This month, we hosted our 22nd Annual Luncheon at the Westin River North, where we welcomed hundreds of supporters to discuss the life-changing impacts of the first five years of a child’s life. Through powerful conversations and presentations with experts in the field, parents, teachers and Start Early staff, we discussed the need for all children, regardless of their background, to have equitable access to the quality health care, early education and intervention services they need to thrive, from before birth continuing through early childhood.

If you were unable to join us, you can watch a recording of the full program below.

This year’s Luncheon theme Start Today. Change Tomorrow is a powerful reminder of the comprehensive and life-changing impacts of early learning and care on the young learners of today and their futures.

For more than four decades, Start Early has led efforts to close the opportunity gap with a laser focus on the earliest years. There is an enormous transformation that happens in the first 1,000 days of life setting the stage for a baby’s cognitive, social and emotional development.  A child’s brain is growing at an astonishing rate and changing in shape and size in response to the world around them. These early years are critical and lay the foundation to build resilience, agency and hope so all children can realize their full potential.

In our pursuit of sustainable change, Start Early champions equity and embraces innovation to address complex early childhood issues that many families face today – meaningful policy to improve access for children with disabilities, comprehensive supports for children and families who are unhoused and quality health care for parental and maternal mental health – to pave the way for a more equitable and just future.

We are grateful for the tremendous support and generosity of our donors and event sponsors who helped us raise $1.07 million. Every dollar raised helps our young families and sets the stage for them to thrive. You can still show your support by making a donation today.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our Luncheon Chair James Reynolds, Jr., a leader in Chicago’s business and philanthropic community who shares in our belief that investments in high-quality early education can strengthen families and break the cycle of poverty.

When we come together and invest in early childhood education, we can transform the lives of our future generation.

Our children—and our future—will thank you.

Family engagement and leadership is crucial to building community systems that are equitable, supportive, accessible, and of high quality for all children and families. For community system leaders, it is beneficial to include families in policy making and systems design, as families can offer firsthand experiences navigating existing services and provide invaluable insights into the shortcomings of the current system. On May 29th, we hosted a webinar in partnership with the Children’s Defense Fund, titled: “Family Voice & Leadership: How to Elevate and Center Family Voice in Community Systems Building.” Panelists included Diana M. Rauner, PhD, President of Start Early and Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), along with family leaders and practitioners.

Watch the recording of our April 23, 2024 webinar linked below and explore resources to create more equitable and inclusive early childhood systems for young children with disabilities and delays and their families.

The data is clear. While all children benefit from high quality inclusive early learning opportunities, less than half of children with disabilities and developmental delays actually access inclusive early learning opportunities . For children of color, this data is worse. TheU.S. Department of Education (ED) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have a “renewed commitment and urgency” in supporting equity and inclusion for young children with disabilities and developmental delays in early childhood programs.

In response, we hosted a discussion to dive deeper into this issue with a focus on the role of policy advocates. Our federal agency partners from the Administration for Children and Families in HHS and the Office of Special Education Programs in ED shared the federal government’s vision for inclusion and the important role advocates play to advance a more inclusive early childhood system. We also heard from parents impacted by this issue, Danielle and Ebonii, who highlighted the importance of inclusion for their young children and elevated the disparities families face. Lastly, we reviewed key elements of the federal Policy Statement: Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs and discussed various ways advocates can push for inclusion. The discussion featured a story from our partners at Early Choices and the Governor’s Early Childhood Transition who, in collaboration with Start Early, are standing up a new early childhood agency. They shared a unique approach to advance an inside-outside systems change for inclusion. Check out the resources linked below for more information.

The 2024 National Home Visiting Summit brought together over 1,300 systems leaders, researchers, practitioners, policy advocates, key partners and decision makers in a collaborative pursuit to advance the home visiting field and systems of care to increase service quality and improve child and family outcomes. Attendees joined in-person in Washington, D.C. and virtually from across the globe participated in workshops, communities of practice and plenary sessions that discussed issues facing the home visiting field today.

The Illinois Policy Team at Start Early is pleased to release our annual Illinois Legislative Agenda, a snapshot of the budget requests and legislative priorities for which Start Early will be advocating during the spring 2024 legislative session in the state.

With the new legislative session underway, our team is focused on moving forward funding requests and legislation that will support families and providers across our early childhood system.

Our goals for the year include:

• Growing and strengthening the state’s early care and education system through an FY25 budget that includes the funding levels outlined in Year Two of Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois proposal
• Supporting legislation to create a new unified early childhood program
• Expanding Child Care Assistance Program eligibility for child care teachers and staff who live at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level
• Creating a state Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program

In these tumultuous times, the need for greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is in the news almost every day. One of the best ways to raise tolerant, accepting and empathetic children ready to thrive in life is to start early, incorporating inclusion and anti-bias into early childhood education curriculum for infants, toddlers and their families.

In a recent activity, children recently made posters showcasing their cultural heritage, as well as their similarities and differences. “The students were able to share and be proud of what makes them unique… your hair may be in ponytails, while my hair is in locks. The simple rule is we would like to treat people fairly and acknowledge that we are different but we’re also the same and need to show each other respect,” Jordan continues.

This focus on respect and appreciation for inclusion is particularly important during this time of racial unrest. “The way that we address the societal environment is by talking about community, family, culture and heritage,” says Jordan.

To help talk about these topics, staff at Educare Chicago have incorporated Sesame Street’s “We’re Different, We’re the Same” segment into their curriculum, as well as the book “Sometimes People March” by Tessa Allen.

Educare Chicago teachers also help students learn how to process big emotions such as sadness and anger, while emphasizing that people express feelings in a variety of ways to encourage an appreciation for personality differences. The school’s Wellness Specialists also connect with parents to let them know where their children are from a socioemotional perspective and offer guidance for development.

Intensive family engagement is a core tenet of the school’s approach, meaning the school’s inclusive curriculum also extends to children’s first teachers: their parents and caregivers. Staff provide parents with book recommendations, including those outlined above to help encourage at-home discussions about DEI. There are also parent support groups and a Parent Committee to help parents to build strong relationships with staff and one another.

Jordan has already seen the impact of their work. Recently, students celebrated a very shy classmate for stepping outside his comfort zone to give a presentation to the entire school about his pet snake.

Learn more about how to address race and identity with children by reading our National Racial Day of Healing blog post.

Last month, we hosted our 21^st Annual Luncheon at the Hilton Chicago, where we welcomed hundreds of supporters to discuss advancing maternal health equity. Through powerful conversations and presentations with experts in the field, we discussed the maternal health crisis and the inequities in the system impacting Black women, alongside the innovative solutions that can save and transform lives.

If you were unable to join us, you can watch the highlights of an incredibly impactful afternoon below.

Quality maternal health can change a child’s future, and when we support the wellbeing of mothers and birthing parents, we set our children up to make an impact for future generations. Ensuring equitable access to quality health care – before, during and after birth – can help prevent maternal and infant mortality and strengthen the developmental systems that enable children to reach their full potential.

As Luncheon Co-Chair Sam Yagan shared, “…we have no choice but to address the issue of inequality at birth. Not just for the sake of the kids and the moms whose lives we improve, but for all of us, and for our own lives to improve.”

I am so thankful for the opportunity to bring parents, educators and early learning professionals together with business and community leaders to discuss the opportunity in front of us to reshape maternal health. And I want to share a special thank you to our Luncheon Co-Chairs, Suk Shah and Sam Yagan, who did an incredible job setting the stage for maternal health experts, mothers, and doulas, who provided the critical perspectives needed to understand the full picture when it comes to maternal health.

We are grateful for the incredible support and generosity of our donors and event sponsors who helped us raise $1.15 million. Every dollar raised helps our young families and sets the stage for them to thrive. You can still show your support by making a donation today. When we come together and invest in early childhood education, we can transform the lives of our future generation.

Luncheon Co-Chair Suk Shah said it best: “Children with quality early learning experiences, who are healthy and prepared, do better when they enter kindergarten. Parents do better, and they’re more prepared to contribute to the strength of their family and their community.”

Thank you for being part of our 2023 Annual Luncheon, and we hope to see you again soon.

The 2023 National Home Visiting Summit brought together over 1,000 systems leaders, researchers, practitioners, policy advocates, key partners and decision makers in a collaborative pursuit to advance the home visiting field and systems of care to increase service quality and improve child and family outcomes. Attendees at this year’s virtual event participated in workshops, communities of practice and plenary sessions that discussed issues facing the home visiting field today.

The Illinois Policy Team at Start Early is pleased to release our annual Illinois Legislative Agenda, a snapshot of the budget requests and legislative priorities for which Start Early will be advocating during the spring 2023 legislative session in the state.

With the new legislative session underway, our team is focused on moving forward funding requests and legislation that will support families and providers across our early childhood system.

Our goals for the year include:

• Growing and strengthening the state’s early care and education system through an FY24 budget that includes the funding levels outlined in Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois proposal
• Creating a state family and medical leave insurance program
• Extending the sunset re: staffing flexibility in state preschool programs
• Codifying the state’s existing IDHS home visiting programs in law, among other priorities

Each year the Illinois General Assembly passes legislation that can have an impact on families, or the organizations in our communities providing early childhood or related supportive services to families. Start Early leads on some of these legislative changes, often in coalition with others, and in other cases we contribute our early childhood lens and expertise to support the efforts of another lead organization. The 2022 Legislative Summary provides a listing of those bills that became law in the spring 2022 session that we thought would be relevant to families with young children and the field.  We hope that this is a resource you will download and share with colleagues and families alike. We are happy to provide additional information about any of these initiatives or connect you with other advocates where needed. Initiatives that were led by Start Early are marked “*”.