Early Childhood Advocacy Day 2024On April 16, Start Early along with our partners at Child Care For All, COFI, Illinois Action for Children, Latino Policy Forum, Raising Illinois, SEIU and We, the Village brought nearly 300 advocates down to Springfield to advocate for Illinois’ youngest learners. Advocates shared their perspectives with legislators on the impact that the creation of the Department of Early Childhood and increased funding for ECACE & Early Intervention would have on our early childhood systems.


View the video below for a glimpse into the day!



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Watch the recording of our April 23 webinar!
Moving the Needle: How States Can Support More Inclusive Early Childhood Systems Start Early joined federal partners, Illinois systems leaders, parent advocates, and state inclusion leaders in a recent webinar to explore what state and local advocates need to know to advance inclusion for young children across the mixed-delivery early learning system. The April webinar, facilitated by Mina Hong and Karen Berman with Start Early, built upon the newly updated U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) joint Policy Statement:
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Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs , which re-affirms the administration’s commitment to supporting inclusion across all early learning environments and centering family choice.


Illinois’ advocacy and systems change journey to advance inclusion was featured in the webinar in a panel discussion that highlighted the importance of building a shared vision for inclusion through a
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statewide strategic plan for the inclusion of young children with disabilities,
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listening and learning from key constituents in the early learning space to inform advocacy priorities and policy solutions, and how the state is planning to embed the principles of inclusion within the transition to a new centralized early childhood agency.

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Watch the recording to hear key takeaways on key inclusion priorities in Illinois from Ann Kremer, Director, Early CHOICES, Ann Whalen, Early Childhood Transition Director, State of Illinois, and Kayla Goldfarb, Policy Manager, Start Early.







New Resource! Chicago Policy Agenda
Start Early Launches Chicago Policy Agenda Start Early is pleased to introduce our
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Chicago Policy Agenda for 2024-2027. Chicago is positioned to make great strides toward a higher-quality, more equitable early care and learning system over the next three years and this policy agenda outlines key levers for achieving that kind of systems change.


Our vision is for every child in the City of Chicago to have access to a continuum of high-quality early childhood services before birth and through age five that is equitable and culturally, linguistically and ability- responsive. Our work is cemented in our commitment to advancing racial equity and heavily informed by research, practice and the lived experiences of the families and professionals we serve at Start Early. Our Chicago policy agenda lays out our vision for policy and systems change that will promote access to quality early care and learning programs and services and effectively meet the needs of the children and families who need them most.

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New Data Shows Snapshot of Kindergarten Readiness in Illinois

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has released its next installation of Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) data, providing a snapshot of the skills young children had as they entered kindergarten in the 2022-2023 school year. As noted in the recent KIDS report, 30% of all students in Illinois demonstrate Kindergarten readiness in all three developmental areas (social and emotional development, language and literacy development, and math), a steady increase that puts the state slightly above pre-pandemic levels.


While state-wide numbers reflect improvement over time, the percentage of students demonstrating Kindergarten readiness in all three domains varies widely across lines of income, language, and learning style. Persistent early gaps between student groups underscore the need for targeted support both during the early years, and in the early primary grades – particularly for students identified as English Learners. Some of these upward trends are encouraging, but persistent gaps require further work and study in the next few years.


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Babies Can't Wait!
Take Action for Early InterventionWith just about a month left in the legislative session, there’s still time to urge your legislators to support $40 million for Early Intervention (EI) in the final Fiscal Year 2025 budget! Record levels of service delays continue to plague the program, delays linked inextricably to a shrinking workforce. Without annual rate increases, we know providers will continue to leave the program, meaning more infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays will wait for months to receive the life-changing services they are entitled to by law.


Join us as we urge our state officials to invest $40 million for the EI program in Fiscal Year 2025:
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Contact your legislators and share your support for additional funds for EI in the FY25 budget.
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We're collecting stories about the EI experience for families to share with legislators,
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fill out a postcard and share your story. Thank you in advance for helping make Illinois the best state in the nation in which to raise a child.




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Start Early advances quality early learning for families with children, before birth through their earliest years, to close the opportunity gap.

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