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.
In Iowa, a 2024 bill introduced by Republicans in both chambers of the state legislature sought to expand pre-k access for families with lower incomes. Though it did not pass during the session, the movement on pre-k expansion has advocates throughout the state looking ahead to 2025.
State allies in the Alliance for Early Success network recently gathered to discuss how they approach “community engagement” in their work. The group considered a range of questions as they shared their community engagement experiences and explored the nuances of authentic partnerships.
For more than five years, advocates in Virginia have been advancing policies to strengthen kinship caregiving in the state and—in the past several years—have had significant success in seeing strong policies implemented. These advances support kinship caregivers and, most important, strengthen care for youth in the foster system.
CELEBRATING BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK 2024 As we observe Black Maternal Health Week 2024, Alliance for Early Success Human Resources consultant Annette Richards shares her experience becoming grandmother twice in the calming presence of doulas.
A coalition of New Mexico advocates recently launched the New Mexico Guaranteed Income Pilot Program for Immigrant Families, an 18-month initiative to address poverty and economic security. The program’s evaluations are showing participating families reporting increases in housing and job security, as well as improved education outcomes for their children.
Advocates in Michigan continue to fight not only for prevention resources, but for culturally congruent policies and programs aimed squarely at racial disparities in death rates. This includes advocating for an effective perinatal care quality program to be added to the state’s public health code.
While Kentucky was the first state to make child care staff automatically eligible for subsidies, about a dozen states have followed the lead of the Bluegrass State and either implemented a similar policy or are actively considering it. It is estimated that about 234,300 child care workers with children under the age of six and 294,000 children would benefit from the Kentucky model if all 50 states plus D.C. implemented a similar policy.
The road to success for a recent 12-month postpartum Medicaid extension in Texas in 2023 was paved with years of advocacy work on the ground. For years, advocates at Texans Care for Children and other organizations have worked to build trusting and collaborative relationships among all the groups working to advance the crucial maternal health issue.
In partnership with the Alliance for Early Success, ZERO TO THREE (ZTT) launched a new opportunity for state advocates, an Early Intervention (EI) Advocacy Learning Collaborative. This introductory experience is for advocates who wish to become more familiar with EI and more active in this critical state policy area. By creating this space to deepen understanding of the Early Intervention system, advocates will get ideas, inspiration and knowledge from one another, leading to positive change in their states.
In Massachusetts, early childhood advocates across the state are collaborating like never before to build a new, stronger early childhood system. This historic project, called The Early Childhood Agenda, is a first-of-its-kind effort to bring together “hundreds of parents, providers, advocates, and community partners to discuss the state’s pressing early childhood challenges and propose effective, family-centered, sustainable solutions.”
