Celebrating 20 Years: The Impact of Us
November 2025 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Alliance for Early Success, and we celebrated the milestone as we kicked off CONNECT25, opening with a collection of birthday wishes from across the network.
Alliance Executive Director Helene Stebbins then invited two special guests to the stage: Dr. Joan Lombardi and Dr. Lisa Klein. Lombardi, who served as the first deputy assistant secretary for early childhood during the Obama administration and the first director of the Child Care Bureau during the Clinton administration, was the originator of the idea for the Alliance and Klein served as the Alliance’s first executive director.
Lombardi told the story of the November 2005 meeting at the Buffet Early Childhood fund offices in which Buffet leadership and Lombardi hatched the plan for coordinated funding and support for state-level early childhood policy advocates. While significant advocacy resources were being directed at federal policymakers (the source of major revenue streams), little was being done at the state level, where countless decisions have enormous impact on young children and their families. That’s when the Alliance for Early Success—then known and the Birth to Five Policy Alliance—was born.
Klein told stories from the early days of the Alliance, and walked attendees though the expansion of the Alliance. As more and more investors joined in this new and important cause, the organization expanded to all 50 states and expanded its focus to include young children up to age eight. She also shared one of the key traits that she believes has made the Alliance so successful—flexibility—and brought out her signature flexibility mascot, Gumby. The Alliance, just like state policy advocates, must always be ready to successfully pivot on an ever changing landscape.