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.
As state teams convened for a cohort gathering and workshop this spring, many were already reporting significant progress in laying the groundwork for such a grassroots constituency for child care.
A key component of the Child Care NEXT model is ensuring the coalition is unified on a collaboratively developed bold vision for transformation. State Child Care NEXT coalitions have made significant progress here, and their clear visions for transformative change have come into focus.
The Utah Full-Day Kindergarten Now! Coalition of more than 50 organizations is joining with Utah families to celebrate the passage of a full-day kindergarten option across the state. A bill passed by the legislature and signed by the governor provides greater access to optional full-day kindergarten in Utah by funding the program the same way grades 1 through 12 are funded.
Across the Child Care NEXT states, there have been significant developments in the work to solidify their coalitions with equity and lived experience at the center.
Information about availability, eligibility, and applying for publicly funded state services is often time-consuming to find, and antiquated systems are difficult to navigate. A new federal executive order, however, might just change that with a simple notion: requiring state governments to treat families like customers. Join us as our partners at the New Practice Lab will share their recently released research on complexity in early education programs across the 50 states and will share updates on federal efforts to simplify access to early childhood programs.
We’ll also hear from South Carolina, a state meeting this challenge head-on with their recently unveiled First Five SC portal, which aims to transform the way families access publicly funded early childhood programs and services in the state.
The Foundation for a Healthy North Dakota (FHND) and their public interest communications firm have developed a silver bullet strategy for empowering communities to take charge of child wellness and define what community health looks like. They listen. Read how they turned this inquiry into outreach that was responsive to communities’ needs and perspectives and grounded in their unique contexts.
In another example of the Alliance Effect, Alliance allies Early Learner South Dakota (an initiative of the South Dakota AEYC) and the Committee for Economic Development have partnered to design a comprehensive set of statewide interactive early care and education program data maps to address South Dakota’s historical challenge of having very little publicly available child care supply and demand information.
A recent exchange on the Alliance listserv turned up several examples and resources on employers co-investing with states in child care.
The Alliance for Early Success recently formed a new community of practice with a dual focus on early childhood and child welfare issues. Purposeful attention on these cross-cutting issues is important given that young children are most vulnerable for child maltreatment, particularly children under 3, and enter foster care at higher rates than older children.
WEBINAR Native American and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) advocates provide a closer look at the importance of this legislation and how states can act to preserve its protections.
