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The Early Learning Nation Collective is thrilled that you have decided to embark on a journey to become or grow an Early Learning Community.

Before you start, we recommend watching this informational video to help guide you as you use the Tool. You may also want to read through some key terms before you begin the Assessment.

Goal 4.2 Examples of Communities in Action

Massachusetts

In 2024, Massachusetts announced the Gateway to Pre-K agenda to enhance affordability and access to early education and child care. This initiative will expand programs in the state’s 26 Gateway Cities and beyond. The agenda’s four key components are: providing universal, high-quality preschool for four-year-olds in all Gateway Cities by 2026; increasing Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) eligibility from 50 percent to 85 percent of the state median income (SMI); continuing Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants in FY25; and issuing an executive order for a whole-of-government approach to ensure affordable, high-quality child care.

Minneapolis, MN

In 2015, Minneapolis established the Cradle to K Cabinet to address race- and place-based disparities in children’s early experiences, housing stability, and quality early care and education. The Cabinet released the Cradle to K Cabinet Plan to Address Early Childhood Disparities, which included policy, legislative, and collaborative recommendations. In the 2023 state legislative session, several supports for young children and families were enacted, including recommendations from the 2015 report. These include increased compensation and expanded access for child care workers, more funding for free school meals, and the creation of a new Department of Children, Youth, and Families to prioritize child and family policy and funding needs.

Goal 4.2 Sample Action Steps

Level 1

Use tools like surveys and community listening sessions to learn about families’ needs in your community and their experiences accessing child and family services, including child care supports, food and housing assistance, and other programs that help families meet basic needs. Multiple formats to gather feedback and information should be used to reach a diversity of families. Ensure listening sessions are held in physically accessible spaces and that translation services are available.
Fully integrate parents and caregivers and child-serving providers into all relevant committees, task forces, and workgroups where policy strategies that impact young children and their families are considered. Include stakeholders from different racial and ethnic groups—especially those most likely to be affected or those you are most interested in reaching—in the development of new policies and programs. Determine who is missing and how they can be engaged.
Explore how the community can use local discretion in the administration of state and federal resources to best meet the needs of young children and their families, including through the use of waivers and in the alignment of programs that serve overlapping populations.
Continuously train child care subsidy intake workers, family service workers, eligibility and case workers in public benefit granting agencies, and other staff who work directly with families on cultural and linguistic responsiveness, implicit bias, trauma-informed and healing centered engagement, strengths-based family goal-setting, and on how to work across service systems to meet families’ full spectrum of needs.
Track and examine data on access and quality of services by race, ethnicity, income level, home language, and other demographic characteristics to inform equitable policies and resource use.

Level 2

Implement policy and administrative innovations that improve or increase the availability of family supports. For example, communities may be able to use local funds to supplement SNAP benefits for purchases at farmers markets, extend public health insurance to cover immigrant families, or cover lapses in child care subsidy eligibility to promote stability for children, working parents, and child care providers.
Take steps to reduce the administrative burden for families applying for government programs (such as SNAP, public health insurance, child care subsidy, or free/reduced price school lunch) by streamlining application forms, implementing categorical eligibility, or reducing response times in local offices. Making programs universal—such as free lunch for all students—is another innovation that reduces the administrative burden on families and systems, and ensures that needs do not go unmet.
Implement continuous improvement and feedback loops that include families and workers to determine what is and is not working well for children and families to access programs and services.
Examine local zoning policies to ensure that family child care providers are able to operate in neighborhoods where there is a lot of demand for infant and toddler care. Determine what support would be needed for a provider to meet licensing standards, such as installing a fire sprinkler system in an apartment building.
Establish a linkage and referral system that seamlessly connects families to existing services in the community at the appropriate time. Memoranda of Understanding can be used among agencies and organizations to ensure services are provided seamlessly with a “no wrong door” approach.
Facilitate cross-sector convenings (including health, education, housing, etc.) to address data sharing issues and promote cross-sector solutions to the challenges families face, particularly families who are involved in multiple systems due to the needs of various family members.
Examine data, current outcomes, and challenges through intersecting social categories (e.g., gender, race, geography, ability) and interlocking systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, ableism) to understand barriers to better outcomes. Consider intersectionality and how systemic inequalities can heavily impact certain demographic groups across sectors, and work with communities to promote cross-sector solutions.

Level 3

Create a municipal-level office that is charged with promoting the well-being of families with young children, such as an Office of Early Childhood or a Children’s Cabinet.
Coordinate business processes and data collection strategies across service systems to facilitate data sharing.
Streamline application and eligibility processes through common applications, care coordination, and data sharing. When possible, families should be notified about their eligibility for services such as child care subsidies based on cross-system data-sharing, rather than requiring eligible families to navigate complicated application processes to determine their eligibility.
Use cross-sector data analysis to identify areas of need, design policy strategies to address those needs, and evaluate outcomes in a system that is aligned and responsive to families.
Use a racial equity toolkit to assess policies, initiatives, and programs. It should help you answer the following questions: “How will this increase or decrease disparities between groups? What are the potential unintended consequences? What benefits may result? Do children, families, early educators, and providers of color have access, and if not, why?”

Levels

Level 1
Level 1 describes the starting point and is the first thing a community will want to establish on their path to reaching that goal. In many cases, the first level involves assessing the current situation in order to identify strengths and areas of need.

Level 2
Level 2 describes a community that is taking proactive steps and making some progress toward the goal. This may include communities where progress has been made in pockets, but those efforts are not benefiting the whole community yet.

Level 3
Finally, Level 3 indicates that a community has invested time, energy, and resources toward reaching this goal and is integrating its efforts across the early childhood system and with other sectors.

Not Started
If you or your organization have not begun assessing or considering a goal, please mark your level as “Not Started.”