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Every Child Ready Chicago Strengthening Inclusion Symposium

Come together with other parents, educators and advocates from across Chicago on December 7 to share and learn about how to better support young children birth to age 5 with disabilities. This event will feature:

Remarks from Chicago Mayor’s Office and Chicago Public Schools leadership
Resources and presentations on services and resources available for children with disabilities birth to age 5 in Chicago
Presentations for staff, advocates and systems leaders on the benefits of inclusive special education models
Lunch and activities for families and children

New Chicago Board of Education Could Have Far Reaching Impacts

Chicago is home to a robust mixed-delivery system for early childhood education that allows families with young children to choose the school- or community-based program that best meets their needs. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Board of Education (BOE) play a pivotal role in upholding this system and ensuring every child in Chicago has access to high-quality early childhood services from before birth through age five. The Board of Education plays an important role in this process and is getting a new face in calendar year 2025, with the first-ever elected members being added to those appointed by the mayor.

Policy Analyst Madison Ezell shares more about how the new Board of Education can best serve Chicago children under 5 in a recent blog.

Webinar: Learn More About Health Insurance Through the ACA

Get Insured During Open Enrollment!

Open Enrollment runs through January 15, 2024! If you recently lost or don’t have health insurance, quality health coverage is more affordable and accessible than ever. Beginning November 1, 2024, DACA recipients are now also eligible to enroll in health coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Join The Illinois Primary Health Care Association in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Early Childhood and Start Early for a webinar on December 3 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. CT. This webinar, focused on the early care and education workforce, is an opportunity to learn more about health insurance through the ACA. Experts will be available to answer any questions you have about navigating through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

This webinar will also be offered in Spanish on December 5 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. CT.

Babies Can't Wait: We Need Early Intervention

At the end of October, Start Early & Raising Illinois held 9 events in 10 days all across our state in support of a $60 million increase to our state’s Early Intervention (EI) system in fiscal year 2026. Over 1,000 advocates joined us in-person and virtually to let our legislators know that our #babiescantwait for the crucial increases needed to address the current crisis in our EI system—thank you to everyone who generously gave their time and contributed their energy to this effort, we can't do this work without you!

Check out the media coverage & highlights from the rallies.

With just a few months left before the Governor shares his budget proposal, we aren't slowing down! Join us in taking action for EI by:

A Pathway to Parity in Illinois

This September, the Office of Head Start (OHS) released updated performance standards, which focus heavily on the financial and emotional wellbeing of program staff. The new standards require that over the next 7 years, programs must work towards paying teaching staff a salary that is comparable to public school pre-k teachers. This is a monumental policy shift for a workforce that has endured physically demanding work, long hours and low pay for decades. OHS is striving to give the early childhood workforce the recognition and pay parity they so rightfully deserve. We hope Illinois is watching closely.

Similar to other states, wages for child care teachers in Illinois are woefully low, which has led to high turnover. With pay hovering around minimum wage and arduous working conditions, our current workforce crisis should not come as a surprise.

Read more of Policy Manager Mercedes Mondragón’s reflections on the new Head Start standards.

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

33 West Monroe Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60603 • 312.922.3863

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