The Alliance for Early Success is a 50-state resource for early-childhood advocates as they pursue the big, sustained impact that will ensure every child in every state, birth through age eight, has an equal chance to grow, learn, and succeed.
Longtime early childhood policy leader Shannon Cotsoradis has joined the Alliance for Early Success Board of Directors. Cotsoradis is the Director of Policy and Strategy at the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, where she leads strategic initiatives to improve outcomes for young children and families through policy and systems change.
In New York, achieving universal child care requires more than technical policy fixes—it requires building power with families and educators who experience the child care system every day. The Empire State Campaign for Child Care (ESCCC) is a statewide coalition of policy advocates; early childhood and afterschool educators across all settings – centers, homes, and school-based care; and parents working together to make child care a public good rather than a private burden.
In Louisiana, advancing equitable early childhood policy requires more than technical solutions – it requires listening to families and sharing power with those most impacted by the systems meant to support young children. Geaux Far Louisiana is a statewide coalition of parents and early childhood health and education leaders working together to transform Louisiana’s early childhood systems so they better meet the needs of families.
In Rhode Island, advancing equitable early childhood policy has always been about more than legislation—it’s about listening to families and building power together. The RIght from the Start Campaign, a legislative and budget campaign led by eight organizations and coordinated by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, works to ensure that all babies and young children—regardless of zip code, race, ethnicity, or family income—get off to a strong start in life.
FIELD NOTES | By Shannon Jones | Former Ohio state legislator and advocacy leader (and current Alliance Board Member) Shannon Jones encourages advocates to step back and think about their solution’s design before moving to persuasion. In policy environments of conservative-led states, it could be the key to advancing their cause.
FIELD NOTES | By Brian Schmidt | With debate swirling about “tri-share” and other child care cost-sharing models, Kids Win Missouri’s Executive Director makes the case that states should focus less on debating models and more on designing to the state’s unique needs and landscape.
The separation of Native children from their families was not accidental—it was policy. In this session, we examine specific policies designed to break apart Native families—and their direct connections to contemporary early childhood, child welfare, and family services advocacy.
The Alliance for Early Success has released it’s annual report on state early childhood policy progress, and it shows—while headwinds are increasing—early childhood advocates are working together and adding capacity to get hard-fought wins for young children and their families.
Learn more about how Native communities have always understood childhood—as inherently relational, community-centered, and rooted in place. We explore kinship systems where children are raised by many, the connection between land and early learning, and contemporary examples of cultural transmission and community-driven care models.
An audience of early childhood policy advocates learned about the solutions New Mexico policymakers chose to implement over more than a decade, and the advocacy strategies that influenced them. Guests included Elizabeth Groginsky, Secretary, New Mexico Department of Early Childhood Education and Care; Matthew Henderson, Executive Director, OLÉ Education Fund; and Jacob Vigil, Chief Legislative Officer, New Mexico Voices for Children.
