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.
With the passage and signing of S690 in 2021, New Jersey universal home visiting became a reality. The legislation establishes a statewide newborn home visitation program in the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, making the state the second in the nation with this level of home visitation.
Policy and data leaders from the diversitydatakids.org project show us how to use the down-to-the-neighborhood data in their new Child Opportunity Index 2.0 — and dive into strategies for making this kind of data part of effective advocacy and mobilization for equity.
In spite of a highly charged and combative state legislative session that made national headlines, allies in Texas, Children at Risk and Texans Care for Children, worked to make sure support for early childhood issues maintained bipartisan support — and their efforts paid off with one of the more productive legislative sessions for children and families.
GUEST EDITORIAL In this guest editorial for the Alliance for Early Success, Danielle Gonzalez from the Aspen Institute’s Education and Society program says making reliable and affordable early care and education available and accessible for all is among the most important policies we can enact to create equity and economic stability, especially for women.
WEBINAR: Outdated perceptions about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often at the foundation of states’ failure to adequately screen, assess, and intervene in early childhood. Dr. Ami Klin, a leading national voice on autism and autism policy, helped us see how bringing an early brain-development framing to the table can lead to better policy — and better outcomes for these young children and their families.
Our Allies in Michigan have been working hard to highlight racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes and to build urgency around the need to achieve birth equity. Last year, their work paid off with several crucial wins, including $23.5 million in funding for a comprehensive plan to address disparities and an executive order that requires health professionals to undergo implicit bias training.
Missouri’s governor has announced the formation of the Office of Childhood, and advocates around the state celebrated the move as a monumental step towards creating a comprehensive vision and program alignment of Missouri’s early childhood system.
Oregon voters delivered big wins for early childhood issues on ballot measures in the 2020 election — including a a tax increase on tobacco that will provide the last piece in the puzzle in fully funding the expansion of Medicaid eligibility. Both of these victories highlight the power of creating a broad coalition for developing and campaigning for policies that benefit children.
The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has released an updated set of Early Childhood State Policy Profiles that provides a two-generation view of current policies affecting children birth through age eight. The profiles give crucial visibility into each state’s progress in early care and education, health, and parenting and family economic supports.
In a keynote presentation and then in a smaller discussion group with state early childhood advocates, nationally recognized birth-equity voice Dr. Joia Crear-Perry spoke powerfully on structural racism as a key driver of high rates of Black infant and maternal mortality.
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The Alliance for Early Success does not endorse or advocate for specific legislation or candidates.
