism used to advise the Governor and Legislature on the well-being of children in the prenatal period through age 8 and their families. BBF’s Network infrastructure includes 12 Regional Councils, seven Strategic Plan Committees and the State Advisory Council. BBF maintains the vision and strategic plan for Vermont’s early childhood system. Learn more at buildingbrightfutures.org.
Jan. 13, 2026 (WILLISTON, Vt.) — Building Bright Futures
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