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.
The Alliance and NCFP have launched a Family Voice Capacity Building Mini-Grant, an opportunity for state advocates designed to help advocacy organizations strengthen their partnerships with families. The six-month $15,000 mini-grants provide flexible funding paired with customized responsive support.
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.
Geaux Far Louisiana and Kids Forward organized dads across Louisiana and Wisconsin to rally at their state capitols for kids and families. Father-led advocacy is laying the foundation for future change. Kids Forward is now working with members of the Wisconsin State Assembly to launch a bipartisan Wisconsin Dads Caucus. In Louisiana, a state senate resolution was introduced and passed to establish a state fatherhood task force.
Peer collaboration and idea exchange among advocates is a big part of the Alliance network’s success, and that powerful effect is especially clear when it comes to Allies’ work to collaborate on fostering parent leadership in early childhood policy advocacy.
The Child Care for Oregon coalition has implemented a new process that sets its policy agenda by first asking parents and practitioners to name the barriers they face and describe the future they envision for child care in Oregon.
Missouri advocates learned from Alliance network peers in Ohio as they created the grassroots network that advances an early childhood agenda by placing those most directly impacted by state policy to the forefront of advocacy.
Your Voice Matters, South Carolina’s centralized community feedback initiative, is showing impressive family response rates, shaping policies, and engaging and educating state legislators on the impact of supporting early childhood programs and services.
Maine’s Right from the Start Coalition—a diverse, bipartisan group of organizations working for high-quality and accessible early care and education—helped pass a multi-faceted child care bill and helped defeat proposed budget cuts.
