With the passage of Public Act 103-0594 in June of 2024, work began to build the Illinois Department of Early Childhood. Since that time, under the leadership of Dr. Teresa Ramos (appointed in December, 2024), work has been underway to build a state agency, along with an ambitious process to examine the complex web of current early childhood programs, funding and standards as well as to try to understand what is most important to parents and providers across the state.
July 1, 2026 represents an important milestone in this process when most early childhood programs are scheduled to transition from their legacy agencies — the IL Department of Human Services (Child Care Assistance Program, Early Intervention and home visiting programs); the IL State Board of Education (Early Childhood Block Grant – Preschool for All, Prevention Initiative); and the IL Department of Children and Family Services (day care licensing).
Start Early has been a part of the early childhood landscape in Illinois for more than 40 years – having helped shape and grow Illinois’ early childhood programs like home visiting and doula services, the Early Childhood Block Grant and the unique Infant-Toddler Set-Aside, which has helped ensure that we have grown infant and toddler services alongside those for preschool-aged children. We have been in this work not only as a policy and advocacy organization, but importantly as an early childhood service provider and funder across the state. We also have the opportunity to work with our colleagues in Raising Illinois, the state’s infant-toddler coalition, to focus on issues most important to serving our expecting families, babies, toddlers and those who care for them.
